Stangman92's '94 4x4 build

twinturbopantera · Jan 12, 2015

The Sandersons will work. Just finished a swap into a 99 2wd. The driver side fits great. Though I did use a steering rod from a 4.6 explorer to get a little more clearance and dented a couple tubes. Passenger side hits the frame and mount for the a-arm. But not much. Made a small notch in corner of frame for clearance and welded up and dented the tubes. Also to make hookup easier, I removed the flanges and welded on 45 deg angle tubes with a different flange. I did not have issues with mounting plate for engine as I could not use that type of mount with the 2wd. I used 95 F150 mounts and box tube welded to the crossmenber for engine mounts. They work very well.

Stangman92 · Jan 12, 2015

twinturbopantera said:
The Sandersons will work. Just finished a swap into a 99 2wd. The driver side fits great. Though I did use a steering rod from a 4.6 explorer to get a little more clearance and dented a couple tubes. Passenger side hits the frame and mount for the a-arm. But not much. Made a small notch in corner of frame for clearance and welded up and dented the tubes. Also to make hookup easier, I removed the flanges and welded on 45 deg angle tubes with a different flange. I did not have issues with mounting plate for engine as I could not use that type of mount with the 2wd. I used 95 F150 mounts and box tube welded to the crossmenber for engine mounts. They work very well.

Great info, thanks for sharing. My frame is supposedly a little more forgiving since its a TTB frame. I believe they will fit without modifications.

Update:

Got the Crane valve springs and seals put on. I "think" I have everything for the swap, except the SCT tuner. Now I'm just waiting for spring to get here so I can get the 5.0 in. The old 4.0 has a small coolant leak from the t-stat housing, and even though I replaced them already, its got a small amount of pushrod/rocker noise when shifted above 2700rpm. Come on spring!

Stangman92 · Jan 28, 2015

Not much to update. Managed to finally sell the old Hedman headers that i couldn't use, thanks Jeffb2. Still waiting for spring, lol. I did some looking around and found a great deal on a SCT X4 tuner brand new, so I bought it. It didnt come with any custom tunes so I'll have to get in touch with RangerSVT, or another shop for that. I also went over everything and decided to go ahead and upgrade the cooling system. I bought a Spectra dual core radiator to replace my single core. New one is a Spectra Premium #CU1164. Also bought a Thunderbird 2 speed electric fan, Volvo 2 speed fan relays, and BMW fan thermal switch. I just hope I can stuff all this under the hood, I might have to put the radiator underneath or in front of the core support, like Teddyzee has done.

Stangman92 · Mar 17, 2015

Update

Well the weather is finally getting warm, so I brought up the 5.0 from the basement. Tonight I got the heads put on, lifters, digbones, spider tray, pushrods and rockers inspected, cleaned and assembled. Coming along faster than expected.

Next step is to finish the passenger side rockers. Then work on cleaning up the upper and lower intake. Also got a set of Foxbody aluminum valve covers to sand and paint.

With the weather staying nice expect more pics/posts with progress. Please feel free to comment.

Stangman92 · Mar 22, 2015

More pics of the valvetrain work.

All rockers installed and appropriately lashed.

Also got the water pump pully, crank position sensor and harmonic balancer all cleaned, painted, and installed. Also verified TDC.

Stangman92 · Mar 26, 2015

Spent some time getting the Fox Mustang valve covers sanded and painted, then promptly installed them. They turned out alright.

Then I went ahead and started to clean up the lower intake manifold, it was filthy! Oil all over the damn thing. I still need to drill and tap the rear coolant passage for the HVAC. I am getting rid of the metal heater hoses to avoid leaks in the future. I did this on my Fox Mustang and it works/ looks a lot better. I'll get pics of this later. But I wanted to get some more progress done. So I bought some Stage 8 header fasteners and got the Sanderson gt40p headers installed. It was time consuming to get all the little clips on, but its permanent.

Stangman92 · Mar 29, 2015

Since today's Sunday I got a little bit of progress done on the ole 5 oh. The Rangers 4.0 is still ticking (literally! Lol, I've narrowed it down to an exhaust flange leak). BUT.... Friday night started a serious problem. The famous intermittent loss of power/ bucking issue. I had the same problem a while back and it turned out to be the computer. Now its back after only a year or so. I looked into it a little, the collant reservoir was empty, but the radiator was full. I added fluid, but the problem got worse on Saturday, and Sunday (today). So im fearing the worst; cracked head(s).

Anyways, with that major problem I am moving the 5.0 swap up a bit on my priorities. Here I show my modification to the lower manifold for the heater core line. This removes the metal heater core lines that are rust prone.

I also ported the lower manifold for a better transition the heads, and ported runners 1&5's short side turn to help the flow. Then I gave it a nice coat of paint.

