Ford Forums & Technical Discussions banner

02 V8 Sport Trac build

289K views 135 replies 11 participants last post by  Taylormade 
#1 ·
Back in Nov 09 I did a V8 swap on my ranger, SVT. I was surprised at how much better the truck performed. Now the time has come for yet another V8 swap on my DD, my 02 Sport Trac 4x4, since the 4.0 is showing its age at 189k miles (and the previous owner ran it hard). I found a good candidate, a 99 explorer AWD with 168K on it with front end damage. Both frame rails were bent at the front side of the control arms. Closer inspection shown that the driver inner fender was touching the AC compressor, but had caused no damage. Everything was there, and so a donor was found.
I started out with a plan to keep this build similar to the way SVT's build started, as close to 100% bolt in as possible, so replacement parts will be easy. With the sport trac having basically the same frame up front as the explorer, everything should transplant. I plan to add a supercharger within the next year. I also plan to keep the 4x4 by using a 1356. I have seen explorer owners do the 4406 swap, but after seeing one in person, I didn't like how bulky it was. After looking at SVT's doubler, I decided to go that route. By replacing 56's shift motor with the one off the ST's 54 shift motor, I should have no issues shifting the tcase with the original dash mounted switch. Keeping things as simple and as stock looking/working as possible is what I'm after. The ST is my DD, but will also act as part time tow rig and recovery rig (when needed), so everything needs to work, and work right.
So here is the detailed build thread. I will cover what will be needed from the donor, what will need to be changed (if anything), and what will be upgraded (not needed, but always nice). The V8 swap portion of the build is taking place as this thread was created. Progress will be posted day to day and added to the first post to keep it easy to find. I will separate the edits with the dates….
(3-13-12)
Here is what the donor looked like when it came home to the shop…







This is starting the teardown of the donor. Removal of the inner fender on the driver side was required, as the battery box was over the AC compressor. Since there is the possibility that I might rebuild the donor with ST's original motor, both inner fenders and the core support needed to be replaced. This meant removing them prior to the drivetrain removal would make removing the drivetrain so much easier. Here is the outer fender removed on the driver side…

Here you can see the inner fender sitting on top of the AC compressor….

Here you can see the serpentine belt system and pulleys are still aligned, even though the belt has been knocked off the water pump pulley…

Here is the front clip removed (the sawzall was kind to help out on this :D)

The front core support and front half of the inner fenders….

Parts needed to go with the motor:
Altenator harness- This goes to the side of the distribution box in the corner of the firewall and driver fender. One side is the battery, the other side goes to the altenator. The altenator harness is wrapped with the battery cables and has one oval plug…

Here is the oval plug and battery cables on the battery end (cables were cut by fire dept when the accident happened)

Brake booster vacuum feed…

Throttle cable….

ECU and engine harness…

….disconnected at the 42 pin black plug located on top of the motor at the firewall next to the wiper motor..

Cruise control motor and cable….

That's as far as I got today. Tomorrow will be a day going to get fluids and a trip to the junkyard, so not much will get done, if anything.

SVT

3-15-12
Got some work done today, but the rain moved in quick and shut progress down. I had plans to get the ST motor pulled today, but rain moved in around noon. So I got some work done on SVT...Onto the progress, more stuff to undo/remove. Driveshafts...

Trans X-member and tcase skidplate...



Trans shifter cable from trans...

Remove shifter cable from bracket on bellhousing...

Passenger motor mount nuts..

Driver side motor mount nuts...

I removed the radiator and didnt take pics, but the AC lines from the AC condensor on both sides, the driver side needs to stay with the motor, this will be re-used (runs from the AC compressor to the condensor)

Power steering pressure line runs from the pump to the rack, take it loose from the rack, it will be re-used...

Upper radiator hose...

lower radiator hose...

AC line at the evaporator. A special tool is needed, but with it only takes seconds to release the spring..

Fuel line located near the steering shaft. Again, needs a special tool similar to the one needed for the AC line, but a different size...

It's a good idea to keep a box handy to put all the nuts and bolts in. I kept every nut and bolt removed...

Now the motor is ready to come out...













