95 ex 351/C6/208-205 doubler - dana 60s in progress

some of you are familiar with my explorer. this is what it looked like a few years ago. i have been visiting the explorer forums since 1998. it was stock when i got it and soon there were 31s on it.

stock with 3" of lift and 32" BFG Ats
before that was stock with 31"s

then a number of changes began. the biggest was the SAS with a dana30 and 33s

after the thrid tranny broke i bought a new DD and thats when the fun began. my plan was to do a V8 drivetrain swap with 3/4 ton or heavier axles and big tires.

here is the primary donor vehicle

85 bronco with 351/C6 and what i think is a NP208 - it may be a bw 13-56 i will find out soon.
the bronco runs great! it has lots of power and runs very very smooth

my plans are simple. keep the motor smooth and strong but add an RV style cam for low end torque. i may do the efi swap down the road (look at http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.com/cgi-bin/mof.cgi ) if i find the carb is not up to it but since some people claim to go all over tellico with a carburated vehicle then it may stay carbed for a while.

this is what the dodge looked like

this is what it looks like now

ive been parting it out.

hereis the rear dana 60 that is going in the explorer, its from the dodge.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

heres the explorer at the moment

pretty huh?

heres a little snake that was with me while i was under the dodge yesterday. he got shortened by a few inches. go ahead and joke i just hate them being too close to me or my 2 boys.

my goal is to have it back on the trail in march. 3.5 months from now and not spend $1 out of the bank. everything is being built or traded from the dodge and bronco and purchases are from parts sales.

right now my plan is to get a divorced np205 from a dodge with the passenger side output and have a "doubler" tcase setup.

i want to set up a histeer crossover steering front.
i plan on running tierod above the leaf springs basically on top of the knuckles. ill find pics if anyone is interested.

dual shackle rear with link bars (cant find any online pics but this is super trick setup that i have a detailed article on) and revolver style shackle front (plan to copy a design from the TTC 2000 video that i have.)

i want to run some medium/big tires like 37s-40s. i really like the Pitbull Rockers. thinking of the 39.5x13.5x16.5 and run those on the stock rims until i can findsome hummer military beadlocks.

ill have the 60 mounted in the rear in the next day or 2. then ill start the engine swap.

any comments ideas? i respects you guys' opinions and suggestions.

note - this is going to be offroad function prioritized but plan on being able to drive it to town every now and then for fun or maybe to the gulf or whatever. i know that there are cheaper more practical ways to do this. my goal is to not "just get it going" i am basically planning on doing all the things that i have wanted to ever do to a trail rig particularily the explorer who is like a member of the family now.

i also want to make the rear top removeable and add a cage but thats down the road.

 

[DB_1]

Looks like you got your work cut out for you and then some! It'll be a hell of rig once it's all together though...good luck

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

thanks DB_1! nice pics btw. here in florida its mud and sand. we search for every rock and hill and ride them to death. we have some rocks but the mountains arent too far away in GA... so i want to have an all around kind of rig.

can someone confirm something for me... i have been told by my dad in law - a mechanic - that the 5.0 and 5.8 share the same basic block (difference mainly in the bottom end is crank (stroke), and bore,) but that the motor mounts should be the same... shouldnt i be able to use the explorer 5.0 motor mount then? the probelm is i dont see any conversion parts for IFS model exes and rangers so i am stuck researching and possibly fabbing some. i think the answer will be revealed when i get the 5.8 pulled and have 2 empty trucks to measure the mounts and frames and what not. who knows may be they will bolt up

any ideas? thanks

 

[Doug]

302s and 351 windsors are pretty much the same block, hell with adapters you can put 351 heads on a 302. I'm sure the motor mounts will be very similiar though you may have to build your own. I'd take a look at the motor mounts from a 5.0 explorer and see if you can make them work. I don't have if you've taken a look at the motor mounts yet but when i pulled the motor out of my old explorer the mounts are pretty simple. In the explorer they're pretty much a flat pad i beleive and then have 2 bolts on either side.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

yeah when i saw the stock 4.0 mounts i was pretty hopeful that if i had to i could build some. ive even considered cutting the section of frame off of the bronco with the mounts still attached and rewelding it into the ex. who knows i may do that anyway since i dont have an engine crossmember.

thanks for the info doug!

 

[MustangShane]

FYI the 302's and 351W are the same block. The 351W has a taller deck height and uses larger chambers to minimize compression. A good performance bump is to get 302 heads on a 351W. It raises the compression and gives you more power. But there are so many aftermarket heads out today that its almost pointless. I've done alot of work on the Windsor blocks. If you need any help feel free to PM me. The motor mounts the same its just taller. So you'll need to make sure your steering shaft will clear any headers or exhaust manifolds.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

thank you very very much! i was thinking down the road when/if i do the efi i would swap to GT heads or something else like edelbrock aluminum or whatever research shows to be the best in my case. thanks again for the good info.

 

[james t]

Yea, the 5 liter motor mounts will work fine. Itll be really tight around the A/C stuff, and you may have to cut a hole in the hood for the air cleaner... or atleast possibly notch out some of the underhood bracing.

You have an 85 model HO, which is one of the best 351W's ever made IMHO.

As far as running the 16.5's on stock wheels until you can get humvee's.... dont do it man. There is no safety ring on the 16.5" wheels and you wont be able to air down hardly at all.

As for keeping the carb- i have seen a backwards Qjet do some crazy stuff. The guy completely side flopped and it still ran. Of course, Qjets can be kinda tricky to tune. Since its gonna be a trail rig, have you thought about propane? Its a dirt cheap conversion and runs just like EFI. Im in the middle of hooking my bronco up right now.

