Resurrection of a 2000 EB V8

[waren]

So as I have posted in the V8 swap discussion, my 2000 EB V8 was recently totalled in a hit and run while parked. Prior the accident, I was planning to replace the fenders, rockers, dog legs and quarters and eventually increase the suspension travel with either a purchased long travel kit or a custom design. I would also like to do a manual swap.

Since the accident, I have been searching but haven’t been able to get my hands on a either a replacement 2nd gen V8 or a clean 99-01 to swap my interior and drivetrain into. (I’m pretty committed to the 1st/2nd gen because of its simplicity and long production run as well as a fair amount of personal pushrod SBF experience and parts kicking around)

I hope to find a project vehicle soon and want to use this as a build thread.

Thanks to information here and forum members I have a pretty solid idea of the time and effort required to make this happen. Based on this information and the rapid advance of winter my preference is to find a running 99-01 V6 with prairie tan interior.

This narrows the search considerably, but will hopefully allow me to immediately swap in the heated seats and postpone the V8 swap until spring.

At the suggestion of members here I have so far purchased ford manuals and wiring diagrams for 1998 and 2000 model years. (A purchase of a 1998 truck fell through.)

I am currently pursuing a 1999 XLT.

My first challenge, looking at the 2000 wiring diagram I can see that the heated seat module is powered from the engine bay power distribution. I understand that 99-01 are essentially plug and play for the drivetrain however I am skeptical that this extends to the accessories.

Specifically, in a vehicle without heated seats will the wiring have been installed at the factory so that I can simply install a 30A mini fuse at #2 and connect plugs? Or will I need to remove the wiring and plugs from my EB and transfer to the “new” vehicle?

 

[waren]

Quick update after an exhaustive two month search to find the cleanest low mile rolling 2nd gen explorer in western Canada ... slight change of plan.

I ended up picking up a running 99 limited V6. This takes the pressure off the swap as it gets us back up to two daily vehicles.

I have some apprehensions about the timing chain in the SOHC V6 and the 5r55e given the incredible number of dead ones I found in my search. However I am super excited to have found a better than average specimen and a solid foundation for future mods. It runs and drives almost like new, well let’s say much better than the 00 EB V8 which in retrospect must have had a hard life before we got it, and was showing it’s age.

This 99 seems to have been well maintained, with full dealer records to 90k km, and mechanic owned from 126k km to the current 168,000km. I considered the interior in my 00 EB to be significantly better than average (thus the search for a roller to swap the interior and drivetrain) however the 99 Limited is outstanding no very little wear.

I have read that many prefer the EB seats over the limited seats. Now having sampled both for some time I would agree the limited seats are very flat lacking bolstering. However my EB driver seat foam is tired so I’ll also be keeping limited for a while, being that they are already heated it should make swap plug and play. I did have to repair the drivers heated seat element (separate thread) which seems to be a common failure. I do prefer the EB heated seat elements.

The 99 also has a sunroof which I always kinda wished my 00 had, hopefully it’s trouble free.

So things to do ...
1) driver seat heater fixed

2) blown factory subwoofer, searching for a suitable replacement

3) non functioning power antenna. May replace with the manual antenna from my 00. I wish there was a little more modern option besides the stubbies that sacrifice reception performance.

4) transmission service and possible sonnax zip kit, EPC, separater plat, drain plug pan and filter

5) phone integration. In my 00 I installed a PAC ipod2car 30 pin unit that used the factory CD charger input and it retained the factory < > steering wheel controls which worked great for over a decade. To my surprise (sarcasm) there aren’t many 8 pin lighting connections available for the 20 year old factory head unit. The thoughtful previous owner supplied me with a console full of classic 80s cassettes which have been an enjoyable novelty. But combined with the broken antenna, and blown sub, something needs to be done. In my opinion the aftermarket head units, especially the double din units look dated about 10 min after they’ve been installed. So I would prefer to keep the factory head unit and add an input unit that would support USB charging.

6) the rockers and rear bumper aren’t the cleanest or but the rear doors (bottom pinch seam) are the cleanest I found hands down. I have rocker panels, I didnt have clean doors. The rockers will need to be done. The rear bumper cleaned up.