"Red Bull"

Red Bull
(Bandit #7)

Specs:

1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer
5.0 V8
4R70W
4.10 D35 Open
4.10 Ford 8.8
Manual 4406
BFG All-Terrain's 285/75/16 (33's)

Mods:

Engine
302 bored .030 over (306)
XE264HR Cam
Dual Valve Springs
OBX Headers
Machined GT40P Heads
Red Powder Coated Intake, Oil Pan, and Valve Covers

New:
Injectors, valve seats and seals, lifters, pushrods

Steering
2003+ Sport Trac Knuckles
Mevotech TTX TRE's

Brakes
Sport Trac Brake Upgrade:
-12" Rotors (Front)
Ceramic Brake Pads

Lighting
6000k 30w LED's
Clear Headlight Corners and Lenses

Suspension
Warrior Shackles
Add-A-Leafs
2" Torsion Twist
1" Body lift
Bilstein 4600 Shocks
Mevotech TTX Ball Joints and Upper Control Arms
Extended swaybar links

Interior
Limited Steering wheel with redundant radio and digital temp controls
Digital HVAC
Custom leather upholstery (red leather in place of perforated leather)

Electronics/Communications
CB Radio

Exterior
Custom chili pepper red Paint PPG concept
Tupperware removed and holes welded up
"Serious Explorations" license plate frames front and back
Cut and re-welded front fenders 5" to clear larger tires
Limited Color Keyed Front Grill
Painted Rear Bumper
Chopped front bumper bed-lined

Sound
JVC KW-NT300 Nav/DVD/CD head unit
PAC adapter for steering wheel controls
Kicker DS68 6x8 Coaxial speakers
OEM 8" sub
SiriusXM

Exhaust
Flowmaster Super 44

Replaced:
Fuel tank
Cats
Tailpipe
Leaf Springs
Steering Rack
Inner Tie Rods
Front 4.10 Diff
Water Pump
CPS and Synchronizer
Radiator
A/C System
Front O2 Sensors
Muffler
Wheel Bearings
Multiple Fuel Pumps
Motor Mounts
Transmission mount

Rebuilt
Transmission
Engine

Kris' Old Registry

 

[410Fortune]

breathe in nose, out mouth, focus
best karate still inside

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, relax and go at it slow when you get back to it. I'll bet it's one thing, and not two or three things causing the problem. So plan to find everything okay until you get to one item, and then try it running again.

 

[MrQ]

breathe in nose, out mouth, focus
best karate still inside

Ditto, relax and go at it slow when you get back to it. I'll bet it's one thing, and not two or three things causing the problem. So plan to find everything okay until you get to one item, and then try it running again.

That's the plan, I just downloaded ForScan to my laptop and picked up the right connection cable. It'll help with the diagnosis and I won't need Russell's WDS to monitor everything.

So things to look at:

Coils, Fuel Pressure, CMPS, Dipstick tube.

I swear, if its that damn fuel pump again..... -> ->

 

[MrQ]

Just finished pulling some log data from red. From top to bottom:

1. Misfires
2. PIP
3. RPM
4. Spark advance
5. Short term fuel trim bank 2
6. Short term fuel trim bank 1
   
7. Camshaft Position Sensor level
8. Closed loop
9. ECT

As you can see I am misfiring quite a bit at idle until I raise the rpm and I am running leaner on bank 2 more than bank 1. Also the CPS profile looks off.

Thoughts?

 

[MrQ]

So he's fixed!! Here is the list of corrected issues:

- new CMPS was bad
- plug came off on 8 (misfire) issues
- coil packs were not grounding properly (painted bracket and rust)
- oil leak on passenger valve cover (tightened the crap out of it, seems good now)
- the EGR valve was not tightened all the way causing a lean condition
- the pcv valve popped out causing a lean condition and an oil leak

After two solid days of work with Forscan datalogging and head scratching, that V8 runs like a scalded cat. Power band moved up...not down like I hoped, but I'm not complaining. Bounce off the rev limiter from a hard stop and you are hitting 90 in 8 seconds.



Feels damn good to have this thing running. Few other things to button up and he'll be ready to come home!

 

[410Fortune]

yeah!!!!! well done
Conversions can be tough
Battle on!

 

[MrQ]

@410Fortune Thanks!

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and tune this as well? I also just found out that Compcams builds a 4° timing advance into their cams. I re-used the old timing set, now I am not so sure I should have done that.

 

[CDW6212R]

The cam should be fine that way if you wanted more bottom end. That advancing moves the power band down earlier a little.

The timing chain is a bigger deal, how many miles were on the old set?

 

[MrQ]

Too many, over 220k.

 

[CDW6212R]

Oops, yeah, you should have put in a timing set. I'm not sure what the going price is for a decent double roller set is, I gave about $45 15+ years ago, for an Edelbrock set I want to put in when I do the water pump soon.

The OEM chains are steel again, Ford stopped doing a plastic cam gear in the late 80's. But the chain is stretched a bit, which retards the cam slightly.

