Well, it's been a while since I last updated this thread.
While I wanted to really build on this rig and make it work for a fun outdoorsy every day derivable vehicle, it just wasn't going to be financially feasible. The cost of keeping this rig on the road and all other future repairs would be more than the cost of a car payment, the insurance, and the gas combined every month for a new-to-me rig. On top of that, things were progressively falling apart faster than I could fix them. Transmission issues crept up, front Diff and axles were in desperate need for attention (to a point where I didn't think I was going to make it to the dealer for a trade in), and the gas mileage was decreasing pretty much weekly which was hitting the pocket book pretty hard and a sign something else was wrong.
Thanks to everyone for their support and hopefully I'll be back with another project Explorer. This time with less than 390k miles and without a poorly designed SOHC.
