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5.0 Swap is complete!

danlong

Well-Known Member
Joined
October 16, 2003
Messages
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City, State
Gainesville, FL
Year, Model & Trim Level
2001 Sport Trac 2wd - V8
Well, due to work and various other projects around the house it took a lot longer than planned, but the 5.0 V8 swap is now officially complete in my 2001 Sport Trac! I used a 2000 Explorer XLT 2WD that was my daily driver and swapped the drivetrain into a 2001 Sport Trac 2wd (Job 2) that had a blown motor.

I just got back from having the A/C recharged and everything now works 100%, no check engine lights, and only a very knowledgeable car person would ever be able to tell that the truck didn't come from the factory this way. The truck runs great, and the 4.10 gears are a nice improvement over the 3.55 gears that were in the 2000 Explorer that I used as my donor. I had PATS turned off in my tune by Torrie, but I may pull the PATS components from the donor and wire them in eventually, but I'm not honestly sure it's worth dealing with.

As for the parts required for the swap, here's a list of what I used and/or modifications that were required:
1) Motor/transmission, all front drive accessories & their wiring harnesses
2) ECU
3) Rubber motor/trans mounts (I replaced with new parts while I was in there)
4) Transmission lines
5) Power steering cooler & lines (the ST cooler sits too high on the crossmember)
6) Heater & radiator hoses
7) Throttle cable
8) Cruise control module
9) Battery/alternator cable ends & fusible links from 4.0 were spliced onto 5.0 harness
10) ABS module
11) G-force sensor from a 4WD Explorer was wired into the ABS module for speedometer signal (2WD Explorers nor Sport Tracs don't have this, but it's necessary to correct the VSS signal for the ECU in this swap)
12) Driveshaft from a 1998 F150 extended cab was shortened to 66.5" (center to center of u-joint), as the 4.0 shaft with the 5.0 slip yoke only engaged the output of the trans by about 2", original had about 3.5" of engagement
13) 5.0 exhaust downpipes
14) 42 pin connector harness above the engine was lengthened about 18" by cutting one from a junkyard truck and splicing it onto the end of the Sport Trac harness (LOTS of soldering!) as well as a few other wiring changes that I'll detail later
15) A/C lines

That's pretty much everything I can think of right now, and I'm working on putting together a spreadsheet of the wiring changes that I made, both for anyone who needs help and for my own reference later should there ever be a problem. I'm working on cleaning up the outside of the truck now, as it's been sitting for about 9 months, so I'll get some pictures up in the next few days once it's presentable and a few of the goodies that are on order are installed. :D

Also, now that the motor swap is done, I'll be starting in on the suspension and Prothane body mounts that arrived yesterday, as the body has 193,000 miles on it and the mounts are virtually non-existent. The 5.0 will also start getting some more work done, as it's mostly stock at the moment.

Oh, and last but definitely not least, a huge THANK YOU!! goes out to RangerSVT for all of the documentation he's done on the various forums of his V8 swaps, and for a few items he helped me out with on mine! :salute:
 



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Please detail as much info as you can.

I have a 2001 as well and the motor is on its way out so I search CL everyday looking for a V8 donor as I plan doing this swap soon on my Sport Trac.
 












Pictures and videos!! Pictures and videos!

I'm more than a little jealous you now have a 5.0 in there. I'm sure the truck will actually run better with a little extra bump in power and low end torque.
 






:ttiwwp:
 






Don't worry, I'll get some pics up soon! And I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to have this swap finally done... I originally planned to do this swap back in 2006, with a completely different (but nearly identical) 2000 Explorer and 2001 Sport Trac that I owned, lol. I decided it was more than I wanted to take on at the time, as I had some large home renovations that I was also trying to complete, and opted to just sell the Explorer and mod the ST as it was. I eventually sold it and moved up to an F150, but then decided about 2 years ago it was far bigger than I needed, and I was tired of making the payments as well. I picked up the Explorer from a little old lady for cheap and got it cleaned up and running well, and used it as my daily driver for about 2 years, but still missed my ST every time I saw one around town. When I came across this one with a bad motor for fairly cheap, I decided it was time to actually go through with the original plans, and even managed to convince my amazing wife that it was a reasonable idea, lol!
 






Congrats on the swap!! Funny your story is similar to mine. I had a ST years ago and wanted to V8 it but sold it and got an F150. I lifted it and when it would no longer fit in the garage I sold it. Got another ST and many thanks to RangerSVT I now have a V8 ST.

crispins- That would be cool to have another Tennessee V8 powered ST. Are doing 2 or 4 wheel drive? I might know where a donor is the other side of Knoxville from you.
 






Question for you guys: I meet a guy driving an ST at a red light and he told me he special ordered his ST with a V8(4.6 I assume). I told him that was impossible but he stuck to his story until we parted ways (I should have told him to pull over). Have you guys heard of an ST with a V8 from the factory? One more question: I will drop off my ST and a stack of cash if you guys do a V8 swap on mine!!
 






