Pics of my rig

[MoarLow77]

Man your truck is absolutely beautiful! The engine setup is perfect! Where did you get the supercharger setup?

 

[stmitch]

Thanks! It's a whipple supercharger that Ford sold as a factory accessory around 04-06. They've been discontinued for several years now, so you'll have to find a used one if you want one.

 

[weatherdne]

Hi new here but i saw you have already done a few things that i am planning on doing to my 1997 Explorer 5.0L AWD. First i am a Mustang nut, have had around 21 of them so far, but i have no clue about parts for an Explorer/Ranger. Those rims are the ones planning on getting for my vehicle but are they for a Mustang and bolt right on? Or is there a bolt pattern with a certain offset and/or spacers? The brakes are next, bolt on? and still functioning ABS? or what mods? Anyway i have a few dozen questions but those will atleast get me started searching for what i need lol Thanks

 

[stmitch]

Hi! Welcome to TRS. Glad you like the truck! The answers to your questions are a bit complicated, so I will answer them as thoroughly as I can. I apoligize in advance if it's a bit wordy.

I will start with the brakes: They are technically "bolt on" for 2wd Rangers/Expos, but it's not like you can just grab some parts from the dealer and slap it together. A custom caliper bracket had to be made to mount the cobra caliper to the Ranger spindle. The next obstacle is that Ranger and Explorer rotors have the wheel hub built into the rotor, and Mustangs do not, so a hub had to be machined using a 2wd Ranger rotor, and removing the braking surface. Also, the Ranger brake lines have to be modified or replaced to work with the Cobra calipers. A guy on another Ranger forum sells the adapter/hub kits, but I don't believe any have been designed for 4wd or AWD Rangers/Expos since they have a much larger diameter wheel hub. You'd probably have to fab your own hub atleast. Not sure if the caliper barcket could be used or not.
Ford, and other places sell an adapter bracket for the mustang rear brakes to mount to the 7.5 or small bearing 8.8. If you have a stock Explorer 8.8 or 9 inch and you want rear Cobra discs, you'll need a bracket like what North Racecars sells.

The wheels are an aftermarket Mustang rim called FR500's. You can find them several places online, and in various sizes, colors and offsets. Specifcally, mine are 18X9 and 18X10 in an anthracite finish with polished lips. The offset is for 94-04 Mustang (+24 maybe?). The bolt pattern is the same as the Ranger/Explorer pattern regardless of the offset you choose. I had no issues at all with the rears, but the front wheel fitment is a bit more involved.
The center bore of the wheels is to small to fit over a 2wd Ranger hub. I'd imagine your AWD Explorer hub is even larger. I solved this by taking the smaller hub from the cobra brake kit, and turning the part that fits through the wheel down on a lathe. This allowed the wheel to fit properly over the hub, but the dust cap on the Ranger spindle forced me to use the front wheels without a center cap.
Many people have different results with aftermarket wheels. Sometimes the center bore fits, and others it doesn't. Sometimes the offset requires a spacer or adapter to avoid rubbing, or fit over the hub. Your biggest issue for fitting both the wheels and the brakes is the huge hub on the front of your AWD Explorer.

Phew! I think that's it. If you have other questions let me know.

 

[stmitch]

I got a new job in mid January that requires me to be about 30 miles from my truck most of the time. I haven't had enough time to really get to work on it during that time, but I did squeeze out some wrench time this weekend.
Here's what I got done:
Put new U-joints in my new driveshaft, and installed it into the truck
Put new O2's into the y-pipe, and installed it into the truck
Installed the starter
Installed my Hurst shifter, and got most of the interior put back together
Trimmed my e-fan shroud to fit (still have to mount the fan into the shroud and re-wire it)
Swapped to the manual trans computer
Put the hood back on the truck
Pulled the truck off of jack stands for the first time since November

Feels good to be back at it, but there are still wquite a few small things that need to be done before I can fire it up.

