Andrew's 1996 Explorer XLT

Well I've been gathering information and giving information here for a while now and just found this thread!

Anyways, I got my explorer when I was 16 as my first vehicle 6.5 years ago with 61k on it from my Grandpa who recently then couldn't drive anymore. Ever since I got it I have made a project out of it. First it started with just fixing some spot rust and waxing and the story just gets longer!!

Since then over the years I have done many mods including:

-Gibson cat-back exhaust
-K&N intake system
-Custom electric fan set up with a painless controller. (I used a dual fan set-up from a 97 ford contour for clearance reasons)
-dimond-cut head lights
-"lego" tail lights, lol (I didn't realize they looked that that until I got them, but I've grown to like them)
-6000K HID's
-Blue LED grill & interrior lights
-LED gauge cluster conversion
-Eagle Alloy 17" rims with 245/70R17 Nitto Terra Grappler tires
-Aftermarket stainless steel running boards to prevent moisture/ salt being trapped against the body
-Pioneer 3100dvd double din radio
-Pioneer 6X8 door speakers and a 10" Audio Bahn sub
-Dynamat in all the doors including the hatch
-Grover 1650 Airhorn with a VIAIR 350C compressor and 2 custom steel air tanks
-Torsion Twist front lift and air shocks in the rear - soon to be custom shackels
-Changed the gear ratio from 3.55 to 3.73LS

Besides all of the mods, I've also replaced the head gaskets at 76k just to have them blow again at 91k so I put a new to me rebuilt engine in. This past summer I had to pull it again to replace the timing chain and tensioner. While it was out I found a bad push rod and rocker. Obviously I replaced those too. Note to self, never buy a reman engine from a huge corporation again (it was Proformance Powertrain if you were wondering). Next time I'll do it myself! Now all that frustration aside, it is running great again! I have done all of the work myself, except the engine rebuild... never never again.

My grandpa passed away 2.5 years ago so since then I've been trying to keep it as nice as possible. I replaced the rocker panels and dog legs myself 2 summers ago but they weren't welded in correctly ( I used mostly epoxy to prevent rust so the paint cracked at some of the joints but I'll get it fixed up right some day!

To further prevent it from rusting out I bought a 99 2wd ranger to drive as my every day crappy weather vehicle. We have a lot of salt on the roads up here in Northwest Ohio. I miss the 4wd in the snow though!!

In the future I plan to finish/ redo the rust repairs and have all the imperfect areas repainted. I'm a bit of a perfectionist if you couldn't tell

Here are a few pictures of it now with 123k on it. I'll get more but I didn't realize I only had 2 on Photo Bucket..

These pictures are when I got the rims and tires just about a year ago with the rockers and dog legs already replaced.

Since then I drove it to San Antonio, TX and back but not much else so I only put about 5k on it last year and it is currently sitting in the same place in the barn as this picture was taken. lol

EDIT: Since I've created this thread I have now swaped in a supercharged 347 with a TOD4406 transfercase. That progress can be seen here: 5.0 Swap Thread

 

[ahodges]

The block and the heads are supposed to be untouched as far as milling the surfaces goes, but I've never been happy with how high up the V the intake sets. If I were to guess, the bottom of the intake is 3/8" from the top of the bock. What were the symptoms of the intake vacuum leak?

 

[delexploder]

has your block been decked? also be careful with a sbf , recheck your head torque if you have been able to gain on the intake bolts ,

 

[ahodges]

Block has not been decked. What do you mean by be careful with a small block ford?

 

[delexploder]

You should always retorque the heads after the intake on a sbf , the intake will push the heads outward , 3/8 gap also seems kinda big , are you running gaskets on the china rails or just rtv?

 

[4pointslow]

The symptoms were rough running and lean conditions etc.
To diagnose it you pulled the PCV out so it wasn't sucking on the crankcase, put your finger over the hole to close it up and then pulled the oil cap off and put your hand over that and would feel vacuum sucking the oil cap down. Your hand could be substituted by a vacuum gauge as well.

 

[ahodges]

I am just using RTV on the ends at the valley. Thanks Jon, I'll test that out. For the last couple years it has sounded like it has a vacuum leak when the engine is at operating temperature, but I have not been able to identify a leak in any of the vacuum lines. With the cam it has, it is hard to tell if is runs rough, but the wideband has always bounced around a lot at idle especially. I figured that was just a product of the aggressive cam lift and overlap.

 

[ahodges]

First off, I can't believe it's been 2 years since i posted on here. Update on the coolant issue. Ever since i re-torqued my intake a couple times, the coolant leak and usage have seemed to stop. It also seems to be better if I run the truck at least every month or 2 to keep it sealed up.

