supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

hi everyone, my name is tim . i live in selkirk, manitoba, canada and as if this date that i am posting this, i am 36 years old.

i bought my sport in jan 05 from a local ford dealer. it had 111,000KM's on it. this is the second sport i have owned. it was sitting on the lot for about 8 months before i came along. i am the third owner (i was able to track down the person that traded it in, and they got it from a friend, who bought it new in 98).

i started to do a few things to it after i first got it, then i found this site, and all hell broke lose! i've never been satisfied with something the everyone else has, so i started to tinker with it even more.

mods include

interior

installed factory tilt, cruise, overhead console, auto dimming mirror, full length console, with a message center (it didn't have these from factory).

white face with blue flames indigo gauge covers (they light up blue)
blue l.e.d. everything
white l.e.d. interior lights
Kenwood DDX392 Touch Screen Head Unit
alpine 4 channel amp (all four speakers)
boston acoustic front and rear speakers
alpine mono amp (for sub)
2 12 inch jl audio subs
rockford fosgate cap
passenger side one touch window down mod.
custom transfer case shifter
tripple a pillar gauge pod, housing autometer boost, Innovate LC-1 wideband, and oil pressure gauge
12v power inverter with 120v plug in a 2 usb plugs built into the center console

exterior

BMW E46 projectors, mounted into stock housings using clear lens
6000K HID head lights
angel eye "driving" lights, with 8000k h.i.d.'s
clear parking/corner lights
billet grill (powder coated by Turdle)
blacked out ford emblems
custom front steel 95-98 bumper, with 4 inch round tubes welded in for driving lights
shaved radio antenna
shaved roof rack
black euro tall lights
l.e.d. license plate lights
smoked out 3rd break light
lund rear tailgate spoiler/wing (formally from the truck "blackjack" owned by EF member Spas)
hand made roll pan (made from 3 1/2 rear bumpers, with 1/4 inch diamond plate on the top, and it is removable)
aluminum T/A differential griddle/cover (powder coated by Turdle)
Motegi Mr107 20' rims
goodyear wrangler hp p245/50 r20
1 1/4 wheel spacer in the rear, 3/8 in front
and most noticeable, black with blue pearl paint, and blue true fire (ground effects are black with blue pearl as well)

Suspension

2 inch lowering blocks in the rear, reverse TT in the front (2 inch as well)
Explorer Express rear sway bar
4 door leaf springs
rancho rs9000 adjustable rear shocks
03-05 sport trac spindles with drilled and slotted rotors

performance

5L swap
347 stroker
TFS twisted wedge alum heads
comp gold 1.6 rockers
comp cams CCA-35-556-8 nitro cam
heavily modified edelbrock victor jr air gap intake (which serves as a valley pan now)
eaton m122 supercharger (metco 2.70 pulley, and ASP 8 rib 7 1/4 crank pulley) with custom made mount with bell intercooler core
8 rib serpentine belt conversion using pulleys from a 7.3 powerstroke
custom made 3 1/2 inch throttle body elbow
accufab 75mm throttle body
4 inch intake pipe
PMASS MH90 90mm Universal 3000 KG/HR MAF
amsoil cone filter
F.A.S.T. 60lb injectors
edelbrock fuel rails, trick flow specialties fuel pressure regulator with summit racing fuel pressure gauge
walbro 255lph fuel pump
1/2 inch steel braided fuel pressure line from tank to rail using 8AN fittings
torque monster headers
2 1/2 duel pipes with flowpro duel in and out 2 1/2 single muffler
accel extreme 9000 ceramic 45 degree plug wires with boot protectors
4R70W w/2600 stall with J mod
tuff stuff 200a alternator
tuning made possible with sct pro-racer package, and tuned with major help from member [MENTION=102869]Dono[/MENTION] and [MENTION=81804]4pointslow[/MENTION]
flex a lite duel 12 inch electric fans
big 3 upgrade (4 gauge wires)
meziere innercooler water pump
2 froozenboost innercooler rads

Transfer case

4406 manual shift from a 97 F150
modified stock trans cross member to accept 93 mustang 5L polyurethane tans mount
double cardan rear drive shaft

because of all the "fun" i had doing the bodywork, and some other things to my truck, i have nick named it "evil dora" or if you like, just plane "evil"!
and now the thank yous

my buddy gord leiss, who let this thing sit in his garage for 3 months while i did the body work to it. he also gave me a hand with some of the prep work, and painted it for me

kevin willson for doing the true fire http://affordableairbrushing.ca/

Joe Bukoski for letting me do the 5L/4406 swap in his garage

now people from this site, weather they knew it or not, they helped

BIG THANKS to tara a.k.a. explorersport77 for pictures of her truck. wouldn't been able to build the roll pan with out them!

