New 2001 5.0L Mountaineer - Have a few questions.

[Arctic-Thunder]

Well first things first, got a call from my brother whom works at the local Ford dealer about a cheap 2001 Merc Mounty. Went and looked at it, passenger side front fender is concave now, 100K miles, dirty as hell (bag of turkey under the back seat, and a piece of hot dog) 5.0L, brand new Hankook snow's, doors rotted out a little, same with tailgate, but thats Michigan for yah. I'm waiting for a price, but I am 99% sure I'm getting it. Brother said around 2 maybe less. I drove it, seemed to drive perfect, no clunks, bangs, whines, squills ect ect. Tracked perfect on the highway. Didn't think that ol' 302 W would have that much power in the explorer chassis.

Now, being Fulltime AWD, Gear ration? I'm assuming it's a 3:55 or 3:73.
Is it an open diff? (if not, advice on a cheap route for throwing a locker in her?)
Looking for exhaust kits any suggestions? (don't care about emissions. I like 'em loud and proud)
Headers in near future? (was looking at Torque Monsters)
Intake kits? (Mac seems decent)
Suspensions and/or body lifts? (Superlift? any cheap BL's out there?)
Looking to put 31's-32's on in near future, possibly bigger with a SL later on.
BW 4406 T-case swap?
Torsion keys? (Any threads on this topic? Maximum height?)

Anything I should look out for? Tips, tricks, advice, light showing me the right path is all appreciated. I'm new to the Forum but I like the way this place looks.
Thanks, Eric.

 

[section525]

Well first things first, got a call from my brother whom works at the local Ford dealer about a cheap 2001 Merc Mounty. Went and looked at it, passenger side front fender is concave now, 100K miles, dirty as hell (bag of turkey under the back seat, and a piece of hot dog) 5.0L, brand new Hankook snow's, doors rotted out a little, same with tailgate, but thats Michigan for yah. I'm waiting for a price, but I am 99% sure I'm getting it. Brother said around 2 maybe less. I drove it, seemed to drive perfect, no clunks, bangs, whines, squills ect ect. Tracked perfect on the highway. Didn't think that ol' 302 W would have that much power in the explorer chassis.

Anything I should look out for? Tips, tricks, advice, light showing me the right path is all appreciated. I'm new to the Forum but I like the way this place looks.
Thanks, Eric.

I wouldn't pay more than $1k for an Explorer in that condition. Especially at a 'hookup' price.

Chances are it has 3.73LSs.

You answered all your other questions yourself.

Looking for exhaust kits any suggestions? (don't care about emissions. I like 'em loud and proud) Check the exhaust sticky at the top of the Modified Forum
Headers in near future? (was looking at Torque Monsters) Get them
Intake kits? (Mac seems decent) Get one
Suspensions and/or body lifts? (Superlift? any cheap BL's out there?) Yes.
Looking to put 31's-32's on in near future, possibly bigger with a SL later on.
BW 4406 T-case swap? Do it. A million threads about it.
Torsion keys? (Any threads on this topic? Maximum height?)More info than you can stand about the torsion twist, TT, etc.

 

[Arctic-Thunder]

Alright well cool, thanks for the help. Here are a few pictures of it

I think I made it sound a bit worse than it is. Visually from the outside, it ain't bad. When you open up the doors and luck under them, they're rusted, but still fixable. Little bit of rust about the driver's side rear fender-well.

BTW, I'm diggin' your 96' XLT