And the motor is out...





Shortly after I got it out and on jackstands (I put a jackstand under each motor mount), it started to get dark and windy. I started picking up tools and getting things somewhat in order, and in less than 10 minutes, the rain came and quick. I had just enough time to get the tools picked up. Thats all for today, I had plans to get the motor pulled out of the ST today, but the rain cut my plans on that one. Oh well, there's always tomorrow...

SVT

3-21-12
It's a good idea to change the trans filter while the motor/trans is out...

I also pulled the tcase off the trans so i can get the motor/trans in the engine bay. I also will be switching to the 1356 tcase that will give me 2wd and lowrange capability...


SVT

3-26-12

OK!!! Had some good progress today.I didn't get as many detailed pics as I wanted to today, but the removal is straight forward and won't go into too much detail removing the 4.0. I will cover the important things related to the v8 swap, but removal of parts is basically the same as the donor..Here is the ST with the hood off. This is the last time it will run....Under the power of the 4.0 that is...:D

Here are the radiators side by side. The original 4.0 is on the left, the 5.0 on the right. Believe it or not, the 4.0 rad with auto and a tow package is a single core radiator :shok: There is a possibility the previous owner of the ST swapped radiators, but in the condition I received it, its a single. The 5.0 is double row, and is the same size (heighth and thickness of end tanks), which means direct swap :yahoo:



Unplug the battery harness at the distribution box...

My helper. Who knew redheads were good at wrenching :shok:

Here is the altenator/low oil sensor harness...

Going....

Going....

GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

The empty engine bay. Notice the motor mounts, the position of the bolt pattern...

Here is the driver side. The 4.0 mount is in place, I'm holding the 5.0 mount...

Removing the motor mount on a 4x4 equipped SALA suspension requires lowering, but not removing, the front axle housing. Near the driveshaft flange of the front axle housing is one of two bolts on the driver side that needs removed. The other is just below the motor mount, seen in the pic...

It's tight, but a shallow socket with a regular ratchet can remove the single 18mm nut holding the motor mount in place...

If you have a flex head ratchet, like I used here, it makes removal a little faster as it gives you more room...

Here is the mount removed. You can see the nut that is used to retain the mount in place....

Here is the 5.0 mount in place...

And this is where the bad news starts....For my viewers anyway. My battery died on my phone, so the pics end here. The passenger side is slightly easier. There is one bolt holding the passenger side axle housing in place, located right below the motor mount. There is an access through the framerail right above the halfshaft. I used an 18mm deepwell socket with a 6" extension and a flex head ratchet, but a regular ratchet can be used. With both motor mounts swapped, I took some measurements and compared them to the measurements from the donor's mounts. The measurements were the same :yahoo: I also measured from the motor mounts to the firewall on both sides on both the donor and the ST. What do you know, again, the measurements match up. It's looking like this will be a 100% bolt in swap. With the motor out, I wanted to do some past due scheduled maintenance (fuel filter) I got the old one out, only to find out that the replacement filter was the wrong diameter size. The replacement filter was about 2/3 the size of the original. Didn't think nothing of it, since it has two inlets, one 3/8 and the other 1/4, and one outlet (3/8), until I tried to hook up the engine side. The engine side uses 1/4 size line, the filter housing was 3/8...A quick look at the part numbers at both the box and the new filter, both were different numbers. It appears the filter was either swapped by mistake, or someone wanted to pull a prank...Either way, I was down for now. With the 4.0 out of the way, the 5.0 was now ready for its new home. With the motor and trans attached together and complete, it they went. Things were going good til I got the crank near the core support. Then I remembered when I did SVT's V8 swap I had to remove the upper intake to get the motor in, and had said the motor and trans needs to be separated to be installed. Well, looks like I'm taking another upper intake off to install. Seeing how this is the third ranger V8 swap I've done personally, and all 3 I had the trans connected to the motor and all 3 had to have the upper intake removed, you would think I would remember this, especially since I just did a ranger V8 swap barely a month ago!! Anyways, with the motor in the engine bay, the motor mount plates are sitting on the mounts like they are suppose to. The valve covers are right up against the firewall, and between the water pump pulley and the condensor (condensor was not removed for engine removal/installation, only the radiator and fan blade) there is between 6-8 inches, maybe more. Looks like I will be able to use the 5.0 rad with the stock mechanical fan:yahoo: I haven't measured, but a quick look at the trans mount looks like it will fall in the stock location, so no trans mount mods needed. Once I got the motor on its mounts, I called it a day. Tomorrow I will get pics of the motor in place and the rest of the install. I had pudding face BIG TIME once the V8 was in!!!
Here is a pic of the oil filter housing Ford used on the non-oil cooler 5.0 engines...