Latest upgrade was a cowl hood. I purchased it from Fiber Concepts in PA who was theh original supplier of them to Explorer Express back in the day. The fit and finish of it is really nice, especially for an aftermarket fiberglass hood. I did have to adjust the hood hinges down and tweak the fenders around to get all of the gaps to line up right, but all-in-all it is a nice fit. Here are a couple of quick pictures I took this weekend after having it out for the first time in 2 months.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i forgot that you bought a hood for it! lol. you also forgot to mention the head lights and corners as well. is that hood making a big difference in cooling as well? was it also fairly strait or did it need a lot of bodywork?

 

[ahodges]

It is nice quality and straight; minimal body work required. However, I did have to do a lot of adjusting to get the fenders to line up. I had the hood painted as time for me is short these days. The body shop got the color wrong so I just took the whole truck to them to look at. They are going to re-do the paint next week.

It clearly lets more hot air out the back of the hood when parked. I haven't driven it much to tell how much it helps with cooling yet. The first long run I had with it was on Friday night and it seemed to help with the temp. (held at 192 w/o a/c and 198 w/ a/c). Thermostat is 180 but I also didn't notice the cooling fans needing to run either. Ambient temperature was around 77 - 80.

I forgot to post about the headlights and projectors. I took them apart like you did and put Morimoto projectors in the housings. I actually installed those 2 years ago. I can't believe how time fly's. I made the mesh insert for the bumper myself and put new LED "running" lights behind it this past winter.

 

[ahodges]

Here are the pictures of the mesh insert for the bumper and the lights I put behind it.

 

[ahodges]

I'm doing this in reverse order, but here are the pictures of the projector headlight conversion as well. I started off with regular black aftermarket housings, took the clear lenses off of them (warming them up in the oven, then carefully prying them off), then painted the interior darker black except for the reflector part (because i scratched it while test fitting the projectors), modified the surround of the projector to fit, then installed the Morimoto projectors. Aiming them was tricky and took some patience, but it turned out really nice.

 

[ahodges]

I made an amateur mistake and over tightened the pinion nut on the front differential the last time I took it apart. The result was destroyed pinion bearings and contaminated the rest of the bearings in the axle. So.. I rebuilt the whole front axle and changed the gear ratio from 4:10 to 4:11. I used a Motive gear set to get the 4:11 ratio so it would match my rear axle ratio perfectly. The only reason I left it as a 4:10 originally was because the shop I had do the re-gearing last time said 4:11 wasn't offered for a Dana 35 (well that was B.S.). Before the weather got crappy, I was able to test drive it and put about 100 miles on it. So far so good and zero vibrations which is the first time I've been able to say that since I did the engine and 4406 swap!

 

[410Fortune]

4.1. It offered for Dana 35 sheesh what are those dudes smoking

There is no difference between 4.1 and 4.11 just fyi not that the truck will care about

Regular rotation Dana 35 gears 3.27 3.55 3.73 4.1 4.55 4.88 and 5.13 should all be available

Truck is super sharp! I love the headlights and the cowl hood.
Makes me miss my old 96! I still have my old headlights and tail lights in case I ever build a gem ii again. Good show!

 

[ahodges]

Thank you! I did count the pinion and ring gear teeth between the Dana 4.10 that it had in it vs. this 4.11 and there is a difference. The pinion went from 10 teeth to 9 teeth; the ring changed from 41 teeth on the 4.10 to 37 teeth on the 4.11.

I noticed a difference in that there are less harmonics now with the matching 4.11 ratio on the 9" rear.

 

[410Fortune]

Oooooooh I meant if somebody is selling 4.1 and 4.11 gears I figured they were the same gear set just worded differently leaving out the thousands decimal point

 

[vroomzoomboom]

4.1. It offered for Dana 35 sheesh what are those dudes smoking

There is no difference between 4.1 and 4.11 just fyi not that the truck will care about

Regular rotation Dana 35 gears 3.27 3.55 3.73 4.1 4.55 4.88 and 5.13 should all be available

Truck is super sharp! I love the headlights and the cowl hood.
Makes me miss my old 96! I still have my old headlights and tail lights in case I ever build a gem ii again. Good show!

jamie, you have to see andy's truck in person. granted ifs been a number of years, and i havent seen it in person since he got the headlights and cowl, but his truck is major clean in, out, and upside down. thats no joke either.

 

[ahodges]

We need to change that and both make a trip to a car show together!

 

[410Fortune]

I’m going to
Magic eraser my two tone leather seats… there is some grime in the cracks I have not been able to get out. I bet mr clean does it!!

I stayed awake last night thinking about what difference a driveshaft or tire would think of 4.1 vs 4.1111111111 and basically came to the conclusion that it is none lol

 

[ahodges]

I understand what you mean, but at 70mph I could tell a difference from when I engaged 4x4 (brown wire mod) when it had the 4.10 in the front. Now with the 4.11 in the front I can't tell when it is engaged or not. With the 4.10 the vibration/ harmonics would change between having 4x4 engaged vs. not.

 

[410Fortune]

I miss my old 96 that thing was absolute tank of a vehicle!!!

Keep up the great work!!