1988 B2 Conversion using 2000 Explorer 302

[dSINtia]

Looks awesome SVT... Can't wait!

 

[RangerSVT]

I took another look in the parts bins and come to find out there's a throttle cable in the collection that I overlooked. So that was one less part I needed to get. So after a trip to the junkyard, I came back with a trans shifter cable and the block adapter.

Here is the male block adapter next to the original female adapter. The female adapter is used in oil cooler and filter adapters, which won't work with the 1413 adapter...

I also stopped and picked up some grade 8 motor mount bolts...

And the trans shifter cable...

Here the male adapter is installed in the block, along with the motor mount, which will be drilled for the correct placement once installed...

Here is the 1413 installed...

The passenger side mount will need some trimming as its contacting the block heater....

Here's the factory trans shifter cable installed on the trans. Gotta figure out a way to make it work with the stock shifter. I had an idea, but with the stock shifter lever hanging down so far, I might need to take a different approach...

Unfortunately, this is all the progress for today. Spent more time than I wanted in town getting parts. I did forget to get the new starter bolts as the only one in the collection has a damaged head. Gotta do some hunting in my collection of parts, I might have one or two laying around...




SVT

 

[dSINtia]

Love seeing the progress SVT. I'm very interested in how the plan with the shifter plays out... That trans tunnel is going to be tight without a body lift. I should have warned you about the starter bolts... I had to grind one of them off when I yanked the donor motor. Thanks again and I can't wait to see more!

 

[RangerSVT]

Today's progress:

Here you can see just how far the stock shifter linkage sticks down...

Got the passenger motor mount notched for the block heater..

The starter bolts was a hunt for a needle in a hay stack. The starter bolts are specific to the 4R70W, they are not the same as other starter bolts, nor are they the same as the bellhousing bolts. I finally found 2 bolts that were the correct thread, but they're a tad too long. They most likely will be temporary as it's not to my liking, but it holds the starter in for the time being...

I got the rubber mount's locating pin removed....

Found something else that I didn't like that I'll be replacing, the ground cable. The insulation is cracked pretty bad. So while a replacement is needed, I'll be upgrading the wire size as well. This does a couple things, it helps with faster starts, helps both the starter and battery have a longer life, and helps with dimming lights from electrical current draws...

Next up, fuel lines. I removed the incorrect fittings and installed the correct male fittings....

Modding the heater box is next. This is what it looked like before I started...

Here's what it looks like after I modded it using the heat gun method....

And the motor and trans is in! Well, kinda...

And this is where the remainder of my day was spent, engine placement. I moved the engine around at least a dozen times, probably more. Still need to fab the motor mounts more. On the passenger side, the exhaust is going to be tricky. For the exhaust, it needs to go to the driver side more, but the bellhousing to firewall clearance needs to go to the passenger side. Belhousing to firewall clearance would help if it could to lower, but the exhaust needs it to be raised...

I could roll the lip on the firewall to move the motor to the driver side more, but in order to do that there's a boss on the trans near the bellhousing to engine mounting surface that will need to be clearanced as it's almost touching the firewall now...

I had to remove the heater hose hard lines as it was contacting the top of the AC box at the firewall, it would be easier and simpler to run straight rubber line from the block to the heater core. I ended up having to remove the ac box to mod it even more, I tried to get around cutting the box, but with where I need to clearance it more, there's no way it will stay intact...

This is about where the motor is in its final spot, or so I thought. Here's the clearance with the new radiator...

Here's the clearance with the old radiator...

As you can see, there's only about 1.25" of clearance with the new rad, 2.625" with old rad. Looks like I may have to make some more mods to get the engine back even more. The good news is the shifter linkage is not far off from actually being able to work. With a little modifying, it'll work without a shifter cable. It'll have a linkage similar to a tcase shifter, more on that later...



