Swapping in a 4.6 & Auto from a Mustang

[Gofast]

After blowing up my tranny at 180K miles I have opted to swap in a 4.6L Mustang Motor and the Auto that's with it.

I'll be using Advanced Adapters stuff where I can and having the shop FAB the rest. Here's how I got to this point.

High miles on existing Motor & a burnt tranny.

Called every tranny specialist around & on the net. Nothing out there for the A4LD. Escpecially if I decided to go with a V8 later.

Could not get any adapters for a stronger AOD tranny either and several places said it was to much tranny for a 4.0 V6.

Decided to bite the bullet and install a T5 in my truck. Turns out to be a real pain to try and get the correct adapters for a T5 to bolt to a 4.0 motor. There were several questions about bellhousings too. Advanced Adapters was very helpful as well as James Duff. Both were super great and answered all my questions.

Sam's offroad in Tulsa was going to do the install of the T5, however they later sent me an e-mail and said sorry can't help you. We don't really do Ford's. Oh well, another place where it helps if your a Jeep. ( Yes, I understand they have a 90% market share, but it still bums me ) It's hard to find good shops that will work on Explorers. Anyway after the depression lifted and I got back to focussing on getting my truck running I made some local calls in the Dallas area.

This time I started with the Hot Rod shops. I soon found a place that does a lot of Ford conversions. Mostly 4 cyl to V8 stuff. They were actually excited about dropping a late model mustang motor into an Explorer. They started locating a Donor for my vehicle today and I should know what I'll get tommorrow late in the day. Once I find out the specific year I can get the adapter's ordered for the t-case.

More details later.

 

[rock883]

Now this should be interesting...Do they even make adapters? I haven't seen anything before about a 4.6 in an explorer but I can't wait to see you do this.

 

[riffman]

yeah...i was under the impression that the 4.6 was too wide to fit or somthing! Hope it goes well!!!! (i just wanted to get my 2 cents in here so i can keep track of whats going on! I love the e-mail update thing!!)

 

[QuadCam]

no offense, but you are far better off putting a 302 into your explorer.

the parts are cheaper for the 302. there are thousands of parts for the 302.

I have a 4.6 cobra. i love it, but i wouldn't recommend it for an explorer.

besides, i doudt it will fit. the sohc engine is a little smaller than the dohc engine, but the sohc engine is easily as big as a 460 BBF.

there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.

 

[Gofast]

I feel like Capt. Kirk

This is all uncharted space for me.

The 4.6 is supposed to be more compact than the 302's. The shop tah's doing it said they have more aluminummmmm and should wiegh less too. AA has a write-up for putting a 460 in a Bronco II so this should be real easy.

Anyone know what the difference in the v8's int eh Explorer's and the 4.6 is?

If Advanced Adapters can't mate the E40D to my transfer case then I'll have the fab shop machine an adapter or even switch to and AOD which they already said they can do. However, I think they have something because Vic told me to get a 96+ Mustang Motor & tranny.

I'm real excited about this. The conversion shop has done plenty of 4 cyl to v8 swaps so I have confidance that they can make this work. Also talking about a little advertising for them on my truck if this goes well. Maybe not as exciting as a PIAA deal or tires etc, but still it will help lessen the impact on the pocket book.

 

[2001ExpSport]

There is another thread on here about this same thing and there was a discusion about the 4.6 being to big to fit. Also something about relocating the master cylinder. You might want to search that.

Where there is a will there is a way. If he wants the 4.6, he'll get it to fit.

Then again, if a 5.0 will fit then the 4.6 should fit for sure.

[Edited by 2001ExpSport on 10-10-2000 at 08:58 PM]

 

[Alec]

The 4.6 is actually wider and taller than the 5.0 (302). However, if you relocate some stuff it should work. You might need to relocate the battery and put the brake stuff there, also the main fuse box and A/C stuff might need to move also. It also might require some shoe-horning. Good luck! If this place has done I4 to V8 conversions, I'm sure they can do this.

 

[QuadCam]

the 4.6 is much larger than the 5.0 even though the 4.6 has less displacement.

the 4.6 has a 3.55" bore as compared to the 5.0's 4" bore.
what the 4.6 does have is a 3.55" stroke. That is slightly longer than the stroke of a 351. The 4.6 also uses a much longr rod than a 5.0. both of these reasons give the 4.6 block a much taller deck height.

then, we get to the heads.......
the 4.6 heads are very tall. remember thay have the cam on top of the head. The head has to incorporate the cam towers into the castings. And the cams don't ride on top of the valves either. The cam actuates a cam follower (kinda like a roller rocker)which in turn, press down on the valve. All of this makes for a very tall head.
Cobra heads are just as bad, but they are twice as wide.

On the other hand, 5.0 heads are typically compact like other OHV heads.

Also, all 4.6 SOHC engines currently have iron blocks. The only 4.6 engines with aluminum blocks are the DOHC cobra and mark VIII and continental. eventhough, a 4.6 dohc cobra engine is all aluminum, it outweighs a production 351.

I am not trying to discourage you from your project. I hope that I'm not sounding like a ********. I just think you need to look much deeper into this idea. I cannot think of 1 reason why a 4.6 would be better for 4x4 or performance than a 5.0. The only way that the 4.6 is better is when it comes to NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness)

bye,

Andrew

 

[Gofast]

Options..

Great Information!

Help me out on this, Which model year Mustang do I need to get the Motor & Tranny from? It sure sounds like the 302 is what I want then.