 

[RiverRat]

Wow. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[Robb]

My nickel's worth of free advice..............pull the Ex body off, place Ex body on Bronco frame.

Good Luck dude! Sounds like an interesting project!




edit: and about the snake.................I have run my a$$ off from even smaller snakes. I hate those *******s!!!

 

[jimbo74]

that truck is going t orock!

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

was thinking that i would run a hose and filter (ala stock explorer w/kkm) hooked up to my booty fab snorkle - i wouldnt mind cutting a hole i was thinking that i could put a summit faky cowl or something.

dude that makes me feel great about the 85 351 being so good! i am very impressed with how easy and quickly it starts and smoothly it idles.

i have been warned on the stock 16.5s - i have seen the military beadlocks go as cheap as $270 for a set on pirate. saw some on ebay last week go for $500. im going to try and chance it until i get them - which maybe even before i get it together so it might not be an issue.

i seen propane online but never upclose. i may look into that. i suppose that you use a different carb? or an injector pump like diesel? its worth looking into.

the motor has the 4bbl holley. ive got a new edelbrock 600cfm 4bbl that was on teh dodge and a 4bbl qjet that was on the dodge. you have any details on that qjet setup? that sounds interesting!
thanks james!

Yea, the 5 liter motor mounts will work fine. Itll be really tight around the A/C stuff, and you may have to cut a hole in the hood for the air cleaner... or atleast possibly notch out some of the underhood bracing.

You have an 85 model HO, which is one of the best 351W's ever made IMHO.

As far as running the 16.5's on stock wheels until you can get humvee's.... dont do it man. There is no safety ring on the 16.5" wheels and you wont be able to air down hardly at all.

As for keeping the carb- i have seen a backwards Qjet do some crazy stuff. The guy completely side flopped and it still ran. Of course, Qjets can be kinda tricky to tune. Since its gonna be a trail rig, have you thought about propane? Its a dirt cheap conversion and runs just like EFI. Im in the middle of hooking my bronco up right now.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

Wow. Good luck, keep us posted.

will do! thank you.

My nickel's worth of free advice..............pull the Ex body off, place Ex body on Bronco frame.

Good Luck dude! Sounds like an interesting project!

edit: and about the snake.................I have run my a$$ off from even smaller snakes. I hate those *******s!!!

ive thought about doing that but... but... i just dont know. talk me into it.
you would have loved the 5' rattler i killed a few months ago.

that truck is going t orock!

thank you thank you come on over for a ride when im done.

 

[Bronco638]

Gabe,
Looks like you used the swing-set to pull the body off the Dodge! Gotta love having lots of space to spread out and work, eh?

Seriously, looks like a great, fun project and I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for updates. The Bronco looked like it was pretty nice.

BTW, your old 1354 is sitting in the basement, patiently waiting for me to install the 2" BL. After that, it's going in. Thank God for heated garages (10º F here today).

See ya, Dave.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

hey dave,
glad to hear you didnt get frozen to death.

the bronco was pretty nice. it had no brakes and a few small things like the gas guage and water temp guage didnt work. the seat bracket was broken but the captains chairs are so much more comfy than my explorer chairs and it has a clarion in dash cd player. the guy i got it from cut his finger off in a table saw and was out of work right before the holidays with 2 little girls and a wife. he is back at work but obviously took a hit so it worked out that he got rid of a truck he never drives and a few dollars to spend on his family and he also gave me a deal and i know that meant something to him.

get that tcase in there already!

its pretty cold here today too - its 72F... brrrrrr thank God for AC!

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

quick update:
now that xmas is over i feel like i can get going again. i have been labelling wires and hoses on the explorer and the bronco. i feel pretty good about the motor mount issue but time wil tell once the motor is going in. i plan to take the entire body off of the explorer and set it to the side. dont ask me how but with a winch and a tractor i may get it done.

does anyone know where the wire to the tach is on the explorer? and also on the bronco? i think the bronco tach is connected to a sensor on the distributor but am not sure.

i have been sitting here scratching my head on the AC. should i keep the explorer AC stuff intact and just figure out a way to reuse my compressor with the 351? the compressor is in the same location but the 351 uses vbelt and the 4.0 uses sepentine...can i change the compressor clutch without issue? the hoses and wires do not look compatible.

ideas please?

 

[Bronco638]

I had to wait for Santa to drop off his stuff to see if I happened to get a 2" BL (I didn't but did get a remote filter kit ). So, now I need to order the 2" BL and tranny temp gauge. Then I'll be able to work on the t-case install.

72º -

As for your most recent questions, sorry, I cannot help. Tip: Don't use the swing set as a gantry to pull the Ex body off!

D.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

good tip - pulling the tcase out of the dodge pulled it in half so its not useable anymore anyway!

i was thinking - disconnect it fully - slide 2 pieces of 3" square tube i have sitting here chain them together, put my snatch block on the i beam in the barn, have winch on the reciever on the back of my f150 and hoist it off. somehow roll the explorer chassis out of the way (f150 would be sitting there) lower the body or slide it over on the saw horse table. get the engine in and mounted and have the body back on in a day or 2. the boom my dad in law has on his bog john deere still isnt quite big enough to hoist off the body... or may be it is... looking at this pic i think it may be big enough. im thinking it will need to go up about 1.5' or so off the frame to clear.
http://www.flexplorers.com/photopost/data/3018/3farmingwinch-med.jpg
and if i did that i could do it from the side or even hoist then drive off and set it somewhere.

just trying to think things through.

 

[410Fortune]

How about 4-6 high lift jacks???
Round em up?