ExplorerSport77's X "Hotness"

jon a.k.a. Turdle for selling me some real swanky rear shackles, as well as powder coating the diff cover and sending them up to canada. as well as much needed info on v8, and 4406 swaps as well as doing the grill and showing me how its done.

don aka dono for the help with the tuning, and wideband, as well as the supercharger

andy aka ahodges for some parts, and any help i needed for all the go faster goodies

5.0 swap - w/ 4406

jad2411 for finding me a link for my hidden antenna

ryan a.k.a. MustangP51 for doing his write up on making l.e.d.'s for interior lights, and how to make projectors

P51's HID Headlight (Projector) and Fog Conversion (PICS)

and N3ELZ cardomain page for L.E.D. switch and cruise pod mods

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-6
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-12
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-23

bob a.k.a. rwenzing for showing me speedhut's sit for the gauges

Gauges, Custom Gauges, Tachometers, Speedometers, Shift Light, Pod

Buzz4x4 for his write up on blacking out ford emblems

How to Make Your Own Custom Ford Emblems

the late aldive for his write up on one touch down passengers window mod

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141027&highlight=touch+passengers+window+mod

BIG COUNTRY, for his write up on how to install a auto dimming mirror

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84968

BIG COUNTRY, 98formulaLS1, and Ryon40 for there write ups on how to install a message center

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225017&highlight=BIG+COUNTRY
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80670&highlight=message+center
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245085&highlight=Ryon40

MountaineerGreen for his 4406 swap write up and "Custom" Driveshaft for a 4406 and 4" Superlift on the Cheap " (even tho its lowered

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166726&highlight=awd+4x4+swap
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185232

Simon, aka blueka for his "pickle" thread, and help anytime i picked the phone up the phone on the 5L swap

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271813

Jon, aka 4pointslow for any MAJOR technical advice i have needed

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219092

i wish i could find who did the write up on the overhead console install, but here is the link

http://www.explorer4x4.com/overhead.htm

Russ aka NICE59FORDF100 for his help on the wiring, and what to watch out for electronically.

hopefully one day, i will be able to help people on here just as much as the people that i have mentioned above!

plus you know you have done something right when.....

your truck (as well as corkey) wins truck of the month

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=296023

is the feature truck on the fun hump day radio show (starts roughly around the 30 min mark)

http://explorerforum.podbean.com/2011/03/23/19-vroom-zoomboom/

and you drive 26 hours ONE WAY to the carlisle all ford nationals in june 2010 and 2011, and grab second place in the s.u.v. all category!

then in 2014 you go back to the same show you have been to 5 years in a row (nothing by most, but its one hell of a long drive) and take first!

 

[CDW6212R]

I think this year is going to be an interesting year for the both of you, cant wait to see the limits of these Explorers pushed yet again.

Me too, I hope this year brings a lot of great new times. Keep at it and go easy with the changes, to get there safely without hurting anyone or the trucks.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

well......think i found the first problem.....smh

im horrible at updating anything....looks like my advantage II was a tad overdue.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

so hows tuning going?
do the words hellish nightmare mean anything?
don had to start from absolute scratch. which ment redoing everything including re entering the info on the truck (which i forgot to mention a few things, so we catch them as we go). he did finally get it to move past the driveway now however, which led to a new problem. sometime after i replaced the wires and plugs, i could fell a vibration after a certain rpm (2500 and higher, no matter if it was doing a free rev, or doing a wot). im no expert at reading plugs, but i am not sure if one cylinder is behaving at the moment. my theory is this. if you have a balanced motor, it should run fairly smooth. take down one cylinder, and its a game changer.
i pulled all the plugs to see if there was one that looked different. what i did was, rev the motor up to 3000 rpms and hold it for 30 seconds then shut the truck off without letting the revs drop. here is what i found.

these first 2 pictures are from #6 cylinder.

all the rest look the same except #5

as i said, im no expert at looking at plugs, but #5 looks different to me. i also did a ohm test on all the plug wires, they range from 700 ohms (#5 cylinder ironically, and it is also the shortest wire in at about 14 inches) to around 1700 ohms (which is the longest wire.
finding why its vibrating is driving me nuts. and when i say vibration, when doing a free rev log (you start at 1500 and bring it up to 3000 in 500 rpm increments and hold it for 30 seconds) it is good enough to shake my laptop from the front edge of the seat and make it slide down to the back rest.