Installing it, gaskets and rtv in place...

Couldn't help but paint the important stuff for a nicer look.

Got the fuel injectors and rail cleaned and reinstalled. Also the cam position sensor temporary in the hole just to keep the dust out. I'll redo it after the engine is installed and the engine oil pump has been primed.

036speed · Mar 30, 2015

Looking good!

Subbed

Stangman92 · Mar 31, 2015

^ Thanks Brad.

Got a chance to look at the 4.0. I decided to check the heat coming off each exhaust port to see the cylinders health, turns out cylinder 4 was way under the rest. Today I plugged in my spark plug light, yep... Barely any light. Changed out the old plug wire and it appears to be running great again.

Back to the 5.0: got a few of the lower manifold sensors put on, and the wiring harness plugged in. It doesn't look nearly as nice now, lol.

I have a few questions on the swap, if you have any input please reply in the thread I posted below....

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1515830#post1515830

Stangman92 · Apr 5, 2015

More progress, got that wiring harness on.

Also got the upper manifold cleaned up, still isn't perfect, but its good enough. Also got the throttle cable bracket and coil pack bracket cleaned and painted. Also put on some new RichPorter coils. Then I got it all installed and remembered that I am removing some of the vacuum lines, lol. Got some freeze plugs to cover the old holes. Here everything is installed.

Notice a problem????

How about now????

A little massaging and it clears. Apparently the Fox valve cover angle is quite a bit different than the Explorer. Oh well. Got it resolved.

Got it clearanced, and then wrapped in heat shrink. It shouldn't ever see any oil, and it should last. We'll have to see.

I'm waiting on a few parts to come in the mail, plug wires, pcv stuff, and small freeze plugs for the upper manifold.

Also got a hold of Rick (RangerSVT). He's nice enough to tune my SCT for me. I'll be driving by his house towards the end of next week, so I'll meet with him then. I really hope to see Project SVT in person!

Stangman92 · Apr 7, 2015

Got a few little things done, got the t-stat housing modified for the BMW thermostatic fan switch. The factory hole was just a tad large for the m14-1.5 tap, but when I drilled my hole the rest of the way it was a better fit, so I ground down the top of the t-stat so that the threads seated better in the housing.... If that makes any sense, lol. You can also see my heater core hose routing, notice my adapters for the ECT sensor are really close to the coil bracket, but it clears.

And heres the return side of the heater core, you have to look close. Its right in between the FPR and the wiring harness.

And here's my small step back. I got the upper manifold attached and remembered I needed to cap off 3 vacuum ports that I removed. Here the 3 are right in front, the ones I'm keeping are in the back.

I filled 2 of them with 3/8" freeze plugs, and the last 1 is a 5/16" hole. I couldn't find a 5/16 freeze plug so I taped it, and put in a 3/8" threaded plug. Then cleaned it out again, and re-reinstalled it, lol.

Gonna meet with Rick (RangerSVT) on Thursday and take care of the tuner. Sadly I won't get to see project SVT, oh well.... Next time! :headbang:

Stangman92 · Apr 9, 2015

Met with Rick, and got a tune. Huge thanks to him, he really knows his stuff. Had it done in only a few minutes. Got it setup for manual trans, no egr, no rear O2's, and 4.56 gears. My only hiccup is me wanting to remove the evap system, he did a few things to the tune that looked like it could be tuned out, but said it might still give me problems. Time will tell...

Once again thanks Rick!

036speed · Apr 10, 2015

Stangman92 said:
Met with Rick, and got a tune. Huge thanks to him, he really knows his stuff. Had it done in only a few minutes. Got it setup for manual trans, no egr, no rear O2's, and 4.56 gears. My only hiccup is me wanting to remove the evap system, he did a few things to the tune that looked like it could be tuned out, but said it might still give me problems. Time will tell...

Once again thanks Rick!

I will have to look you up when it comes time for me to need this. I am not an engine guy. I will need a tune on my 5.0 after I swap in my ZF5. Not sure where to start.

RangerSVT · Apr 10, 2015

Steve, it was good to meet you, and glad i could help you on your project. SVT should be going through some major transformations this year. I'll see you on the trails soon...

SVT

Stangman92 · Apr 19, 2015

Been busy with work, not much progress recently. I did find a little time to make a computer box. My plan is to cut out a hole in the firewall and install it. It will probably go above or around the hvac box. Also got another surprise, my girlfriend has an torque converter solenoid that went bad in her Grand Prix, so I'll have to take that a part and fix it before my swap. Anyway, on to the good stuff....

Started with a pile of stuff

Ended with this,

My plan is to reuse the original dust seal for the computer, that's why its so wide.

Stangman92's '94 4x4 build

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