And here is a pic of the oil adapter housing used on the 2.9L engines....

Are you following what I'm thinking?? But why would you ask I swap em out?? Ford swapped all explorer 5.0 motors to the 820S style filters which are smaller than the FL1A filters used on previous 5.0's. Also, when I bought the oil filter relocation kit from TransDapt for SVT, I had the straight block adapter left over since TTB rangers need the 90* block adapter. I plan to get another dual filter housing and a couple of lines and going with a dual filter setup. Also, some EFI 5.8 motors had the sandwich style oil coolers, which I could also install between the adapter housing and the relocation block adapter. This gives me some options. I still need to mount my additional trans cooler next to the stock location cooler, as well as install my external trans oil filter... Enjoy and stay tuned for the upgrades...

SVT
 
See less See more
60
  • Like
Reactions: disciplerocks
#2 ·
3-27-12

Got some more stuff done today, but I had a bunch of interruptions and didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. I started with the electrical under the hood. Mainly the altenator harness. The altenator charging circuit is slightly different from the donor to the ST. Here you can see the ST 4.0 altenator harness. Power goes from the altenator to the power distibution block located on the driver side firewall, crimped to the same terminal is the wire that goes to the battery, and from the battery to the starter...

Here is the section removed from the 4.0 harness that will be re-used. Notice the two fuse links at the end of one of the cables? The other side of the fuse links goes to the altenator output...

This is the explorer 5.0's altenator harness end, notice the altenator output is not tied to the battery side...

....This is why. The explorer's circuit uses a high amp fuse rather than the fuse links the ST uses....

After finding the correct length, I cut the altenator cable and soldered the fuse links to the altenator cable, therefore combining the ST end with the explorer altenator end...

Here is the finished product, complete with heat shrink with the sealing glue inside...

The cable ends made up with eyelets crimped on. I prefer to solder the cables into the eyelets/battery lugs, but I didn't have any way to heat up the solder...

And the finished battery cables....

The ST altenator harness has the AC high pressure switch circuit along with the low oil sender circuit. The explorer has the high pressure switch circuit in the fenderwell harness. The reason is on the 4.0, the ST has the high pressure switch is on the back of the AC compressor...

The 5.0 explorer has the switch in the high pressure line, near the condensor...

Here are the pressure switch wires that are in the altenator harness. The red/yellow and black/white wires is the circuit, however the black/white is shared by another circuit(ground side), and is in the plug. Only the red/yellow wire is missing from the 5.0 harness. I haven't yet, but later I will use the 4.0 harness plug (since the plug itself has the provision for the wire, all remaining unused pins are sealed/not drilled through the plug) and just re-pin the plug...

Here is the clearance between the radiator and the water pump shaft....

...and the clearance with the stock mechanical fan in place. There is a little better than 3/4" clearance at the top of the clutch blade (the trans is still not mounted and is sitting a couple inches low, so when the trans gets mounted, it will level out the clutch blades to radiator)....

Here is the fan shrouds, on the left is the 5.0, the right the 4.0. Notice the cutout on the right shroud for the single row radiator. It will not fit the 2 row rad, so the donor shroud is used...

Here is the shroud in place. Looks like it came from Ford this way. For now, I will run this setup. Later I plan to swap to an electric fan to improve fuel economy...

Here is the heater control valve. It is designed so when you turn on the heat from the climate control panel, it opens allowing hot water to travel from the engine to the heater core. These are known to leak and is only one more moving part to fail. I simply and easily removed this out of the system. The heater hose coming into the valve was removed and placed directly onto the heater core. There is a vacuum line coming from the cab to operate the valve. I would just plug this line off, however the previous owner already removed the valve from service and plugged the line...