 

[MrQ]

Going to order a new timing chain and tear it down to replace it. Any idea if I can advance that cam some more? I really wanted more bottom end than top end.

 

[410Fortune]

4.56 or 4.88 might be a good idea with 33's and more low end grunt
What do you have for exhaust right now? If you have over a 2.5" tail pipe from the muffler back you will lose low end torque

now is a good time to do the timing chain while all the timing cover bolts are still fresh

 

[MrQ]

Right now, other than the OBX headers, I have new stock cats and the OEM muffler/catback which, if memory serves, is a 2.25" dual in single out.

I am looking at upgrading the exhaust system... gears though, that's a pretty expensive investment (I got quoted a $1000 apiece at a local shop). I'll just have to work with 4.10 for now.

I'm looking at the Magnum Double Roller from CompCams, not sure which is the right one though, keep coming up with ones for fuel pumps? Guess that's for carbureted setups,

 

[CDW6212R]

You can use a timing chain set that has the fuel pump eccentric, but you can find one without it easily.

I'd hunt around here for a while and see if you can find someone that will re-gear your diff's for a better price. The parts will be a good $250+ for each end, but the labor is really important(don't let an amateur work on it). I think $500 should be a good figure to have it done right. I'm going to give the front a shot soon myself, to install the Torsen diff's I have.

 

[CDW6212R]

Look at Summit for the timing chain set, there should be lots of choices. If you really think it needs more bottom end, you might choose one timing set that has the various key ways on the crank gear. moving the cam 2-4* shouldn't hurt anything, and might bump the low power very slightly.

 

[410Fortune]

Consider some transmission upgrades to firm up the 1-2 shifts, the 4r70w can feel pretty doggy but some shift improvement kits can really wake them up....might be something that helps you put the power to the ground

 

[CDW6212R]

Consider some transmission upgrades to firm up the 1-2 shifts, the 4r70w can feel pretty doggy but some shift improvement kits can really wake them up....might be something that helps you put the power to the ground

Ditto, the trans needs some extra care with the age and mileage. I have a group of VB parts to install soon if I get some good weather and a few hours to do it. There is a newer Sonnax VB upgrade that promises to be really helpful, it increases pressure in a variable rise, versus the full time PRV and spring they do still sell. The kit is about $65ish, and ends in LB1 I think, I have two or three of those already to use, Summit was the place I got them first, now Rock Auto has it too I think.

 

[MrQ]

The transmission was rebuilt by a Ford tech 20k miles ago, so I'm not too worried about breaking it, but it does hold the gears way too long for my liking.

 

[CDW6212R]

The valve body parts are generally not serviced in a rebuilt trans, beyond R&Ring and cleaning it all. With age, there is some wear and slight fluid pressure leakage. For OEM parts basically they are not available, but there are some aftermarket parts, the likely to leak type items. You don't want to bore anything out to install a larger version, Sonnax has that stuff, but the unique tools are $200-$500 type items.

But Sonnax does sell several upgrade items for the 4R70W, most come in a kit which is many year old since designed. The PRV in that kit should not be used with the new boost kit I suggested just before. It's been weeks since I looked at the kit and parts, but basically it's still a good value if you want all possible improvements. 15+ years ago it would take about $75 for what was available for the 4R VB. Now because of that new boost LB1 kit, about $150 is a ball park tops to get all they have. I'd put those items into any 4R70W, new or old, but not in one that has serious problems already(get a different VB with lower mileage). That means a burned up trans, replace the VB, but for a trans that shifts okay generally(nothing major), do it.

 

[MrQ]

Put about a 120 miles on Red over the weekend over quite a bit of hilly terrain and high speeds highway driving. Everything seems good. However the P1405 code popped up, so I took a look at the DPFE and one the hose nipples had melted right off? So I need to replace that.

New synchronizer is in the works as well, the used one I pulled from a BC parts vehicle is squawking like a caged parrot. (New one was bad)

Also the front and rear driver door latches broke, so it is a pain to get in and out. Gotta order those.

Was doing some test drives and something on the passenger front wheel was clunking BAD. I went through the whole suspension, double checking bolts, adjusting the swaybar links and nothing fixed it. I was at the point of tightening the bearing bolts when I found the problem. The damn caliper bracket bolts were loose. Kinda concerning since I was doing hard pulls up and down steep grades and hairpin turns.

I did however put in the new leaf springs and added the rear Bilstein shocks. Had to use different leaf pack hardware to swap in my add-a-leaf due to the hole being too small for the new leaf pack bolt, but he sits much better. Granted he still doesn't ride like a Cadillac, but it is an overall improvement.

I'm still getting used to the ticking sound from the headers, it sounds like an exhaust leak, but there isn't one. The BC guys tell me this is normal, so I'll just turn the radio up until I get a new cat back system (my old exhaust had so many leaks the sound drove me nuts, wasn't expecting it to become a permanent addition )

Next time I'm up there (in 2 weeks) I'm getting the AC charged and an alignment, then he is coming home, dragging Stripe behind him.