My 5.0 swap with details

[Hossexplorer]

Well I blew a head gasket over a year ago in my 4.0, so I dumped J&W Block sealer in the coolant and it got me another 15,000 miles out the ol' V6! Well worth the money. A couple weeks ago it gave up on me again so, I finally made the jump and bought a 5.0/ AOD from an '86 mustang. I am very excited and I will try to give as many details as I can for others to use.

A little back story... I bought my stock '93 XLT in 2006 at a local dealership with a 'rebuilt' motor at 126,000 miles. Since then I have pushed the odometer to 244,000. It has been a great daily driver and off road vehicle since then. I love my Explorer and I love V8's, together I should be very happy!

So far I have added leather power seats out of a 2000 explorer, 2 inch suspension lift, 32" tires, front receiver for a winch,CB and sub with nice stereo. I started to pull the v6 tonight so I figured I should start a build thread too. Here are some pics of the Ex and things I've done with it over the years.

When I bought it
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Oregon High Desert
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Hells Canyon with my buddy and his jeep
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Me and my friend's Bronco
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Going to an Island Hot Springs
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Picking up the 5.0!!!
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[Benjam]

Looking forward to watching your progress! I like the direction you took with your explorer, kind of an all around useful truck.

Benjam

 

[blueka]

why not use a 5.0 and trans from an explorer? why the mustang route?


Si

 

[mr cribb]

subscribing

 

[Hossexplorer]

why not use a 5.0 and trans from an explorer? why the mustang route?


Si

Three reasons why I am using the mustang setup:

1. I live in an area with only 3 junkyards within a 100 mile radius, this is the first time I have ever seen a v8 mustang, let alone a v8 explorer. Very hard to find here.

2. The mustang has a C5 overdrive auto, which I have read will bolt up to the factory BW 1354 transfer case (hopefully). I will check that soon.

3. And of course, The price was right!


BTW, if anyone sees that I am making an obvious mistake please let me know!

 

[Turdle]

How will you bolt a 2wd transmission to a transfer case? I think you will need a 4wd tail housing, which means installing a 4wd output shaft in the transmission.

Going with the mustang engine will make some things easier, some more difficult.

Seth427 and scottb have swap threads in both directions. I suggest reading through both if them

 

[Hossexplorer]

From what I understand, I can use the tailshaft housing from the A4ld on the c5. Maybe, I'm just dreaming but if it won't work I will figure out something else. I will check out the other builds too, thanks.

 

[Southern_Pride]

Thats and AOD. Not a C5.

 

[Hossexplorer]

Thats and AOD. Not a C5.

It appears you are correct and I made a mistake

So I have some questions..

Can I use the shaft and housing from my 4x4 A4ld in the 2x4 AOD to bolt up my BW1354?

Is there a transmission out there that will bolt up the my BW1354 without an adapter?


If worse comes to worse, I am going to just put an NP435/ NP208 combo behind it ( I have one)..

 

[blueka]

I found it easier to have a whole V8 Explorer to swap over everything to my Explorer... that way, you know everything is going to work straight off the bat, and isn't going to give you a headache, unless, you want to modify most things and give it that more unique touch...

But, either way, best of luck

Si

 

[Southern_Pride]

The A4LD shaft will not fit in an AOD. They did have a 4x4 version on the AOD found in F 150's and some Bronco's. You need the tailshaft and adapter from that. The tailshaft housing may be different between 2wd and 4wd as well. If your going to be rough on the truck you'll want to upgraded some parts in the AOD anyway. http://clickclickracing.com/ has alot of AOD info. Search the stickies and you will learn a lot.

 

[PhantomFord]

Are you going with a manual or auto?

 

[Hossexplorer]

Are you going with a manual or auto?

I have decided to go manual, but can't make a decision on which.
I'm either doing an NP435 or the zf5. Right now I have an NP435 and NP208 transfer case in good working order that I drove before I pulled it.
Also, at the J/Y there is a zf5 and BW1356 behind a 5.8L with 150,000 miles but unknown condition for $200...it looks clean atleast haha.