The power steering return line from the ST is a little short from reaching the reservoir, so the donor return line is used....

The front bumper is removed, but not necessary for the swap. I chose to make a simple upgrade while I performed this swap. I am adding a second trans cooler as I have two spare stock coolers. I'm going to add one next to the stock location on the right...

Here is the second cooler mounted in place...

Wait a minute, why does this look different, I thought they were the same coolers...This is why. The ST cooler has a 2" mounting plate under the cooler, lifting the cooler up higher to get more airflow....

Here is the cooler I added...

I decided for the time being to leave it like this. Later I will modify the bracket to lift up the cooler. Here is the oil filter housing I will be using for my external trans filter. I wanted to install the filter on the hot side of the trans line (before the coolers), but I would have had to cut the trans line coming from the trans, as its one continuous line from the trans to the radiator. So I put it after all the coolers...

I mounted the filter housing to the lower front core support for ease of changing. It's high enough to be safe from obstacles should they arrive, and easy enough to reach. Here is the filter and coolers mounted and plumbed ready for action...

I didn't get any pics and didn't cover it, but the upper intake is back on the motor. The gasket was not damaged when the upper intake plenum was removed, so it was re-used to save some coin. It's only 6 bolts and is straight forward. Tomorrow I will get a couple pics of it and show the location of the bolts. Only thing left under the hood is the throttle cable and the engine to firewall ground. Stay tuned as tomorrow I will cover installing a low range tcase. Should be starting it for the first time tomorrow...

SVT

3-28-12

Along the fenderwell behind the ABS pump the harness is attached to the inner fender by a bolt. I unbolted the tab securing the harness to give me the needed slack. This was temporary as I had intentions of making an extension plug to give me the necessary slack (More on this later)...

Here is what the throttle cable looks like that passes through the firewall. There are two clips 180* from each other that release the cable and allow it to be removed...

Here is the 5.0 cable installed..

After some trial and error I found out the 1356 tcase I intended on using will not fit the wider explorer framerail like I thought, so I had to resort to using the stock explorer 5.0 AWD case, the 4404. For now I will not install the front shaft and just have rear drive. I will source the much larger 4406 and swap that in. The good news is the the trans cross member is a bolt in swap, no mods were needed...

The 4404 tcase is about 1.25 inches longer than the 1354, but the V8 trans is 1.5 inches shorter than the ranger trans, so my driveshaft fit with no mods. The one thing I did have to do was swap tcase output flanges. For some reason my tcase, which was not the original ST's case, was swapped out at some point in its life for a smaller flange. I either had to swap out driveshaft flanges, or swap out the output flange on the tcase. One nut and 30 seconds later, the flange was swapped. Here is the 4404 flange on the right, the 1354 flange on the left. Both share the same size and spline count, so they were swapped...


3-31-12

Okay, so as ya'll know, its running. But lets take a look at what it took to get there. Since I like detail, here is how to take a plug apart to release the pins for removing/installing pins. First, take the cap off. There are clips on each corner...

Then pull out the lock tabs....

This plug has 3 individual locking tabs. Take out all 3..

Here is what the plug looks like with the lock tabs removed. If you look closely, each pin has a small lock tab that can be pryed away from the pin, releasing it...

Here I am releasing the lock to release the pin. If the lock tab was in place, the lock for the pin would not be able to released...

While holding the lock away from the pin, pull the pin out from the back side...

Since I am extending the harness so the 42 pin plug will reach, and look like it came from the factory like that, I had to cut and splice quite a few wires. I could have taken and used crimp style connectors, but they would have not been a secure connection. I chose to solder and heat shrink each and every connection. Here is how to make a good tight secure solder.
Before you start the process of soldering, start by putting your heat shrink tubing on the wire and slide it down at least 8-10 inches, or as far away from the solder joint as possible...

Take the two wires to be soldered together and strip them back about 1/2"....

Push the wires together until they are touching the opposite wire's insulation, where they are somewhat weaved together, like this....

