riffman
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- September 24, 1999
- Messages
- 1,403
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Bloomington, IL
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '92 XLT
The Quest for the 5.0 High Output
There is a young man, by the name of Pete (username RFR2212) that has high hopes of doing a 302 swap into his explorer. Now, being in college has an adverse effect on his cash flow, and like most people, he doesn't want to spend zillions of dollars on a brand new crate engine. He is one of the believers that a rebuilt one can be a wonderful engine.
So it begins. He checks E-bay. He check classifieds. He checks the internet. All in the hopes of finding a wonderfull used engine, for a reasonable price. All to no avail!! For 3 weeks he searched, up and down! All were either too expensive, or not worth it! Finally, on the reference of a Mustang board ( www.corral.net ), he found an engine, tranny, and misc. parts for the price he wanted!! The only catch was, he had to come pick it up in Minnesota. Pete lives in Illinois. Its not horribly far, but is still a bit of a haul.
So Pete has found his engine! But now he needs to figure out how to get there, and get it home. I am a friend of Petes, and have a Dodge Ram 3500 that I have been DYING to haul somthing in. So when pete is telling me that he needs to haul somthing back, being the cool guy i am, I offer to haul it for him. All he has to do is pay for fuel.
Next we set down our plans to pick up the engine. Six hours to Minnesota, and 5 hours to his parents house where the swap will be done. He comes to my house on a friday night, to leave saturday morning. And right on schedual we head out of town on saturday morning.
The first part of our journy was pretty boring. If it weren't for the the sheer enjoyment of watching little cars get out of the way, seeing a big ol truck bearing down on the at 85 MPH, we probably would have gone insane with the utter flatness and boring land of Central Illinois. But as we got along, it started to get more interesting. Some of the scenery was Beautiful! In Wisconsin, along I-90, there were some pretty neat rock structures and hills. Now, sure...you can see hills and rocks other places, but what makes these so unique and interesting, is that they were formed by the glaciers long ago, and this is also relatively flat ground before here.
Rock Tower
Big Hill
To really see how large this is, you have to use a reference point. If you look closely, thats 6'3" Pete at the base of the sign. That is a large hill!!
Big Hill with Pete
We left that area, and continued our journey to Minnesota. As we got closer to the border, and to the Mississippi River, the land started to get more hilly. Then right at the river we saw some very neat stuff. Its hard to describe, so you can look for yourself.
Bluffs (sort of)
Down the river
And then we came to some absolutely BEAUTIFUL ice formations!
Ice Fall
Another Ice Fall
But sadly, the interesting land had to end, and we found ourselves on flat land once again. So we hauled to the house where the engine was. Now, belive me when I tell you, that this country in Minnesota is NO place for a 2 wheel drive high torque truck after a snow. During the whole escapade, I about got stuck in the guys drive way!
We made it to his house. When we got there, he was all set, ready to load the engine with his tractor.
Loading
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
So, we get it loaded, and head for home. Even loaded, we did 85 most of the way, and got home in fairly good time. The next day, we took on the task of unloading the engine. My truck, being a dually, BARELY made it into his garage. But once in there we decided it best to take of the tranny, so we could put it on an engine stand. Dead Link Removed, Dead Link Removed, All said and done, no tranny, clutch, or flywheel
We also had no engine hoist, but we did have 6 guys to get it out of my truck, and that was a job on its own. But after a while we figured out the best way to do it, and got it on its stand! And this is as it sits today!
Now, you may be wondering, why did Riffman type all of this out?! The answer: Boredom, complete and utter boredom. But maybe it was entertaining for you. Pete and I had a blast on this trip. Sure, it was long, but it was worth is. There could be a moral to this story, but i have yet to find it. Anybody else have one?
There is a young man, by the name of Pete (username RFR2212) that has high hopes of doing a 302 swap into his explorer. Now, being in college has an adverse effect on his cash flow, and like most people, he doesn't want to spend zillions of dollars on a brand new crate engine. He is one of the believers that a rebuilt one can be a wonderful engine.
So it begins. He checks E-bay. He check classifieds. He checks the internet. All in the hopes of finding a wonderfull used engine, for a reasonable price. All to no avail!! For 3 weeks he searched, up and down! All were either too expensive, or not worth it! Finally, on the reference of a Mustang board ( www.corral.net ), he found an engine, tranny, and misc. parts for the price he wanted!! The only catch was, he had to come pick it up in Minnesota. Pete lives in Illinois. Its not horribly far, but is still a bit of a haul.
So Pete has found his engine! But now he needs to figure out how to get there, and get it home. I am a friend of Petes, and have a Dodge Ram 3500 that I have been DYING to haul somthing in. So when pete is telling me that he needs to haul somthing back, being the cool guy i am, I offer to haul it for him. All he has to do is pay for fuel.
Next we set down our plans to pick up the engine. Six hours to Minnesota, and 5 hours to his parents house where the swap will be done. He comes to my house on a friday night, to leave saturday morning. And right on schedual we head out of town on saturday morning.
The first part of our journy was pretty boring. If it weren't for the the sheer enjoyment of watching little cars get out of the way, seeing a big ol truck bearing down on the at 85 MPH, we probably would have gone insane with the utter flatness and boring land of Central Illinois. But as we got along, it started to get more interesting. Some of the scenery was Beautiful! In Wisconsin, along I-90, there were some pretty neat rock structures and hills. Now, sure...you can see hills and rocks other places, but what makes these so unique and interesting, is that they were formed by the glaciers long ago, and this is also relatively flat ground before here.
Rock Tower
Big Hill
To really see how large this is, you have to use a reference point. If you look closely, thats 6'3" Pete at the base of the sign. That is a large hill!!
Big Hill with Pete
We left that area, and continued our journey to Minnesota. As we got closer to the border, and to the Mississippi River, the land started to get more hilly. Then right at the river we saw some very neat stuff. Its hard to describe, so you can look for yourself.
Bluffs (sort of)
Down the river
And then we came to some absolutely BEAUTIFUL ice formations!
Ice Fall
Another Ice Fall
But sadly, the interesting land had to end, and we found ourselves on flat land once again. So we hauled to the house where the engine was. Now, belive me when I tell you, that this country in Minnesota is NO place for a 2 wheel drive high torque truck after a snow. During the whole escapade, I about got stuck in the guys drive way!
We made it to his house. When we got there, he was all set, ready to load the engine with his tractor.
Loading
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
So, we get it loaded, and head for home. Even loaded, we did 85 most of the way, and got home in fairly good time. The next day, we took on the task of unloading the engine. My truck, being a dually, BARELY made it into his garage. But once in there we decided it best to take of the tranny, so we could put it on an engine stand. Dead Link Removed, Dead Link Removed, All said and done, no tranny, clutch, or flywheel
We also had no engine hoist, but we did have 6 guys to get it out of my truck, and that was a job on its own. But after a while we figured out the best way to do it, and got it on its stand! And this is as it sits today!
Now, you may be wondering, why did Riffman type all of this out?! The answer: Boredom, complete and utter boredom. But maybe it was entertaining for you. Pete and I had a blast on this trip. Sure, it was long, but it was worth is. There could be a moral to this story, but i have yet to find it. Anybody else have one?