I like driving an NP435, but after seeing your build I got really excited about the zf5.
Right now the EX has 32" tires and 3.27 gears... I think the 4 speed would not be bad to drive on the highway with those gears or even 33" tires on there.
But, if I don't change gears I think the 5 speed might be too low of rpm's.

Any opinions on which I should choose??

 

[PhantomFord]

I have decided to go manual, but can't make a decision on which.
I'm either doing an NP435 or the zf5. Right now I have an NP435 and NP208 transfer case in good working order that I drove before I pulled it.
Also, at the J/Y there is a zf5 and BW1356 behind a 5.8L with 150,000 miles but unknown condition for $200...it looks clean atleast haha.

I like driving an NP435, but after seeing your build I got really excited about the zf5.
Right now the EX has 32" tires and 3.27 gears... I think the 4 speed would not be bad to drive on the highway with those gears or even 33" tires on there.
But, if I don't change gears I think the 5 speed might be too low of rpm's.

Any opinions on which I should choose??

I chose the zf because I decided I didn't need 5 gears for acceleration it's not a race car, it's a 4 wheel drive. 1st-4th gear ratios of the stock 4 speed auto behind the awd explorer 5.0 match pretty closlty to 2nd - 5th on the zf. So shift points match the engines normal operating range. The name of the game was low end torque and gear reduction. 5th on the freeway should be reasonable with stock gearing and 33's and should still be fine with 4.88's and 35's

 

[jrgaylor]

I have decided to go manual, but can't make a decision on which.
I'm either doing an NP435 or the zf5. Right now I have an NP435 and NP208 transfer case in good working order that I drove before I pulled it.
Also, at the J/Y there is a zf5 and BW1356 behind a 5.8L with 150,000 miles but unknown condition for $200...it looks clean atleast haha.

I like driving an NP435, but after seeing your build I got really excited about the zf5.
Right now the EX has 32" tires and 3.27 gears... I think the 4 speed would not be bad to drive on the highway with those gears or even 33" tires on there.
But, if I don't change gears I think the 5 speed might be too low of rpm's.

Any opinions on which I should choose??

There is a guy up here in WA that is trying to sale the adapter you need to make that AOD work with the 1350/1354 transfercase. the last I saw he was asking $375 for it

 

[Hossexplorer]

There is a guy up here in WA that is trying to sale the adapter you need to make that AOD work with the 1350/1354 transfercase. the last I saw he was asking $375 for it

Thanks for posting that, I did actually see that a while back.So I contacted AA and they told me I needed the early AOD adapter kit #50-8403 .

 

[97xlt4.0]

Wow looks like a fun swap! I see you are from my old stomping grounds, too.

Good luck, can't wait to see the progress!

 

[Hossexplorer]

Ok, time for an update..

Just so everyone knows, I have not given up! I got side-tracked on another project and got a good deal on a new engine for my International Harvester 1210 pick-up. If anyone is interested in reading it, here's the link.

http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114540



So far I have de-greased and resealed the entire engine. When I got the timing cover and oil pan off, the timing chain had too much play for my comfort, so I replaced it. Otherwise the engine looked good, it even still had slight cross-hatching in the cylinders Next I am going to clean the injectors and put new seals on them. I ended up painting the engine Ford Grey and the intake and valve covers Aluminum with a light dusting of Grey over it. How does it look everyone? I'm not quite sure if I personally like it..


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The V6 is completely unhooked and drained of fluid, ready to be pulled. I think I will wait till it warms up next week. Tonight will be -8 F with a High of 14 F tomorrow, it makes it very hard to warm the garage!

 

[Hossexplorer]

Ok, the 5.0 is finally in! Here are the pics to prove it. I used mustang 5.0 convertible motor mounts and used a heat gun to form the heater/ac box a little. I need some help to figure out my drain plug problem, it is right above the axle pivot bracket. Would an aftermarket lift bracket solve my problem? Please chime in if you have advice or a pic of an aftermarket pivot bracket.







Would these brackets make a difference? I really don't want to have the oil pan modified..


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[97xlt4.0]

Could also check into getting an oil pan from a 5.0 explorer. IIRC, this is a mustang engine right? Would you be able to use one of those fumoto drain valves?