Then, take a piece of solder and wrap it around the bare section of wire, wrapping it tightly. This makes the solder joint nice and tight and neat...

Then, take the solder gun and with the solder gun at temp, touch the joint to be soldered. Within seconds, the solder that you wrapped around the joint will melt and flow through the wires, soldering the wires together....

After the joint is soldered, slide the heat shrink over the joint and apply heat. Be sure to overlap the joint on each side to protect the joint...

Here I am about 2.5 hours into extending my harness, about half way done...

And here is the harness completely extended...

Here is the original 42 pin harness plug with about 10" of wire left. Since I had the 5.0 donor's plug, I cut off the plug with about 20" of pigtail. In doing this, instead of cutting and adding wire to an existing circuit and having two solder joints, I cut the original harness at 10" long, leaving me 10" of additional wire, thereby extending my harness by 10"...

I've got most of the harness wrapped back up in the original wire loom. Tomorrow it will be done, hopefully by noon. After I get everything back in place, I need to check for leaks and fluid levels. Here is where I called it a day. The sun went down and the mosquitos starting coming early (At least something finds me sweet :D)


4-1-12

Swap is now officially complete. I'd say it took me maybe 1.5 to 2 hours today to finish, if only those damn mosquitos would have stayed away...Oh well. Here is the engine bay with the harness finished and in place...





Tomorrow ST is getting exhaust, I'll get a vid of what she sounds like :icon_thumby:

8-26-12

One of the most important components to allow the speedo to work is the G force transducer, which basically tells the ECU how hard the vehicle is braking. The Trac does not have this, but the donor does. It's located on the frame rail just under the driver side front door. This is what it looks like...

The reason is the path the Vehicle speed sensor takes. In the Trac it goes from the VSS in the rear axle to the ECU, and a signal gets sent to the ABS pump/module and the instrument cluster. The donor works slightly differently, as it goes from the VSS in the rear axle up to the ABS module. The ABS module in conjunction with the transducer then sends the adjusted signal to the ECU, which then gets sent to the instrument cluster for speedo operation. There are three wires on the transducer that need to be hard wired into the Trac. The orange/black wire ties into the ABS module pin 14, which is black/orange...

After this connection was soldered, it was covered with heat shrink...

From this point I had to remove a pin from the plug, so here is how to dismantle the ABS plug. Using a small flat screwdriver remove the endcap on the plug..




Here you can see the release tabs holding the pins in place...

The yellow wire connects to pin 13 which is the brake pressure switch going to the ECU. This wire is no longer used and was removed from the ABS module plug, which is a black/white. The orange/white goes to pin 1, there is no pin in this location, so one had to be added. I grabbed a pin from another ABS plug from the junkyard. Pin 19 on the ABS module, gets spliced into pin 32 on the grey firewall connector to tie the new VSS output into the speedo and cruise circuits...(Bad pic with no closeup, but this is the location of the grey plug, they both appear black, but thats just the cover, you can see the color of the plugs when looking at them at an angle)

Rather than drilling and locating the transducer in the factory location, I chose to make the mounting and routing wires easy on me and mounted it just behind the battery on the inner fenderwell. Notice the arrow? This must face forward, and the sensor must be level. Well, after this was done, I took it for a test drive, and both my speedo and cruise control now works as it did...

I also noticed a big improvement in the way my transmission shifts, as well as about a 2 to 3 mpg improvement in fuel mileage. This is due to the ECU now being able to detect speed and correct shift points as well as engage to torque convertor lockup at speeds over 45 mph, which is what my ECU has been programmed for in my custom tune.
SVT
 
#5 ·
Tom, it was quite an intense job for the average person. But I specialize in electrical wiring, and its something I enjoy and know well. I firmly believe in doing something once and right the first time.

SVT
 
#6 ·
Ok, so here is the dual oil filter relocation kit from Summit Racing, minus the 90* adapter, which is found on the 2.9L engine...



Here is the explorer 5.0L oil filter adapter. It changes the threads from the stock 3/4x16 to a metric 22x1.5. If I knew the kind of headache I had trying to adapt the 2.9L adapter, I would have gotten a kit for the metric thread and used the stock adapter, you will see in a bit...



