97' Mounty 5.0 Stroker

[HighRoad]

I recently bought a high mileage 97' mountaineer with the 5.0. The truck will be getting long travel suspension and a stroker motor to motivate it. I plan to swap either a manual shift t-case out of a f-150 or a 4spd atlas to get lowrange/two wheel drive.

Not sure if I am going to stick with a 347/stock block or spring for a dart block and go 363ci.
I want to keep ac etc. so do not want to get to carried away with the mods to the motor. The motor will be built to make torque, as this is what this heavy truck can use in the high drag offroad world. I am not too concerned about the motor breathing above 5000-5500rpm.

Would you keep the stock upper and lower intake? The expo. intakes seem to be sought after in the mustang performance world. Do you think that they will choke the displacement I am after with the stoker (not after real high revs)? I think I read that the 5.0 expos had 65mmTB? Do I need to go to a larger TB, MAF and injectors?

I most likely will go with alum. heads although the gt-40p's don't seem to be too bad of a head.

I have not looked very closely but the exhaust on this mounty appears to be some sort of "header", it does not look like a manifold. Did they ever come stock with headers? The Torque Monster headers seem to be about the only choice for the expos. Is there no simple way to make mustang shorty headers fit, even if replacing the whole exhaust system?

Lots of questions here..... Give me a recipe of what you would do starting with a 347-363 stroker bottom end interms of fuel/computer/induction/exhaust.

Almost forgot. I think it has the 4r70w trans???? Is this a fairly stout trans. Can they be modified to take more hp/torque if needed?

Thanks

 

[techieman33]

The stock block is good for about 500hp, ditch the heads and intake they're ok for a 302, but won't cut it for a stroker. You have a tubular style manifold, it's garbage. It's pinched down pretty bad and doesn't breathe well enough for a stock 302 let alone a stroker. For transfer case the 4406 out of am f-150 or expidition is a pretty much a bolt in swap. The trans is pretty strong, it's a newer aod-e, and there are plenty of parts to beef it up.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

In case you don't know all stroker cranks are 28oz balance. The Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0 are 50oz balance. You will need to have your balancer drilled to a 28oz balance. You must use the balancer for the Mountaineer 5.0 since it is DIS and the crank trigger is part on the balancer.

Mustang headers will not work period. People have tried and given up.

 

[HighRoad]

Thanks Dan,
I did not realize the balance issue. The Ford Racing crate motor cranks (302's) have a neutral balance. The 347 crank says 28oz imbalance. I believe the 351w in my cobra is 50oz so I used a 50oz flywheel......
So, does the stock motor in the mounty have a neutral balance crank or is it 50oz balance and the balancer then, well, balances it?

Edit.....
Did some searching and found this thread. It answers some of my questions
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228902&highlight=ford+explorer+crank+balance

 

[reserved50]

umm i see lots of problems here, for starters your 351W is 28oz, if you put a 50oz on it im sure it'll break the crank sooner or later, unless for some strange reason someone changed the balance to 50oz.
What everyone else said about the stroker, you need better heads, intake, cam, headers, tune etc, and minimum 30lb injectors (24s might be pushing it), also get a 255l fuel pump. Look at spending well over 6 grand for something decent for about 450hp without nitrous or blowers etc.

 

[HighRoad]

umm i see lots of problems here, for starters your 351W is 28oz, if you put a 50oz on it im sure it'll break the crank sooner or later, unless for some strange reason someone changed the balance to 50oz.
What everyone else said about the stroker, you need better heads, intake, cam, headers, tune etc, and minimum 30lb injectors (24s might be pushing it), also get a 255l fuel pump. Look at spending well over 6 grand for something decent for about 450hp without nitrous or blowers etc.

I stand corrected, my 351w is 28oz and thats the flywheel I used. Guess I have spent too much time looking at 8.2 deck stuff lately.......

Thanks for the info on injector size/pump size etc. Any thoughts on TB size? Is stock 65mm?
What upper/lower efi intake? Is it a problem getting the stock vacuum lines/sensors hooked back up with an aftermarket intake?

I run the powerjection III EFI on my 351w. Pretty basic and clean. It is not cheap, but if you went to a stand alone efi, you would not have to worry about the crank trigger on the balancer, custom tune etc. It also would look a little different than the "comb over" ford efi stuff.

But, does the the tranny computer take data from the engine electronics?????
Just putting my thoughts together.......

 

[reserved50]

stock efi is fine just search on here for someone to tune it, the trans is all electronic unless you want to convert it to non electronic by changing the valve body etc. For the intake some people argue here that you need lots of torque for some reason and you need long runner intakes. If you arent going all out the stock intake with afr 165s or edelbrock performers etc is plenty with a 65mm tb. If you need more maybe an Edelbrock Vic series intake with 70mm tb and afr 205 heads, you'll have to rev the thing to almost 7K to get the power out of it and you'll need to get a high end convertor with anti balloon plates etc. The maf meter I would get a lightning 90mm (may need adapter harness, I forget). It will not run if you change the injectors or MAF meter or both without a tune.