rjcooperss396 V6 to V8 Swap

[Turdle]

Looks real good.
Fastenal sells a hex headed bolt which will work for the exhaust flanges, ( same threads as torsion bar adjusters--hint)


Oh, and keep a real close eye on the valve geometry, keeping in mind the shorter valve guides. Roller rockers might not be a bad idea to lessen the dragging effect the rocker has on the upper valve stem.

 

[rjcooperss396]

The bolts from the 4.0 are the same size so I'm using those.

The geometry with the stock rockers is good. I didn't have any issues. I'd like to go to 1.7 roller rockers but will wait to do that later. I plan to upgrade the heads on my Cobra from the AFR 165 to a set of AFR 185 with stud mount rockers when I build a 331 for it. When I do I'll use the AFR 165 and Crane 1.7 roller rockers from it on the Explorer.

 

[Scott B.]

Subscribing...

You are a little ahead of me in your swap. Hopefully, I can learn from you!

 

[FIND]

your thread looks much better here than on DR.

 

[rjcooperss396]

your thread looks much better here than on DR.

Why's that?

I was able to work on it a little tonight. I moved the throttle cable, cruise control and EVAP from the '97 to the '95. I also removed the complete engine/lighting wire harness from the '97. Next up will be to remove the one from the '95 and then install the '97 harness into the '95. Here's the only picture I took.

 

[FIND]

Why's that?

I was joking. Though I do like the fact that the people on this forum are more able to spell and use proper grammar.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I was joking. Though I do like the fact that the people on this forum are more able to spell and use proper grammar.

They are also more respectful.

 

[FIND]

You might want to pick up a filter relocation kit. If memory serves, it might get kinda tight there.

 

[rjcooperss396]

That's what my plan was. The stock setup won't work and Summitracing carries remote filter kits for $50-$60. I'm pretty sure that it will clear the box.

 

[2TimingTom]

Nice.

So... a basic V6 to V8 swap, without all the gasket matching and roller follower conversions, how hard would you rank it?

The thought has crossed my mind once or twice.

 

[rjcooperss396]

Not difficult but it is time consuming. However, I have a lot of automotive knowledge and my brother is an ASE Master Tech who knows more than anyone I know. So anything I don't know he does. I also did the solid axle swap on my truck.

 

[mr cribb]

Looking good..... you make it look simple.

However I'm sure you swapped engines a time or two in your life so it's probably a no brainer for you.

I like the extra help you had.... and you gave her the fire!!!

I hope my daughter will be dad's garage helper.

 

[rjcooperss396]

This is my first engine swap but I have been building cars and trucks since I was 16. My first car was my '69 Chevelle that I still have and I rebuilt the 396 for it with the help of my dad back when I was 17. My Dad used to own a shop back until he retired about 8 years ago so I have always built and repaired everything on my own cars. The only thing I don't build is my transmissions.

 

[mr cribb]

Much agreed on not messing with the transmissions... I leave those alone too.

However I try to stick with manual trans vehicles. I've had a few too many auto trans issues.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I got the engine harness out of the '95 and found that the pins are different on the dash harnesses. So I pulled the dash harness out of the '97 and I'm comparing it to the one in the '95. The '97 has a lot more options on it so it has more connectors but I think I'm going to be able to use the one that's in the '95 and just add the OBDII connector along with a few additional things that it needs for the OBDII. Last night I traced the wiring that goes back to the fuel pump/rear ABS/EVAP canister purge valve.

Here are some various pictures.

4.0 engine harness.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I worked on the wiring harness some today. I traced down some of the wires that I don't have in the '95 in the '97 dash harness and moved them into the '95 dash harness. I left off tracing the wires for the OBDII connector that is under the dash. Once I follow all those I move them over to the '95. Here are a few pictures of the mess.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I got a little more done today after I prepped my Cobra for an autocross tomorrow. I was able to pull all the needed wires from the OBDII connector and install them in my harness. It turned out that I only needed to add three wires because my truck has an OBDII connector under the dash and it had 4 of the 7 already. They were in a different location than they were on the '97 so I moved those as well. Here's what the connector looks like and the dash harness that I had to trace them in.

This is where I had to add the three to match the engine harness.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I got a little more done on the truck. First, I dropped the tank on mine, pulled the fuel pump and drained it. Then I removed the bracket for the EVAP canisters. I didn't want to use the one off the '97 because it was rusted so I modified mine to fit the canister off his.

Here's mine after I cut it in half.

Here's the one off the '97. As you can see the bracket is terrible.

This is what mine looked like after modifying it. I cut the end off the side I wasn't going to use and welded it on to the end of the side I used because I needed the canister rotated 90 degrees.

After I reinstalled my EVAP bracket I removed the old wiring harness for the fuel tank/ABS sensor and installed the one from the '97 because it had the extra wiring for the EVAP canister and fuel pressure sensor. After that I moved to the inside and started cutting/splicing the old harness with the new one.

I finished splicing in all the wires that I had in my old harness. Next up is to splice in the new ones that I had to add to my dash harness.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I got some more done today and tried to take a lot of pictures. Nomally i'm so busy that I just don't get to them but I did today. So I started by installing the harness that I spliced together yesterday and then spliced the remaining wires into the harness.

Here is the harness installed, it goes through the floor and down the frame to the back of the truck.

Here are the remaining wires that needed to be spliced together.

I tried to make it look as clean as possible.

Then I spliced them together and finished tucking them away.

After that I moved to the engine harness. Here's the one from the V8 that going in my truck.

And here's my empty engine bay.

I started with switching the computer over.

Then I dropped the V8 harness in. Doesn't that look fun?

Kylie wasn't much of a help today.

And here's some of it done. I still have a lot more to do but soon I'll be ready to see if the engine is going to clear my steering box.

 

[rjcooperss396]

I finished running the engine harness today and then picked up some new motor mount and dropped the engine in.

That looks better.

Here's how the steering box looks in relation to the oil filter location. I think I'll be okay with a remote mount filter. I'll order one from Summit and see.

I still have a ton to do but I'm realy excited to have the engine in the truck.