Here is the hose adapters that come in the summit racing brand kit, they are made of aluminum...



Here the 90* adapter and the block adapter are assembled, along with the hose fittings which turned out not to work. More in a bit...



Here is the dual filter housing with the filters and hose fittings installed.
The hose was more than long enough, and I didn't want to cut it as I'm moving the filter housing when I fab my bumper. So I went to re-route the hose to the other side of the dual filter housing (they have input and outputs on both sides and come with a pair of plugs to block off the side not used) and when I removed one of the aluminum hose fittings, it stripped coming out. I know, this sounds wierd, but I threaded in the fitting by hand using caution not to strip and I got a good 4 turns on it before it started to tighten, so it wasn't cross-threaded going in. This was another part of the kit I was not happy with. I ended up cutting the last 3 threads of the fitting, tapped the filter housing, but it was still leaking, so I went and bought another fitting, this time in brass...



Before I could install the block adapter from the kit, I had to remove the female block thread adapter in favor of a male adapter that is typically used when an oil filter is attached to the block. On the left is what the explorer motor uses, which is needed for the 90* adapter. On the right is the adapter used for oil filters to the block...



Here is what it looks like on the block...



To remove this from the block, you need to obtain two 3/4x16 nuts, install them on the adapter, tighten them against each other to form a jam nut, then using the inside nut, simply back the adapter out of the block. I got this adapter from a spare motor I have in my shop. Summit Racing sells these adapters if you don't have a spare motor laying around. The aftermarket has a hex formed on the inside of the adapter making installing and removing easy. The stock doesn't have this hex as you can see...



I put a light coat of fresh oil on the O-ring and installed the block adapter on the motor...



Here it is installed on the motor with a set of 90* brass pipe fittings and the kit's aluminum hose fittings....



The block adapter I used is not one from the kit. This is one I had left over from a TransDapt kit I used on SVT. Here is the one from the kit. It has removable threaded fittings that is held in by a wire ring. I didn't like this as it is not a sealed fit, allowing oil and oil pressure to bypass the filter. Yet another feature I don't like about this kit. If it had an O-ring between the fitting and the housing, then it would be better...



Unfortunatley my phone died from this point, but all the remains is to connect the hose to the block adapter, then connect the other end to the filter housing. Remember that the "out" of the block adapter goes to the "in" of the filter housing, and the "out" of the filter housing goes to the "in" of the block adapter. Some filters have an anti drain back valve, so if the lines are connected incorrectly, your engine will starve of oil. Any place the oil line comes in contact with anything, it's a good idea to cover the line to protect it from abrasions. I simply took an extra length of hose, slit it down the side and installed it over the oil line.

Overall I do not recommend the summit racing brand dual filter relocation kit (part # 4986-1) do to the block adapter, the hose fittings, and the type of hose. For about $15 more, you can get the much better TransDapt kit. The TD kit has push-lock brass fittings that don't require hose clamps or crimping, One piece block adapter (the same one I used here), and much better quality of hose.
For those needing more clearance at the block adapter, TD sells a 90* block adapter (which I used on SVT), part # 1413, for about $10-15...

SVT
 
#7 ·
About a month ago I ordered a set of 68 SMD LED bulbs for my fog lights, and the next day I ordered a set of 68 SMD LED 3157 bulbs to replace my older style 5mm 19 LED bulbs. My fog light bulbs came in 2 weeks ago, but the 3157's just came in today. Here is a pic of them side by side....

It's hard to see, but here are the 68 SMD's installed just in the left side, the old style in the right, I'm surprised they are not much brighter. You can tell the white LED bulbs throw a different color in the red lens, the right side uses red LED's in the red lens...

This pic shows each of the new LED's in the housing...



Here is a shot of the whole lens...



Full shot of the rear...