I have never heard of anything like that myself. Gen 2 ST's had 4.6 V8's from the factory.

RangerSVT would probably do you a swap, the logistics would be difficult as he is near Nashville,TN.
 






N2Ford, that is funny just how similar out stories turned out! The thread on your build, and RangerSVT's original build were the two that I used the most for my swap, so I hope all has been well with your truck.

Demo1986, if the truck he was driving was a 2nd Gen ST (2007-up), then the 4.6 V8 was a factory option. As for a 1st Gen having a V8 installed by Ford as an option, I'm calling a big, steaming pile of BS on that for sure. If you lived closer, I'd gladly take you up on that offer... now that I've done one, and figured out all the little gotchas along the way, I could probably do another in about a week without much trouble as long as I had a suitable donor.

My recommendation for anyone looking to do this swap is to stick with a 99-01 donor, which will save a lot of headaches. The headaches you do incur (such as extending that damned 42 pin connector!) are well worth it though every time you fire up that V8!
 






So temping! My truck just turned 92K so it's still has a lot more miles to go which is a good think since I'm "investing" a lot of time and money into the suspension.

The guys that claimed to have a V8 had a Gen1 ST was very convincing but I'm calling BS too.
 






N2Ford, that is funny just how similar out stories turned out! The thread on your build, and RangerSVT's original build were the two that I used the most for my swap, so I hope all has been well with your truck.

Demo1986, if the truck he was driving was a 2nd Gen ST (2007-up), then the 4.6 V8 was a factory option. As for a 1st Gen having a V8 installed by Ford as an option, I'm calling a big, steaming pile of BS on that for sure. If you lived closer, I'd gladly take you up on that offer... now that I've done one, and figured out all the little gotchas along the way, I could probably do another in about a week without much trouble as long as I had a suitable donor.

My recommendation for anyone looking to do this swap is to stick with a 99-01 donor, which will save a lot of headaches. The headaches you do incur (such as extending that damned 42 pin connector!) are well worth it though every time you fire up that V8!

Man that's AWESOME! Can't wait to see pics. I've been wondering about this swap ever since I found out the later Gen ST's came equipped with a V8. Coming from the 5.0 Mustang hobby, engine swaps are a norm. Safe to assume that if I have a 4WD, that the donor should be a 4WD as well?
 






How much dod the 5.0 swap cost after everything was said and done. And will a v6 5 so we tranny hook ip or will I have to put another tranny in
 












The V8 Explorers came as 2WD or full-time AWD. If you want selectable 4WD, there are other transfer cases that be swapped in place of the stock AWD unit, or you can just run it as is.

As for the cost, it really depends on what you're using as a donor, and if you have a decent U-pull-it junkyard around for miscellanous parts. I had a complete, working donor, so the only thing I HAD to spend money on was the following:

F150 driveshaft (junkyard) - $20
Driveshaft shortening - $90
New U-joints - $40
Welding muffler back up - $40
G-force sensor & wiring (junkyard) - $8
Vacuum & recharge A/C - $40 (friend of a friend)
Upper intake & EGR gaskets - $20

You'll also need to replace lost transmission and power steering fluid, change the oil and filter, flush and refill the radiator, etc, so I'd figure about another $150 for all that. I also opted to replace the motor and transmission mounts, which came to about $100.
 






Forgot to mention 2 other things...

Chris, you have to swap the transmission as well. The V6 trans will not work

For anyone in a state with strict emissions laws (particularly CA), you may be limited to using a 2001 Explorer as a donor and swapping into a 2001 Sport Trac, as I don't think they allow older motors to go into newer vehicles. All emissions equipment is installed and working in mine (minus the secondary cats), but that may not be enough based on the way that some laws read as my donor was a year older than the recipient.
 






Well, it's far from perfect, but I finally got the Trac cleaned up enough to post some pics. Honestly, she's a 20 footer, and I wish she looked as good as this pic makes her appear, but she'll get there eventually. I'll try to get a better pic tomorrow before the sun starts to set, as you can't really see the black billet grilles that I installed today, but they're there. I haven't gotten around to reinstalling the radiator shroud that has my electric fan mounted in it, but it's on the to-do list, and I added a pic just to show how much room is still left in front of the motor. Enjoy!
 






Wow that looks good, looks factory, awesome job, are you going to paint your cladding to? What wheels are those, they are cool also.
 






Thanks! I do plan to eventually paint the cladding, but I may just do a quick at-home job with black paint until I'm ready to repaint the entire truck.

The wheels are 18x8 and are from a 2012 Acura MDX. I'm using a set of adapters that I already had, which are 1.25" front and 1.75" rear, and I had the wheel hub openings machined out to fit, as the adapters were hub-centric. Tires are 265/60-18s. These were on my Explorer so I'm using them for now, but I have some other plans for wheels, so these may be up for sale before too long.
 



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I'm jealous
 






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