The Beartooth JurassEx project has begun!

[BeartoothEx]

Greetings!
I've been lurking here on and off for a couple years since I picked up my Explorer from a CoPart auction - a 1994 XLT four-door, M5OD with manual transfer case and hubs. By way of introduction, I've a pilot - mostly working part-time as a military flight instructor after ten years in the Navy. I've been wrenching and tinkering most of my life, first on a '64 Fairlane, then I've got a '97 F250 Powerstroke (also 4x4 all manual), followed by an assortment of German cars, and recently a Jaaag project car. I tend to get into a lot of things people tell you are best left to "the professionals," so I guess I'm somewhere between that and the fool who rushes in where angles fear to tread.

Anyway, back to the Ex. The odometer reads 68k; I'd be surprised if it's anything other than 168k, given what I've found so far. Unfortunately, I rolled the dice since it was cheap enough, and I wouldn't say I got snake eyes, but hardly lucked out either. It had some side collision damage, that was obvious enough from the listing: one whole rocker panel and probably the rear door at a minimum need to be replaced, plus the rear door corners are rusty. Fortunately, the damage didn't go deeper than the outer rocker panels, and there's no other rust issues I've found.

What wasn't indicated well at all was the mechanical condition. When I picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised that it started right up, a feeling that vanished as soon as I let out the clutch. Whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! A higher-pitched grinding/whirring noise. It did drive on the trailer on its own power, but I hope the guy who checked didn't last long there and never works on anything automotive-related again, because that noise was very obvious and would constitute "mechanical damage" to any trained ear. I'm almost positive it's the input shaft bearing since the sound only occurs with the clutch out, in all gears, and seems to modulate with engine speed. So my hopes of driving it on and off right off the bat were out since I didn't have room or time to tackle transmission work.

Fast forward a couple years, I've got my shop built, and decide it's time to get going.I got started by flushing the coolant and running through a couple cans of engine degreaser (which I'd be lucky if it got rid of half of it). I just got done pulling the transfer case out, and hopefully the transmission will be out today too; the radiator and water pump I took out already. The bad I've found so far: the spark plugs have been in there forever, have worn to around .070 gap, and a couple have carbon tracking on them. The coolant was disgusting: I've never flushed out rusty silt that bad before. The engine looks original (including the hoses!), but I think the transfer case and transmission have been out. The fan clutch is bad and I think I see some seepage from the water pump, so I'll replace those. Another "I wish I'd known" is it was a smoker's car, but you could tell the interior was just so-so from the listing, so that's just another break that went against me. It probably won't ever be my Sunday / date night vehicle anyway, so as long as I can get the smell out.

The good news is, the oil pressure and leakdown checks both look good. At idle, it'd start in the mid-40s, and drop to the mid-20s after idling 20 minutes or so. I'm sure it'd be lower after an extended drive on a hot day, but then it's long overdue for an oil change and it's got some transmission fluid I threw in. I did a leakdown test, and it varies from 5% up to 13%, pretty well staggered. All closer to 5% would have been nice, but it's nothing like my Porsche that came in at 5%, 30%, 30%, and 55%! And that runs ok, so why not roll the dice on this. It's got no warning lights, no electrical problems I've found so far. The tape deck doesn't work anymore - sadly - so I can't crank my Sammy Hagar tape when I get it going. But I've got what I need to sort the stereo. Oh yeah, even the AC still works! But unfortunately, some b@$tard mice made merry on the blower/evaporator housing (and inside), so the fan doesn't want to blow. Not looking forward to digging into that...

Anyway, I'm hoping to have it going next week. I've got a bunch of boxes from RockAuto, but now I'm wishing I'd added a radiator (mine doesn't leak that I can tell, but not sure internally), fan clutch, 1st-2nd shift fork (since those seem to be a common wear item), and transfer case seals (the rear is definitely leaking, although the others seem fine). I went through the ZF5 transmission on my truck (probably unnecessarily), so at least this isn't new to me. I got the complete kit from Midwest Transmission, and it looks pretty solid: mostly Koyo and NTN bearings, includes the oil slinger, yada yada.