Overall they are a little brighter than the older 5mm design, but I am slightly dissappointed that they are not brighter for being SMD's. For those that don't know, you can substitute a 3157 for a 3156 ( it works in either socket, you just don't have the low beam, the low beam contacts are on the inside, the high beam on the outside, on the 3156, the contacts are on the outside). I got em off ebay, paid $16 and change for 4 LED bulbs shipped to my door. I figured I could throw the change out to try and see how they are. Buggman over on TRS also makes custom LED conversions, and I'm thinking they are brighter than ebay's. Of course the ebay ones are from china, so they may be a lesser output quality...

SVT
 
#8 ·
No where near it. I'm thinking about getting the 1 watt LED thats mounted to its own heat sink, which coincidentally looks to be the same diameter as the bulbs, and replace the 8 SMD's on the end cap with the 1 watt. I'm thinking this will turm it more into the flashlight style and project more light forward. Right now it lights up everything in front, but it doesn't have enough projectory, it's almost like a flood, but compared to a conventional flood light, its very dim. Without modifying, it would be better to get the hyper white halogen bulbs, similar to the silverstar sylvania's. Again, I haven't gotten my hands on any quality SMD LED's to do any experimenting, yet...

SVT
 
#9 ·
They do have a good selection, but their prices are up there with their products. There are a couple other different sites that I have been looking at for LED's, but for the life of me I can't remember any at this point...

SVT
 
#10 ·
#11 ·
So as some of you may know, I had an electrical issue with my Trac. The trailer running lights would not work, but the fuse and the trailer tow relay was good. I had partially torn my interior apart before trying to track down the problem, but didn't have time to finish. Today was a day that I finally had time (and cause I'm pulling a trailer over 100 miles tonight). I started by back tracking the circuit. I tested at the plug near the transfercase where the harness goes into the interior of the cab. No power, applied power to the trailer side of the connector, and lights came on, no short circuits. So I tracked down the harness, which to my surprise wraps around the cab instead of going straight up to the dash, and found that the harness goes to the passenger kick panel where from there goes up into the dash to the relay box. Tested for power there, and I had power [dontknow] So I proceded to test at every junction where the harness splits off other circuits. I ended up finding the break in the circuit under the rear driver seat...



Turns out the previous owner had either overloaded the circuit, or had a short in the trailer wiring, as it had overheated the insulation to bare wire, and after repeated heat cycles combined with exposed wire corroding, the wire finally broke in two...

I had a couple wires that were damaged, and had to repair them. Here is a how-to to properly repair or splice a wire. First, cut the wire far enough back to rid the damaged section of wire to make a good contact. Then, put a piece of heat shrink tubing on thats twice as long as the bare section of wire, so it will overlap the joint. Then, strip the insulation back about 1/2"...

I cut a piece of larger wire and stripped it the same 1/2", then pushed the two together. Using the solder, I wrapped it around the bare wires to make the splice nice and tight...

This is what the finished solder joint looks like...

After the heat shrink is pushed into place and heat is applied, this is what the completed repair looks like...


SVT
 
#12 ·
So I'm out messing with project ss minow ( the supercharged 5.0 jeep) and had pulled the rear tires off to do some suspension mods. I roll the tires next to my Trac and then looked at it and said hmm...

So I wondered if it would fit. What do you know, it does fit!





Who says you need a lift kit to fit 35's? That's right, no lift, torsion bars not cranked, rocking 35's! Now, cause of the major offset the rims have, it limited turning to barely a lane change before rubbing, but with my 20's, I think I could fit 35's with minimal rubbing, and even then I could add an inch or so with the torsion twisted slightly. I'm excited to find this out as I have future plans of taking the 60's from SVT when I get the new axles and putting them under the Trac with 37's as rolling hardware, all while not running it real high, and with about a 10 to 12" suspension up front (coilovers)....

SVT
 
#14 ·
Thanks, I like attention to detail, and making sure its done right. There's nothing worse than something that's hacked up or have wires going everywhere terminated to nothing. My next swap I want to do a mod motor swap into a ranger or my Trac, or my newest collection to my stable, my 93 mustang. One of these days I will start restoring my early bronco and I'm going with the new 32 valve 5.0 coyote motor...

