- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 3,881
- Reaction score
- 1,736
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Macon/Fort Valley, GA
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Type
- V8
- Transmission
- Automatic
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
I've seen 10-15 year old aluminized pipes that still look good around here. I understand and agree with you on doing the exhaust once. Unfortunately both of the exhaust shops I've used in the past are gone now. The latter of the two that did my F-100 back in 2019 was only about a half mile from where I'm going to be doing the swap at. I think my best option will be cobbling something to use temporarily until I get the suspension figured out. I definitely have one Explorer exhaust past the cats, maybe the whole system, but it's on the rusty Ohio donor so who knows the real condition. I should have a second cat section that is decent shape and should be able to pick up a muffler or two and a few bends to get my by for a bit.I honestly don’t remember what size the stock pipes are. When we did dad’s, we just had the Explorer exhaust to past the cats. When I did mine, all I had were two stubs off the manifold because someone cut the cats off the donor. For mine I put the stubs on the headers and drove it to the local exhaust shop (custom shop). Handed over my universal high-flow cats and crossover muffler and told them I wanted 2.5” stainless (rust is a problem here). We used the same shop years ago doing dad’s. Since I only wanted to do exhaust once, I needed to have the suspension work done so they could make sure everything cleared. It’s a tight squeeze when it’s lowered with the Explorer goodies. Aluminized steel gets you about 2-3 years around here with rust.
Shift kit is going to happen, just not right now. I know that the donor drives and shifts, it did 100 miles at highway speeds bring it home. If I swap it in as is and it stops working, I know it isn't because I messed up something in the transmission.As for the shift kit, I was going to do it, but ran out of money and time. I’m not happy with the 4R70w in stock form. I said something to @holyford86 when he was visiting and after he took it for a test drive, he agreed it’s a tad sloppy. There doesn’t seem to be as much that can be done to these compared to the A4LD, which is probably a good thing that there’s less flaws, lol. From what I’ve seen, it appears there’s a basic shift kit, a performance shift kit, and a manual valve body conversion and shift kit. There’s also a couple things mentioned on the Explorer forum, but the tech article there is kinda incomplete. At some point in the relatively near future I intend to get the performance shift kit. Just not happy with the sloppy shifting.
The AWD donor has about 180K on the odometer, no records on maintenance so I'll assume that's accurite for everything. It's shifting good not, but when I build the next motor the transmission will be getting rebuilt and probably beefed up in anticipation of future dumb ideas.
If I decide I need it, adding a shift kit shouldn't be that difficult to do after the swap. I have a buddy that runs his own automotive shop and has experience with rebuilding ford transmissions. I'm not going to tie up his shop with the swap, but with his help and lift it probably wouldn't take long to do a shift kit.
Thank you for that info. When i mentioned fitting the headers above I was only thinking about mounting them so I could tweak the EGR tube to fit, then remove before installing. After posting that the idea did cross my mind to try installing engine with headers on. Glad I didn't waste my time with that. It sounds like I'd rather install them in the bay than do the extra work to drop them in with the engine.Oh, and the headers don’t fit setting a complete engine. Well, maybe if you pull the steering shaft and the ac/heater box. I had to take I think the drivers side header back off and do some wiggling and all to get the engine set with one header on. Can’t remember if I pulled the steering shaft or not. I did set engine and trans in one go on both swaps, I didn’t want to be trying to do bellhousing and torque converter bolts in the truck. Even with the core support out of the way, it’s a squeeze. The first one we did we used a machine and didn’t pull the core support. That was a riot. May or may not have worked easier. Certainly messier.
Wasn't planning to remove the core support, and won't unless it bolt's in, but I did figure on having all of the cooling system and the accessory drive system removed. Wasn't sure whether to try dropping it in with the transmission attached or not. Now I'm thinking maybe have the transmission attached and install the transfer case after I drop it in. It would be easier than messing with the torque converter and bellhousing bolts in the truck. If I do it before I lower the truck, I should be able to get a good angle for dropping it in.
I'm hoping I won't need to mess with anything other than possibly upper intake bolts, exhaust manifold bolts, and accessory mounting hardware. Hoping I won't need to mess with lower intake valve covers or oil pan on this engine.IIRC, factory manifold bolts are 3/8” coarse thread. Mine came out fine. Other bolts were a problem (intake, valve cover, water pump). You will want header bolts for the smaller head. I tried socket head bolts and had to use a ball end long socket Allen to get around the header pipes to get it together. Think I had to go to 1” long header bolts.
I'll have to open up the headers and see what they have for hardware. I know I'm going to be getting better gaskets than they came with, might have to throw some header bolts in that order as well.
That's the plan!Oh, I had all of the accessories off the front of the motor when I set it, bolted up that stuff after, made for less stuff to work around setting it. I also left the upper intake off.