Dreaming of one mean 4.0: The Build up - Creager's 1992 Sport

[jd4242]

sorry about the BIG ASS pic,wasn't trying to take up 6pages on this forum,cant figure out how to post small pic!!

 

[KLJ777]

Mean (and Cheap) Build Up

Howdy,

I would like to do as detailed a build up as I have seen on this thread (THANKS ALL, GREAT WORK !!) I have 2 small problems Time and Money. I have about a week off in Feb and am looking to keep it under a grand. I have a 93 Explorer with the 4.0. I have 5" Lift and 32's on it now and it is a turd. I have seen the jobs you folks have done and have seen some mixed results. I was planning on:

• Pulling the motor
• Freshen all belt's, hoses, plugs, wires, vacuum lines etc.
• Pulling the heads
• Replacing the cam and lifters (not sure with what yet)
• CAI
• Cat

Back Flowmaster exhaust
If I find a large sum of unclaimed money I would really like to change the gears, but haven't found that money yet.

Can I get some thoughts, advice, opinions ??

 

[Josh]

Well you will probably want a comp cams 410 cam to start with, which will require longer push rods. You can get the cam from summit for about 250 or so. That will give you a little more torque. I would recomend that you aquire all the boltons first, ie; MAF, throttle body, CAI, chip and exhaust. Don't bother with headers. Don't do the chip until you have done everything else.

Find some 2nd gen heads and put them on a 1st gen block to get more compression unless you got money for machine work. invest your money on the heads. Either learn how to port and polish yourself or have it done. I have also heard that you can use SOHC pistons in the OHV block which are flat tops. I don't remember what that does to the compression though.

Bottom line you will need money. You might be able to find some of these items used and save a few bucks here and there. I have found some jewels at the junk yard for cheap. My TB, MAF and cam is already pushing a grand. You could get the SOHC pistons from the junkyard for cheap probably.

The last concern you would have is the transmission. The A4LD is not exactly known for its strength. I rebuilt my trans myself for around 600 an some change. It would be better to just do a 700R4 swap.

So I guess it all depends on how much power you want to get out of the motor. Now if you are luck and have some fabrication skills, you could just do a 5.0 swap from a V8 explorer for probably 1500 or so depending on parts sourcing. Oh yea and new lifters will probably cost 300+ and maybe closer to 400+.

Horsepower cost money, how much do you want? I had a supercharger that I was going to adapt but have since gave up. I still have it if your feeling froggy

Maybe better off just buying a decent set of gears and a couple of lockers and just have a good trail rig. Lets face it, if you want to something to suprise the ricers, get an F250 PSD and a chip with 120HP/195TQ tune and watch there expression when a 7500lb truck walks by them. Thats what I did. My exploder is retired as a daily driver.

 

[jd4242]

since this is a 92 thread what and where did you get a plug to plug up the egr hole in your headers, if they had one ,since 92s dont have egr motors

 

[Josh]

The BBK headers come with an EGR port as well as 2 O2 bungs. They also had a plug for the EGR port and one for one of the O2 bungs. I got th headers for 225! That was a steal 4 years ago.

 

[jd4242]

yea i got the pacesetters and i found that oil drain plugs work to plug the holes, they are 18mm-1.5 for o2 and 22mm-1.5 for the egr. just got it started tonight with just headers on it and MAN she was loud and sounded mean as hell,did not sound like no v6 i have ever heard,haha or that the neighbors have head since i woke everyone up on the block hahah.it started on the 4th try. if anyone needs help on any 1st gen 4.0 build let me know got all spec and web pages for ever thing and once again thanks to all that has helped me!!! wwooooohhhhhooooo she runs!!!!!!!

 

[Josh]

Congrats

 

[KLJ777]

Thanks for the advice Josh ! Now if you help me rob a bank (actually time is tougher than money) I can do what you say. I think I may do aminimum freshen and look hard at gears. The truck get's 5K a year 300 mi is off road. I guess I gotta make some decisions. :-(

 

[Josh]

yea i got the pacesetters

Be carefule of those pacesetters. I hear they rust out easy. The ceramic coated BBK's sh no signs of anything. They also seemed to lower underhood tamps a bit. Now all you need is my Eaton supercharger to complete the package

KLJ777,
I spent a lot of time rumaging through the junkyards, ebay, craigslist and for sale trade forums to find some deals. Be patient and I'm sure things will pop up. If your gonna have the motor out for a refresh, it would be the best/cheapest time to put in a cam and maybe the head work. There are how too's for doing port and polishing as well as gasket matching. Research, research, research.

 

[jd4242]

yea they are extremely hot and i painted them with some flame proof ceramic paint but my dumb ass didn't sand all the old paint off to the bare metal and after running them for 30 mins all the paint burned right off!!! i need to find some new rocker assembly the thing is taping loud in the same spot as before i think its a bad rocker because i replace everything else on it, yea yea should have done it in the first place or the 2nd time when i had to pull it back apart because the rods was to small.so anyone know where i can get stock size rocker assembly at?????? here i thought i was done!!!!!

 

[Josh]

There is a company called Delta cams They used to have a 4.0 refresh kit for the rockers. Thier site is under contruction, but the contact info is there. They also do pushrods.

http://www.deltacam.com/

 

[jd4242]

yea I just saw that in someones post im going to give them a call,I allready got rods made from smith bros.thanks for the site tho seems like a lot of people use them

 

[jd4242]

hey josh why are you not using your supercharger, sure would like to have one!!!! "SOMEDAY"I didn't know they even made one for the 1st gen,is it a direct bolt on?how much more power does it add

 

[jd4242]

what size push rods did you use josh?

 

[r37ribution]

since this is a 92 thread what and where did you get a plug to plug up the egr hole in your headers, if they had one ,since 92s dont have egr motors

Just cut the EGR pipe right after the fitting for the headers, crush and weld it together. That's what I did, works like a charm. Go to the hardware store and buy a rubber plug that expands when you tighen the screw for the intake manifold.

 

[jd4242]

92s don't have a egr pipe or a hole in the intake manifold and if you go any where to buy anything you should just buy oil drain plugs that go in oil pans they fit right in the exhaust and look clean!!

 

[Makahveli]

Wow, I really need to get back involved in threads like these, I'm feeling too lazy to sit here and read every page and unlike creager I just about did it all but also have a centrifugal supercharger!!! So after he got his work done did he have the tune done for his chip via mail or a tuner did it and if so was it dynotuned? For any of you that have made it to a similiar stage like this please give your input!!!

 

[KLJ777]

Well It's February

I'm starting to pull her apart tomorrow. Decided to start with the basics, compression test, major tune up, CAI and Cat back. If compression is bad I will tear in deeper and do more. Really looking at gears, does anyone know stock 91 , 4.0 ratio's? Any resources for chips and gears.

Thanks as Always:roll:

 

[TennTechMan]

There were different gear ratios available for a 91 Ex. You should be able to find your axle code, and search around this site to figure out what it means. I think the axle code is on the driver's side door jam.

For changing the gears. If you're looking for something that was available in a stock Ex, I recommend pulling a axle assembly from a junk yard. I got one for $150. Get one from a later model with rear disk brakes too if you can find it. For even lower gears, you'll have to go aftermarket.

 

[Dre]

I know it's not the right spot to write about this but... you can find a stock 4.10 rear axle with disk brakes for your "X" at the junk. This will be a direct fit under your truck. As for the front you'll have to upgrade front gears. That's the best way.