85 Ranger getting some teeth...

[85_Ranger4x4]

It was brought to my attention in the "belt drive system" thread that this FEAD doesn't really work well with the Explorer radiator. Since that is the radiator I wanted to use I wanted to check it out.

Of course this really rough, the engine measurements are from the back of the block to whatever sticks out the front the farthest. The 2.8 fan is barely on, so take off about 1/2" from its length. Engine bay is from the most protruding part (looked to be the passenger side firewall) to the radiator obviously.

Give it a couple inches of room between the firewall and the block and I think this radiator would be very tight for any FEAD the way it sits... that is if the FEAD wasn't sticking into it. Dunno how my engine will sit in there of course (maybe it won't be as bad as I think), you could get creative with a die grinder, drill and cuttoff wheel you might be able to tweek the radiator and get it a half inch farther ahead mounting the same way and run pusher fans (there is a shy 3.5" of room between tranny cooler support and radiator right now)

I will probably just try to stick the 2.8 rad back on, I think it might be narrow enough to clear. Then I can run it and see if this engine is worthy of a $400+ radiator or not. No point in having a new radiator laying around to get hurt if I gotta pull the engine back out. Not to drive it, just to start it.

Kinda crazy a brand new 4.0 rad is $100, one that is small enough to fit inside the radiator support is over 4x as much money...

 

[baddad457]

The Exploder radiator (the 5.0 one) is also deeper than the 2.9/4.0 radiator, it's not going to fit in an 85 without major surgery. The frame rails are completely different between an 85 and a 96-2001. And next time measure using the drivers side firewall as the drivers side head is offset about an inch farther back the the passenger side head. Or in other words, the drivers side cylinder bank is offset to the rear in relation to the passenger side bank. You're also measuring too high up on the firewall, loosing some inches there.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The Exploder radiator (the 5.0 one) is also deeper than the 2.9/4.0 radiator, it's not going to fit in an 85 without major surgery. The frame rails are completely different between an 85 and a 96-2001. And next time measure using the drivers side firewall as the drivers side head is offset about an inch farther back the the passenger side head. Or in other words, the drivers side cylinder bank is offset to the rear in relation to the passenger side bank. You're also measuring too high up on the firewall, loosing some inches there.

Yeah, I already counted the 5.0 rad out, it was never really in for that matter. The parents have a '94 Explorer and the radiator had a slow leak, so when they changed it a couple years ago I snagged the old one for testing.

If nothing else aluminum is up from probably 10 years ago when they replaced it

This was just rough measurements, there are several contours to the firewall... and I don't know exactly where it will end up in there.

 

[baddad457]

There's nothing like getting the engine and transmission in there though to really see how everything will fit. A tape measure only goes so far.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well lots of good news today. It is sitting in the truck and what doesn't look good right now I think I know the fix for.

I am not really for sure what the deal was, I thought I had the mounts on the right way. We fought for half an hour trying to the the DS close to touching anything. The passenger side was gravy. So we switched them and then the DS was gravy and the PS was really close to the bend. A nut wouldn't tighten without hitting the inside of that bend radius. So we stopped there, going to get another PS Mustang mount because it fit perfect. My guess is my bodylift let me push the engine back farther. There is about 1/4" between the base of the valve covers, and that will increase when the engine isn't sitting on the studs as the firewall tapers to the back. And on that note, I have 1" of clearance between the 4.0 Explorer radiator.

My stubby little 4x4 C5 slipped right in, almost easier than the 2.8/A4LD came out, I also had the front tires about flat.

Drivers side mount, looks great:

Passenger side has issues, you can see from the scratches in the paint where the other mount was.

4.0 Radiator is a GO!

 

[Boggin]

been following this thread since page 1. this is what I call a good job of a v8 swap, no half ass stuff. engine looks beautiful!