 

[ahodges]

I would say that #5 looks a little rich while the others look too lean. You didn't bump an injector wire/ plug or any other wires did you? No check engine light either? I'm not as worried about #5 as I am the rest of those plugs. I surely wouldn't be doing any WOT pulls with them looking that lean.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

That's what kind of screws me up . No check engine light even the last time there was none , I wasn't near any of the injector wires , and both Don and Dono had said that my 02 readings looked good (Dono did say it looked lean a little on the top end however) and this was using a tune that I did do a W OT on . By all means I know Don is not finished tuning it yet but this vibration has me a little concerned . I really don't want the motor shaking it self to death , and I'm not saying but not ruling out the motor mounts neither

 

[CDW6212R]

I agree with Andrew based on your mention of the lean up top comment, and the plugs show as a little lean. Enough lean condition can interrupt combustion to create uneven power production, maybe to have some vibration. I wouldn't think the vibration is from the plugs, but the lean issue might be enough.

Richen it up and work it back down, if the vibration changes with fuel, then you are on the right track for that.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

It also feels like it vibrates with the last tune I had when I took it to the track

 

[CDW6212R]

Also take a look at the balancer, see if it looks odd in any way. Have you marked it to show the inner and outer parts aligned, to show any movement? It's another thought, which would create a vibration.

 

[ahodges]

Did the vibration start right when you replaced the plugs and wires? Or, did it happen around the same time? I've only seen a shake like that develop when something was out of balance or a dead miss/ random miss on a cylinder or 2. No chance your harmonic balancer is amiss or the torque convertor chucked a weight is there?

 

[gmanpaint]

To add to the above, a small vac leak can cause both the fuel mix and the vibration. I have learned over the years, to always go back and check the most recent work done, when a new issue appears. That would be the new plug wires I think. Just a thought.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

This happen right after I change the plugs and wires. I can't see the harmonic balancer slipping like that just overnight. What I can't understand is all the wires checked out fine if I am not wrong when I did a ohm test on them. They were better than the morroso's that came off. As for vacuum leaks I smoke that motor probably four times in the summer and found nothing . Once again whatever it is I bet it simple because this thing has put me on so many wild turkey chases before it's not funny. It sucks to because it has got cold up here again and me without a garage I am doing all of this outside LOL

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Anyone know if a coil pack will drop different cylinders when it starts to fail?

 

[delexploder]

I have had that happen

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Well, I have some spares, and it's the next easiest (and cheapest) to try

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, I had a new(two years and about 5000 miles) Accel coil pack go bad. It took me ages to get back around to trying that part. I had a miss on #3 cylinder (303 code) and #1 most of the time. That miss started instantly from leaving work one day.

 

[ahodges]

If a coil pack goes, it will drop 2 cylinders at a time. It could be a weak coil too I suppose. Make sure none of the new wires aren't laying directly on anything metal just to verify that the wires aren't shorting through their sides and fouling out too.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Two cylinders eh? This sounds like the problem. Lucky for me I hoard small parts like that stuff. I have two spare coil's and two of the fancy ones that came from the stroker truck ( can't remember what they are called off the top of my head it's the yellow and black ones ). Not sure if I want to use the fancy ones though because I remember seeing corrosion inside one of the terminals

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Oh and I don't have to worry about them shorting I had it running the other night with no lighting around and didn't see any arcing any place

 

[ahodges]

Good deal! I thought the yellow and black ones are the Accel's.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'd give my two yellow ones away, one is good but I didn't mark the bad one. I have two OEM parts back on it, from spares I've had. They are the same coil packs as any Ford V8 used. I think Screamin Demon coils are good choices to get beyond OEM, MSD should be good also.