This will mostly be a journal thread; I've found a lot of good info here and I don't want to be another guy asking the same question that comes across every month or two. I made a video of it I'll try and get posted, but that stuff is pretty new to me. Still, if I'm missing anything - especially stuff to watch out for on the transmission or that would be wise to tackle while it's all out - please let me know. Right now I'm trying to track down the best local place to get the transfer case seals and fan clutch (I'm not far from Billings, FWIW), and I'm also wondering - if the radiator is indeed a dud - where the best place to get a replacement is. I wish I'd known about the two-row auto transmission option, but at this point I already have a new MT radiator hose, and I'm not sure it's worth the hassle of finding the correct fan shroud. It can get hot up here in Montana, but it's typically not that bad. Well, that's it for now, and congratulations for making it to the end (assuming you didn't skip). No quiz though, unless someone wants one...

 

[RangerX]

Welcome!
Looks like a decent gen1, they can go almost forever!
I thought 1994 switched to a 7 digit odometer, you don’t have that? Earlier years just had 6 digits.
Maybe I missed you mentioning, but if you’re dropping the trans, you would be very wise to replace the clutch, including the slave and the pilot bearing. Be sure to only use LUK parts for the clutch. Rockauto has the parts.
My old Ranger was the same exact drivetrain and went for 370,000 miles before rust killed it. Other gen1’s here have gone further, so it’s a great platform.

 

[410Fortune]

Dual core radiator will use the same hoses and you can trim the fan shroud

You can use a much larger sohc clutch from a 2004 ranger if you are willing to drill and tap 6 new holes in your flywheel.

Welcome! Sounds like a wonderful project truck
Open up the fan blower housing and get the mouse stuff out before you try to run the fan anymore… once the fan burns up the mouse nest you will never remove that burned electrical smell

A/c pro sells some stuff you can use to sterilize and clean out the hvac ducts once you remove the mouse remnants
Good For Removing some smoke smell too

Gen 1 = tank
They are tough! Cheap to own and operate and fun to drive

 

[BeartoothEx]

One of the details I didn't think to mention: I've got a new clutch and slave cylinder. I had half a thought to just keep going with what's in there, but it seems stupid not to at least have one on hand (at around $150 for both). If what's on there looks like new, I might just run it, but I won't chance anything, especially the slave and throwout bearing (had one of those go on my truck, but I hated the first clutch I put in it anyway - thanks for taking my money, Valair). I'll keep the newer clutch option in mind; I remember reading something about that, but mistook it to mean you needed a new flywheel. I'm a big fan of machining the OE flywheel over buying a new one, but sadly, the clutch shop I had the one in my truck done a few years back closed down... What's in there feels smooth, so I'm hoping hitting it with the palm sander and some medium grit sandpaper (100 grit maybe?) to deglaze it will do the trick. I would definitely have liked to have the extra capacity of the bigger clutch, but I don't know that I'd need it for anything. One of those things where either it'll last or I'll upgrade it when it goes.

It's definitely a '94 - manufactured 10/93. I always assumed the 6-digit odo came in with all the changes in '95. I've always wondered why it took so long to go to the bigger odometer - even in the 60s it wasn't uncommon to have one roll over, and some of those cars would roll them over several times. Pretty sure my Fairlane did. I am pretty impressed at how well what I've got runs given the level of neglect, and they're a pretty robust vehicle - other than the transmissions. Ironically, my little brother rents from a guy who also had a 1st-gen Explorer sitting around, so he fixed it up and drove it up here. My sister and brother-in-law drove it for six months or so, then the transmission (A4LD) went out... I'll probably help them get it going when I have the time.

I forgot to get into my rough down-the-road vision for the JurassEx. As the name implies, I have visions of doing a Jurassic Park paint and graphics job. I've painted a car before, so hopefully that won't be a big leap. A lot of the reason I bought it was to have a decent off-roader, although it'll probably be more rough road and winter vehicle than true off-roader. The one place I plan to spend some money is for some springs and the best monotube shocks I can get without getting exotic. I'm thinking of going to 31s - in fact, I found a used set for cheap to try out at some point.

One other thought I've had, since it needs a door or two, cab corners, and a rocker panel - plus the so-so interior - is doing a mix and match if I find another one cheap with a good interior and body. On that, I like the look and feel of the second-gen interior, and I'm wondering if taking the drivetrain and gen I front clip and putting it on the newer one is in the same ballpark as fixing up the body and swapping in nicer interior bits as I find them. I think I read somewhere that people have swapped whole interiors from G2 to G1, but it sounded like probably as much work as making a G2 look like a G1 exterior.

Well, that's it for now, I'd better get back at it. By the way, I keep getting error messages about my email, and nothing's come through from here to my account. Does anyone know of a trick to stop your email from blocking a sender? I've heard if you send an email to an address at that domain, it'll start letting things through, but I can't find any @explorerforum.com email to try...