SVT

 

[dSINtia]

Holy cow... Looking great SVT. Genius at work... Very interested in seeing how the heater box mod, exhaust and shifter linkage come together.

Can't wait!

Thanks again and looking forward to more!

Dave

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Can you move the rad forward?

 

[RangerSVT]

Not unless i cut the core support. The way the new rad is made, it holds it off the core support by a good inch. Gonna pull the motor today, bend over the body lip, remove the trans boss and fab a different mount for the passenger side, gonna lower the motor as far as the exhaust will let me so i can slide it further back...

SVT

 

[dSINtia]

When I as planning this job out I considered grinding the threaded end of the water pump shaft off to gain an additional 3/8". Never really considered how easy or beneficial it would be but it seems like in a pinch 3/8" may make or break ya... especially when I was focused on keeping a two speed puller versus a pusher cooling fan. Looking forward to seeing how you tackle this one SVT. How often can I say thanks???

 

[stmitch]

What are your plans for a cooling fan?

It's just a suggestion, but I had similar clearance issues with my 3.0 and was able to use the 01+ duratec efan in a heavily modified factory shroud with great success. I'm not sure if the newer shrouds would easily work with older radiators/core supports though.

 

[dSINtia]

Thanks Mitch.

The plan, when I was going to do the work and before I turned it over to SVT, was to use a two speed Taurus fan as a puller based on his recommendation. I'm not sure what SVT is looking at now because of the clearance issues noted but I trust he's got a plan that will work. No matter, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes out.

 

[RangerSVT]

Another update. A lot was done, although the overall project doesn't look like it. Motor was back out at 7am...

Kinda hard to see, but it was 34* this morning...

Here's the trans boss that needs to be removed...

Here it is removed....

Here is the body lip on the firewall folded over...

Since I won't be using the shifter cable, I removed the shifter cable bracket on the trans...

With the motor sitting as far back as it can, I was able to keep the stock location for the trans crossmember. Here is the stock B2 mount next to the offset mount that the explorer uses. I had to use the offset mount...

Onto working the heater/AC box. The bottom part of the box has about a 110* bend to it, and with what I need clearanced, the heating method wasn't gonna cut it. Most do sheet metal or fiberglass. Problem with fiberglass is getting it to stick to plastic, even roughing up the plastic, its still hard to stay attached after years of vibrations. The sheet metal method, to me, just looks hacked, so what else is there?

Why, cardboard and ducktape of course! No, I'm not using cardboard as a permanent fix, I'm making a template and using this...

I'm using the same material that the box was originally made out of, plastic. It's the same thickness, I just transfered the template to the material. Notice I used the original 90* bend the plastic had molded, this allowed me two less joints to attach...

Here you can see the exact cutout of the template...

The other half of the template and cutout...

Here's the two cutouts arranged next to each other as they will be attached...

Here's the finished cover. It looks like RTV, but its not. I welded the plastic together, all seams, both sides, this is the strongest setup besides molding a new part from one piece of plastic, which I would have prefered to do, and would have, but I just didn't have the time to make the mold...

Here's the insulation back on the the box. I added some aluminum tape to both help the insulation as well as provide more insulation...

The engine back in the engine bay with the box installed...

The driver side valve cover to firewall. If there's a 1/4" there, thats a lot. It's tight, can't move the engine back any further without firewall mods....

Driver side mount...

Passenger side mount....

Fuel rails next, the return line was the right length, but the supply line was too long...

Here's the shortened supply line and hooked up....

Onto the next issue, the upper intake. I think this truck is not wanting this motor as its been fighting me since the 2.9 came out. With the upper intake against the firewall....

It just wasn't far enough. .

My options are bring the motor forward about 3/4", which I already need more than what I have, or lift the trans up higher. I lifted the trans up 1.5" higher off the trans mount, and that left me about 1/8" clearance between the intake and the firewall. I need to fab a riser to go between the trans mount and the trans. I switched to getting the FEAD installed, which is where I called it a day...