 

[Teddyzee]

I have my mounts opposite of the way you have them.

they sit up near the top of the crossmember, but once you drill holes, then slot them downward, you'll find the engine will go lower, and lower, until to pad of the mount sits on the crossmember. By then the nuts will go on the back.
If you haven't done it already, grind the nub off the mount, too, on the bottom. It will prevent it from sitting flat.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

been following this thread since page 1. this is what I call a good job of a v8 swap, no half ass stuff. engine looks beautiful!

If I had a bigger budget there are things I would like to change. I would have rebuilt the engine and trans first. Hopefully it all works out in the end with unknown "good" components though. I also wish I could have spiced up the engine a little. As far as half ass stuff, that is what bugs me the most at this point.

Thanks for the compliment though.

I couldn't get the engine back far enough at all for the drivers side mount to get close to being over the crossmember. Height wasn't the problem it was front to back that got me. Head against the firewall and it was still way too far ahead, a little worse than it is on the other side going the other way.

Two of I think the right side mounts and I think it will be perfect, crappy thing is I won't have them until Tuesday.

I had read somewhere that you had to cut the dowels off, I thought when I did that and repainted them I got them mixed up.

EDIT: I dunno after studying the pictures I don't know what the deal was, it looks like they should work... but they sure didn't.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not much new on the actual build aside from noticing it is now much harder to steer as I roll it in and out of the shop.

Getting ready to order my 88400 Hedman headers, when they say 2-1/2" collectors, they don't say what size the included reducers are. Would they be 2-1/2ID (like 2-1/4" pipe would fit in it?)

Ultimatly I want to run 2-1/4" exhaust, just big enough to have some depth but not so big it sounds like it is running underwater.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HED-88400/

 

[baddad457]

The collector size is 2-1/2" the reducer probly goes down to 2", but can be cut to merge with 2.25"

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well my mount didn't come in yesterday.

I tried to switch them to see again if I was doing something wrong since I hadn't heard of any one else having these problems and I am stuck anyways until I get the mount. The stud comes out against the very top corner bend of the crossmember, there is another contour before it is uniform going down. I am just not real happy with the location of that stud vs how the other mount looked.

DS head was against the firewall.

Passenger side fits like a dream:

Since people are always asking about SN-95 Mustang headers, and some say they do work while most say they don't... and I had some time to kill waiting for the paint to dry between coats for the PS pump bolts. The engine is sitting on the engine mount studs so it will sit lower in real life.

The driver side looked like it would fit (and is supposed to) but I wasn't gung-ho enough to try to snake it up from underneith by myself.

EDIT: Day 3, still no mount and they don't know where it is... switching stores.

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

Same place mine hit........Drivers side front tube hit the PS pump.

 

[baddad457]

The D/S SN-95 fits because the tubes are routed the same as the Hedman 89500/88400 (drivers side) are. It's the 85-93 OEM drivers side that doesn't work. You should have been able to drop it right in place from the topside. Your drivers side mount has issues due to the head being up against the firewall. Most leave an inch or so of room there, I left enough room to access the smog tube bolt there when I first did the swap.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The D/S SN-95 fits because the tubes are routed the same as the Hedman 89500/88400 (drivers side) are. It's the 85-93 OEM drivers side that doesn't work. You should have been able to drop it right in place from the topside. Your drivers side mount has issues due to the head being up against the firewall. Most leave an inch or so of room there, I left enough room to access the smog tube bolt there when I first did the swap.

That was a last ditch effort just to see how close I could get it. If I moved it much farther ahead the stud would miss the crossmember completely, it is barely touching it right now. The last set of pics is with the mounts in the correct placement according to the swap article (swapped side to side)

The way I had it in there before I would have had about 3/4" on the DS between the valve cover and the firewall with the engine down where it is supposed to be.

As near as I can tell right now I have them on right (I have flipped them back and forth twice now), I think these are Teddyzee's:

It looked tight and I didn't want to scratch up my engine for a photo op of a header I won't use. The 88400's are due tomorrow.

 

[baddad457]

Ok, I can't really tell where the stud in (drivers side) in your pics. I do recall that one side will be close to the edge of the crossmember. That was one more reason why I added two extra bolts per side on mine, using the 3/8" holes in the mounts as guides.