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Engine swap

lunsfordfam04

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City, State
southern California
Year, Model & Trim Level
1992 ford explorer 4x4
I have a 92 Ford explorer 4x4 that has bad exhaust valve and probably be easier to do an engine swap.... I know somebody that said I could have a 95 Ford explorer 4x4 and wanted to know if it would be possible aneasy swap 95 into a 92?
 



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Well a 95 has EGR and a 92 doesn't. Just use the intake, exhaust manifolds and the electrical harness from the 92 and you should be golden. I wouldn't swap heads though. The pistons and heads changed design from 92 to 95. They can physically interchange, but the result would be an incredibly high compression ratio requiring high octane fuel to run. Just FYI.
 












The short block on all OHV 4.0s should interchange. I'm not certain about the OHV and SOHC blocks interchanging together. They do look am awful lot alike. If I remember correctly there was a 91TM head casting and a 93TM these fit all 91-94 ranger, explorer engines and the aeorstar through 97. The 95 and later Explorers and rangers with OHV had a 95TM casting that had very different flow properties and I've read that you will melt the pistons down if you use the later heads on an earlier engine. It has to do with PCM tuning.

If this is a daily driver, you may chance your luck with a donor head, or order a new set. The next engine I'm rebuilding is a victim of overheat. It's going to get new heads.
 






If he is just swapping engines it's no big deal with the changes I suggested above. Just don't swap the heads.
 












If he is just swapping engines it's no big deal with the changes I suggested above. Just don't swap the heads.

Unless he runs the engine as a long block with the 92 PCM. Definitely don't swap heads as mentioned before. I believe the initial issue he posted is bad valves? I think there are two threads involved at the moment with slightly different information.
 






Unless he runs the engine as a long block with the 92 PCM. Definitely don't swap heads as mentioned before. I believe the initial issue he posted is bad valves? I think there are two threads involved at the moment with slightly different information.

He can run it on the 92 PCM without issue. The early OBD I PCMs are pretty forgiving. One thing I forgot to mention though is you will have to swap the injectors over as well. 92 injectors use a different pulse width than later versions. So in summation, swap:

Injectors
Intake manifold
Wiring harnesses
Exhaust manifolds
Oil Pan (2nd gen OHV's didn't have the low oil sensor in the oil pan that the 91-94 models did unless they had an information console)
 






Cool, I read somewhere that using the later heads on the earlier system would destroy the engine. It had something to do with flow rates and the tuning. They said within a few hundred miles, the pistons would melt down. Now I'm wondering if it's the other way around. Either way one should be cautious when swapping components around.
 






Yeah that's why I said don't put later gen heads on an older engine. The compression gets ridiculous due to the later head design and older piston style, but direct whole engine swap will be fine, the OHV made about the same HP through its entire run. The 2nd gen heads bumped up 5HP (whoopty-do :rolleyes:). These engines, for a V6, are good for one thing... low end grunt. You want anything else go V8 or the SOHC.
What's interesting is that you look at most V6 engines today and they make way more HP than TQ and you have to spool them up pretty high to get there. 4.0 OHV gets its max torque around 2500 rpm; that's inline 6 territory.

Not that Explorers out the gate were ever spectacularly fast. I think the SOHC got the best 0-60 at about 8 seconds, give or take. My current first gen on 33's 0-60 is pretty much measured with an hourglass. :laugh:
 






So basically we said the same thing, not to use the later heads. If he decides to repair his engine he should look for the proper heads and not use the 95TM castings or newer on the old block.

With that said, are the pistons different in the 95 and newer engines? Is that why he could transplant a whole engine? You mentioned a higher compression ratio. Is that accomplished in the shape of the piston? I have not had a second gen 4.0 apart. I may be getting a 96 with a V8 soon, but that will be the first 2 gen I've messed with.

BTW, I love the 1gen limiteds. Mine is white with gray interior. You lucked out on those new seats!
 






With that said, are the pistons different in the 95 and newer engines? Is that why he could transplant a whole engine?

Exactly!

You mentioned a higher compression ratio. Is that accomplished in the shape of the piston?

Yes. The shape changed as well as the head. Dished piston vs flat top, IIRC. I forget which is the older style. Regardless, you have to change the size of the combustion chamber relative to the space gained or taken away by the change in piston head to maintain the same compression. Using a flat top piston with a head designed for a dish style decreases the size of the combustion chamber thus increasing the compression.

BTW, I love the 1gen limiteds. Mine is white with gray interior. You lucked out on those new seats!

Thanks!
 






electronic wise can I put a 95 in a 94 with egr ?
 






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