I've got about 1.75" clearance between the new rad and the water pump snout. Due to clearance issues, the taurus fan will not work in this truck. I used dual 10" fans on

SVT with success, but I only had 2/3's of the surface area covered, I had plans with going with quad 8" fans, this would give me the coverage I would be comfortable with, and give me the needed airflow for extreme conditions. This is probably the route I'm going to suggest. I had thought about running a couple of squirel boxes in front of the core support, but finding them in 12 volts would be fun and expensive. I've got a full day of work still to go with half a day needed in the junkyard to collect more parts. Junkyard parts list:

Starter bolts

Driveshaft from 2wd 2nd gen V8 explorer (there's about 8 V8 ex's at my junkyard!)

AC manifold/lines

Parts store list:

Battery cables for power and ground

Swap out AC accumulator and possibly AC condenser (for a 94 model)





SVT

 

[win]

This really drives home the point of just how dang easy dropping the '96 Expo 5.0 into my '02 was.

Great work sir!!!

 

[dSINtia]

I agree with Win... Exceptional work my man. Very much looking forward to seeing more... My son is eagerly waiting new updates! Give me a ring or shoot me an email if you need anything from me. Thanks and good luck with everything that remains. Dave

 

[RangerSVT]

So Dave, I think I found a solution to the upper intake problem, let me know what you think...

No, not really. This setup is going on the V8 jeep TJ I'm doing. Went to the junkyard and autoparts store this morning, spent way more time than I needed or wanted to, but I got all the parts I needed, or so I thought. From the junkyard, I got a driveshaft from a 97 2wd V8 explorer, trans cooling lines, AC manifold hose with a fairly new accumulator, 2 starter bolts and a vacuum 90...

From the autoparts store I got battery cable and cable lugs...

Had to back track to Lowes to get some fittings for the heater hose. Here is the heater hose fittings installed...

AC compressor installed...

New O rings for the AC manifold/hoses...

AC manifold/hoses installed with the accumulator from a 97 explorer. The AC system was still charged when I pulled the hose, and the accumulator looks barely 6 months old, so I grabbed it too. It bolted right up to the older Bronco 2's evaporator core, plus allowed for off the shelf reusable parts should they need to be replaced in the future...

I didn't grab the high pressure switch's plug from the donor, and I should have. The plugs don't match, and I had planned to just swap the switches out, but the threads are different. So I'm gonna have to get a plug and swap the plugs out on the harness...

While I was at it, I pulled the orifice tube out and replaced it, and good thing, the old one is almost completely clogged....

Tried to install the belt, found the tensioner to be completely locked up, I had a 3 foot prybar between the pullies trying to break it free, no go, it wasn't giving. A new one will need to be bought...

Got the power steering pressure line installed...

And the return line....

The AC liquid line from the accumulator to the condensor will need to be replaced, the outer sheething is split, and the hardline is rusted pretty bad...

The old and new condenser has some differences. The old one is a dual row, the new a single row....

...and the tubes are lower on the new one vs the old one, so much that it won't mount in the core support without cutting the core support...

I got the upper intake mounted, vacuum lines ran, and the coil packs mounted. The TPS and IAC plugs won't reach the sensors on the throttle body, so I may have to extend them. There's a bracket that holds the DPFE and EGR solenoid sensors thats missing. They'll be deleted in the tune, so I could remove them, and the plugs for those sensors won't be seen as they'll be hidden behind the intake by the firewall, so I don't know what I'm going to do there just yet. Not pictured, but the starter bolts were swapped out as well. Should have this thing ready to start tomorrow, we'll see....



SVT

 

[dSINtia]

Haha. Good one... Problem = solution.

Just FYI, I had to change the cam shaft synchronizer out when I was converting the motor to 96/97 year configuration... Although I used the alignment tool made by OTC, it probably needs to be checked for proper alignment. I suspect it may be off a few degrees.