swap or drop?

[chazzone]

Hey there,

My wife has a 2000 Explorer XLS 4.0 4x4 that has been nothing but a lemon. Her dad bought it while I was out of town 2 yrs ago, and cheerfully gave me the bill for 15k.

Not long after, it developed 2 cracked heads (replaced by dealer, but not warrantied), auto tranny has since been rebuilt 3 times by a good shop, and now has another rebuilt unit, and the head gasket blew while on vacation this last August.

We've been trying to trade it off on a newer vehicle, and even though it's clean and looks great, w/ 90k miles, I'm only worth about $4500, as a trade in.

I'm thinking of just buying a new engine and trans and swapping them out, myself.

If I'm going to go to all the trouble, I thought I'd consider a v-8. Anyone done this?

I know I'll have to get a new wiring harness, and computer, but is there anything else I'm missing here? Will the old transfer case match, or will I need a new one of those?

This is our 2nd Explorer, and I currently have an '89 BroncoII w/ 270k that has been heavily modified, so I can do the work, just thought I'd drive it by you guys to see what you thought.

-zz

 

[r0dr0c]

Exaust will need to be changed out or modified. Maybe the drive shafts. You may be adding additional weight to the front and need different springs too. But if you have modified a truck in the past you may have already thought about all this.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

Exaust will need to be changed out or modified. Maybe the drive shafts. You may be adding additional weight to the front and need different springs too. But if you have modified a truck in the past you may have already thought about all this.

the front end has springs?
it is torsion bars. Search around a bit many people have though about this some have done it. There is a bit of wirring involved though. Check out 410Fortune's swap.