Old faithful Eingine

[JOSEPHOUYSON]

My 1992 4.0 has 220,000 miles on it and it still runs good. However I am converting it to 4x4, and since I will not be driving it for a while I may as well go through the old tired motor. This brings me to a few questions. Are the lifters in my explorer rollerlifters from the factory? Are the heads based off the 351 clevland head for v-8's? They apear from just a outside view to be a clevland head with 1 cylinder cut off. Who makes the very best headers for explorers? And are stroker cranks made for the 4.0? I saw a racer that had a 4.5 litre v-6 in a explorer that is when I got curiose. I would like to pump the juice to this baby. Any tips or answers to these questions would be helpful.

 

[Alec]

Basically get the entire setup from Vanir, www.vanirtech.com . If you have any questions, just give Sven there a call.

 

[JOSEPHOUYSON]

engine

Thanks, vanirtech has alot of good stuff, but I still have yet to find somebody that makes a stroker crank. Does anybody know if the factory crankshaft is heavy duty, enough to offset grind. Any comments are appretiated.

 

[SteveVB]

E-mail Sven, if anyone would know he would. The 4.0 is basically an updated bored and stroked 2.9. So I dont know how much stroke you could add, I think the pan rails are already relieved for the stock stroke, but I cant remember. I would punch it out 30, cam, P&P the heads, and add the BBK supercharger. I think that would be more cost effective, and the cam and head mods would get you over the stock engine with the blower which I think are seeing 240 -250 engine HP, something like 200 rear wheel (if thats not right, Alec would know) . How much more who knows 15-25Hp? More?

Cleveland heads-no the ports may look similar but thats it.

Yes, Stock lifters are hydraulic roller lifters


Headers look at Borla, JBA- do a search on the site should turn up tons of info on the engine mods and headers, cams etc.

Have Fun

 

[Alec]

I wouldn't think about over boring and stroking the 4.0 Koln engine much. As Steve pointed out, it's already pretty maxed out. As for HP, here are some estimates:

Stock: 160
Vanir with stock cam: 220
Vanir with aggressive cam: 235
Stock/bolt-ons and blower: 260+
Vanir/ blower 260+++

Right now I have about 270 with the stock internals and basic bolt-ons including headers. The JBA headers are the best. I'm getting nitrous installed soon (kit's in my closet). Then I'm gonna upgrade the MAS and injectors.

Oh, and I wouldn't even knife-edge the crank. It has some extra beefiness to it that helps the motor deal with high loads. Same with the flywheel. Though a nice light driveshaft would be nice. I like the stocker though in-case I come crashing down on a rock. Also, p+p the heads doesn't seem to do much good, they're pretty good units. And if you're not careful you could mess up the sensors and stuff by doing that.

Just use the vanir stuff and think about the BBK kit, headers maybe. Though in a N/A application, the headers tend to free up the low-end too much, losing torque.

 

[MSTNGGUY88]

Are you sure the lifters are hydraulic roller lifters because mine were just plain hydraulic lifters.

 

[nosaj122081]

O Are the heads based off the 351 clevland head for v-8's? They apear from just a outside view to be a clevland head with 1 cylinder cut off. [/B]

There really aren't many (if any) similarities between the 2... The 351C head is a canted valve design, have huge ports and valves, and either had open or quench combustion chambers.

The 4.0 valves are all in a straight line, I'm not sure of the combustion chamber design.

The 4.0 and the 335 series motors have really very little in common, the 4.0 has more in common with the Windsor series motors (its not considered part of that family though, its a stroked 2.9) than the 351C.

You can have the soapbox back now

 

[SteveVB]

Originally posted by MSTNGGUY88
Are you sure the lifters are hydraulic roller lifters because mine were just plain hydraulic lifters.

100% sure lifters on the 4.0 are hydraulic roller lifters, never came with anything but the roller lifters.

 

[MSTNGGUY88]

MINE IS A 5.0 BUT HEY I REALLY APPRECIATE THE REPLY AND NOW I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHY MINE DIDN'T HAVE TRUE ROLLER. THANKS AGAIN.

 

[JOSEPHOUYSON]

reply

Well now that most of my questions have been answerd I know have some other cazy idea that my acualy be stupid. Well, apparently the 4.0 is similar to the 2.9 litre. Since this is the case will 2.9 litre heads bolt on to a 4.0, are the heads identical? Because World Products makes a performance 2.9 litre head, I dont know If this would work on a 4.0. If this is a possibility then I will look into it because I have seen what world products heads do for my dads 351w in a 1 ton crewcab 4x4, those heads kicked butt. If anyone knows if the World 2.9 litre heads from world would benifite a 4.0, or even bolt up to it, please let me know.