Starkman's Rally Ranger now B5000

I've been dreaming about this project for a long time. The spark started when I took my Explorer ice racing. I entered my Explorer in a class that was mostly, well all all-wheel drive cars. A few WRX a Mistubishi Evo 8, and a very fast Audi RS4. I had fun but the Ex is no all-wheel drive car. So one day I was reading this forum about the V8 Explorer all-wheel drive transfer case and the author stated the power split was 65-35. I had just read an artical about the new Focus RS and how it can shift the power to the same ratio to make it able to slide and handle more like a rear drive car with power oversteer. Well? What if a find a short bed, regular cab Ranger (just so happens that Ranger setup has the same wheel base as the 4 door V8 Explorer) then find a donor Explorer and swap the V8 and all-wheel transfercase and throw in some better gears in the diffs, lower the suspension, add some bigger tires and wheels (I'm a big fan of the LOORRS truck racing) and see what happens. Note that I already have built a vehcile for off road, so this is not going to be an off road truck. It will be a truck I can race on the ice, run fast on dirt roads and when it snows here in Colorado I can run the same roads I do on my sportbike but have a blast power sliding and general hooliganism.

 

[Starkman]

OK, OK, I'll put them on...

I remember you talking about a certain kind of header gasket, what should I get?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Percy's 66014: Seal-4-Good Header Gaskets Small Block Ford 221-302 | JEGS

These are top quality, and highly recommended.

 

[410Fortune]

Bingo!! What he said

Percy's or a similar stacked / soft aluminum type. They sell a very similar gasket at parts stores under the Mister Gasket name usually in stock
These work great sealing up headers to the gt40 302 which can be a HUGE PITA to get to seal....(until I found these style gaskets)

 

[Starkman]

Put the headers on today. All the bolts came out super easy. Struggled a little getting some of the new header bolts in but managed. Noticed a few sparkplug wires were melted at the boot. Thought to myself, maybe I should put a new set of wire on, and off course started it up and its running on 7 and sometimes 6 cylinders. Pulled them off and checked firing order and reinstalled but no change. Tomorrow I'll get a set of wires and hope it's not something else.

 

[Starkman]

Turned out to be two bad spark plugs, installed a new set of Autolite Platinums. Runs great now.

Ran it up to 105 MPH and found something interesting. I had the OD switched off but everytime I'd hit 92 MPH indicated the OD switches back on and it shifts into 4th gear. That drops it to about 3000 RPMs and slows acceleration allot.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Turned out to be two bad spark plugs, installed a new set of Autolite Platinums. Runs great now.

Ran it up to 105 MPH and found something interesting. I had the OD switched off but everytime I'd hit 92 MPH indicated the OD switches back on and it shifts into 4th gear. That drops it to about 3000 RPMs and slows acceleration allot.

That’s odd. My 98 doesn’t do that. 5.0s can be temperamental about plug types.