 

[stmitch]

Ok, so you guys know whats left, and more for my own record keeping, I still have to complete the following tasks.
Install clutch/brake pedals
Install clutch master cylinder
Wire in jumper for clutch pedal position sensor
Weld new bung for wideband O2
Install wideband, boost, fuel pressure, and oil pressure gauges
Install new fuel pump
Install mini notch
Find longer plug wires
Custom fit e-fan into shroud, and wire up
Load custom tune

 

[bigj47933]

I have to say you are my new inspiration to get my truck done. I just hope mine turns out half as nice as yours. Awesome truck.

 

[stmitch]

I have to say you are my new inspiration to get my truck done. I just hope mine turns out half as nice as yours. Awesome truck.

Excellent! Thanks for the compliment fellow hoosier!

I also got some work done this weekend. I didn't have much time to work, so I don't have pics of what I got done, but I'll get some when I can.

I had been having issues mounting my 2000 coil pack to the 01+ valve cover like I wanted (using the whipple eliminated the stock mounting location). I made some custom brackets and got the coil pack mounted to the valve cover, but using the 3.0 wires resulted in 2 of the plug wires being to short, and others were way to long. (It looked like crap) I'd been wrestling with my options for a couple of weeks, when I looked at my daily driver, and realized that the wires for a 4.0 SOHC might work just fine.
I picked up a set of 4.0 SOHC wires, and by mixing and matching the 3.0 wires and the 4.0 wires, I was able to make it work, and keep the install looking clean. Glad to have that issue resolved without resorting to cutting/splicing the harness!

When installing a whipple on a 98-2000, the TPS, and IAT are located in a different spot, and the factory harness won't reach the new locations. To get around this, I removed the tape from that part of the harness, pulled the wires out of the conduit until the connectors reached where they needed to be, and then retaped the harness. No cutting/splicing needed(there's a pattern developoing here)!

Also, since my truck originally had egr, and the whipple doesn't allow egr, I had some issues with the factory vacuum lines/egr controller setup. I decided to eliminate the factory setup, and egr controller completely, and just ran my own vacuum lines.

Also got my efan modified to fit in the shroud with the new (huge) 5.0 radiator I'm using.

So at this point, the only things left to do under the hood, are remount the supercharger, install the gauges, and wire in my efan. It's getting closer to running!

 

[stmitch]

Ok. Got some pics to update everything a bit.
Last week I got the wires figured out.



Cobra brakes deserve Cobra pedals, and no decent Ranger is complete without a Hurst!



This week I got the engine compartment finished. It fits under my custom hood just fine!


Here you can see the HUGE Explorer radiator (you can see it's twice as thick as the stock rad)


And I got my gauge positioning figured out (still have to hook them up)


Just need to wire up the e-fan, re-install my cats, hook up the gauges, wire up a bypass for the clutch pedal position sensor and it should be ready to fire!

 

[BlackBII]

Man I leave TRS for a while and I miss all this!

Truck looks sick man.

I'm sure you have mentioned this already, but what psi air charge are you going to run? And what's the compression ratio you're using?

Love the truck. And that is one hell of a serpentine belt.

 

[stmitch]

Thanks! The compression ratio should be pretty close to stock, about 9.3:1. The heads were decked just a bit, which would raise the compression, but the porting/polishing in the combustion chamber should lower it a bit. I'm guessing it will balance out, and be close to stock.
As far as boost goes, the supercharger is pullied for 14lbs, but with the headers and tons of port work I doubt I'll actually see that much. Overall boost numbers aren't that critical to me anyway. I'm more interested in making power than seeing a number on a gauge.

 

[doorgunner]

That's some sharp looking work there!

 

[stmitch]

Thank you DG! I've been busy with other things the last couple of weeks, so there's nothing new to report, but I should be able to get back to it this week. I'll keep you posted.

 

[stmitch]

Reinstalled my cats with a wideband port this weekend, along with a low profile transmission crossmember.

Next weekend's plans are to get the clutch master cylinder bled, and start in on the wiring of the e-fan, clutch pedal position sensor, and gauges. With a little luck, I'm going to try and fire it up before next weekend is over.

 

[stmitch]

I finally got the clutch bled today, and loaded my tune. Didn't get to the wiring yet, but I did fire it up for the first time
Still need to handle the wiring/gauge install, but it sure was sweet to hear it run for the first time! It'll be roadworthy soon enough!