I also have a message to call my guy at the shop, probable to tell me that I don't want the 96+ like I told him.

Also, which tranny was behind the 302 in whatever year I need? Was it the AOD?

Thanks for your help guys.

Rob

 

[GJarrett]

There's another size issue no one has mentioned yet. Isn't the reason the V8 Explorers are AWD is because there's no room to fit the low range transfer case or something like that?

Rob, make sure the Hot Rod shop thinks about what it will take to fit all that in front of a 4wd transfer case. They're not going to have all the room they usually do to just stuff an engine and tranny in and use a shortened driveshaft to make up for the longer engine.

 

[Scott B.]

GoFast,

I believe it was in 1994 that Ford changed the firing order of the 5.0L. Try to get one of those motors - better power and mileage. Personnaly, I would not get a newer OBD-II motor. I think it would be lots of work to adapt into your wiring harness. BTW, get the computer of the donor motor, also.

You should try to get a 5.0L from a truck (F-150) if possible. The intake manifold is too tall (swap with a Mustang one) but the internals are better for 4-wheeling than a Mustang motor.

I believe the tranny you want is the EAOD, and Advanced Adapters makes an adapter to mate it with the BW 13-54 transfer case. The case should be able to handle the power - the 13-56 found in the big trucks will not easily fit under our trucks.

 

[QuadCam]

the mustangs have had efi 5.0s in them from 86-95.

stay away from the 86 engines.
In 93, ford replaced the forged pistons with cast hypereutectic pistons. this realy isn't of much concern. The forged pistons will take more abuse, but I'm talking about when you get into the 500 hp range.

the 87-93 mustang 5.0 used the ford AOD auto tranny. The 94-95 used the AODE. I believe the explorer 5.0 uses an AODE-W (wide ratio gear set)

I'd buy an AOD, and get a performance valve body from either Performance Automatic, Dynamic Transmissions, or Lentech. Look in any muscle mustangs & fast fords magazines for their ads.

If you go with the AODE, you'll need to get a trans computer. Baumann engineering makes a stand alone tranny computer for the AODE. It seems pretty cool. you can wire it for push button gear changing.

hope this helps,

Andrew

 

[Gofast]

Picking Motors

Andrew, Thanks for the info.

I've talked with AA & the Conversion shop. Looks like 94 is the first target motor. I'm still confused between truck and Mustang motor though. Did the truck motor have roller rockers and is there any benefit to using the truck motor? I need torque, so is the cam better out of a truck motor? I can always change cams before I install it but at this point anything I can do to keep the price down is a plus.

Now to find some GT emblems...

Explorer GT, and in little letters below it " MOAB Edition "

I guess I'm going to have to recalibrate the factory tach now too.

 

[QuadCam]

neither the mustang nor the truck 302s came with roller rockers.

Only the 93-95 302 cobra motors came with roller rockers.

Crane sells the same rockers that ford installed in the cobra for $175

 

[jswjr600]

Remember also that the 2001 (?) Explorers will have the 4.6 optional, as opposed to the 302.

Just reading all of the new car mags is really starting to piss me off. The new blazers are going to have a 4.2L inline 6 cylinder with 270hp and 275 lb-ft of torque.

Chevy *******s, why won't ford start producing some revolutionary motors much as the first mustang 302 was??

 

[2001ExpSport]

2002 Explorer was rumored to have that option.

Ya, kinda sucks that Ford isn't designing any awesome powerplants

 

[rpenner54]

Originally posted by GJarrett
There's another size issue no one has mentioned yet. Isn't the reason the V8 Explorers are AWD is because there's no room to fit the low range transfer case or something like that?

Rob, make sure the Hot Rod shop thinks about what it will take to fit all that in front of a 4wd transfer case. They're not going to have all the room they usually do to just stuff an engine and tranny in and use a shortened driveshaft to make up for the longer engine.

Gerald, nope thats not the case. Next time you see a V8 Explorer attempt to crawl under it and you will see a Transfer Case. Its just that silly AWD computer controlled majical box thing that they sell. The reason they didn't put one in is the V8 puts off to much torque for the standard Explorer transfer case. Plus the market focus of that particular vehicle was not to who it should be.

 

[Gofast]

Transaltion.....

So does that mean I'll end up Nukeing my transfer case and I should go ahead and bolt an Atlas II in there now?



( Anyone provide low interest, high risk loans besides Uncle Sam? )

 

[rpenner54]

Rob in all wisdom it probably would be smarter to beef now rather then break later and pay bigger. At least if you are going the V8 route I would. AA says that our T/C should be able to hold up to the torque but its probably not gonna hold up long from what I have read. To me it just seems smarter to do it right from the start rather then having to re-do it later. As far as fitting in the 4.6 no one that I know of has done it but thats not to say it can't be done. If your shop knows what they are doing they should be able to overcome any obstical that they run into room wise. As long as the engine fits into the mounts okay and the hood closes and the fenders are spaced out enough I would think you should be alright. But I would talk to them and see what they say first.

If I was you I would also go over to Dead Link Removed and check out their 5.0/V8 message board. Read through as much of that as you can. Also there is a link to I think RPS performance off there that has some 5.0 info on it. When I get home I have a whole bunch of V8 swap info sites I can pass along.

 

[Gofast]

Need any help you can throw me.

Holy cow....This is getting harder than I thought. I can't find a Donar vehicle. @ million plus in the DFW area and I can't find a 302. ( Unless it's gold plated )

Did find a 98 or 99 V8 Explorer motor, but they wanted a lot of money for it.

Still looking.

Thanks