SVT
 
#15 ·
So, as some of you know, I bought a supercharger from an 09 GT500 to put on top of my 5.0 in my Trac. Then I sold it cause I found a low mileage 2012 charger, but that deal fell through. Well, I finally found something to replace my 09 charger...


Yep, that's a 2012 M122 from a GT500, complete with elbow, throttle body, intake, fuel rails, 47 lb injectors, and 2 pulleys, the stock and a 2.6 pulley. I'm already in the process of designing an intercooler so I can run a 1.9 pulley. I'm also in the process of gathering the parts to convert to an 8 rib pulley system. How do ya like me now [twothumbs]

SVT
 
#16 ·
Continuing my front clip swap parts collection, I have an 06 hood, just ordered an 06 header panel, Monday I'll be ordering a new set of black diamond clear headlights and corner lights. Still looking for a grille shell, gonna run a full billet grille. I'm also hunting for another full set of ranger fenders, preferably 06 so it has the pocket style flares already on them, gonna completely redo the fenders, not just the front part. I'm almost finished building SVT's front bumper, and to my surprise its no where near the weight I thought it would be. So instead of building my Trac's bumper out of aluminum, I may just build it out of 3/16 steel...

SVT
 
#19 ·
So I kind of got screwed on the whole charger deal. It was supposed to be "the lot", which listed the charger, elbow, throttle body, airbox, 2 pulleys, injectors and fuel rail. Turned out the extra pulley, injectors and fuel rail were separate. The injectors, 2.6 pulley and rails were already sold even though they were listed. So, in the end, we compromised with me getting the charger, elbow and throttle body. I can't use the throttle body, but it was cheaper for me to get it and flip it rather than just get the charger without it. I also am in line for the next set of injectors that comes in, which is $50 less than the cheapest price I've seen so far. So in the end, I'll have the setup I wanted for almost less than half of what I originally budgeted, which means the intercooler I've been thinking about just came on board. I've definitely went on a shopping spree these past two weeks, spending over $1.5k, but it was both fun, and worth it. I also decided to change the look of the 20" chrome rims, since its time for a set of tires. I pulled the 20's off and I'm rocking the stockers for now. I also weighed them, the 20's are 71 lbs, the stockers (15" explorer teardrop rims with 235/75 rubber) come in at 73 lbs each. The 20's are steel rims, I really need to get a set of aluminums. The stock adrenalin rims on the 2nd gen sport Trac are the same lug pattern, so I think I will get a set of them, but the cheapest I've found is 291 each. It's not bad, but I just don't have it right now...

SVT
 
#20 ·
Well, it was $500 shipped initially for the lot, which the lot ended up being the charger, elbow, throttle body, and stock airbox. I told him keep the airbox which would save on shipping and I'll take the rest for 450 shipped. The charger alone ran me about 50 to ship for the first one. So in actuality, I paid 400. The throttle body is drive by wire, so its useless to me, but on the mustang forums a 2012 throttle body with electronics is worth around 150, and he only wanted to give me about a $50 credit, so it was worth it for me to get it. So in the end, I paid 250 for the charger and elbow. When I bought my first M122 it didn't come with the elbow, and in search of one I found them priced right about $100. So if I end up fabbing my own elbow, which is a high possibility at this point, I can sell the one I have for $100, or $175 if I port it. I'm really thinking of porting the charger, as it lowers charge temps enough to make it worth while. I could potentially end up paying less than $100 for the charger, possibly free if I port both the elbow and throttle body and flip them.
I can get an intercooler that's about the size I need for $150, with slight mods I can make it work, but will raise the charger slightly. With boost levels projected to be in the 15-25 psi range, the water to air intercooler is a requirement if I want the motor to live a long life. Shane, I read that the in-tank fuel pumps on the 460 efi trucks are the same flow as the walbro 255's. Can you confirm this?

SVT
 
#25 ·
Thanks, brother! That should be enough to feed this monster! I'm thinking of grabbing the spare set of E7 heads (or finding out what heads are on my 351w) and doing a major port & polish, and seeing if I can scrape up enough for a custom cam from comp for my setup. After I get this together, take a trip to see Greg at speedy dyno to see just how much past 500 I make...

SVT
 
#26 ·
Well, I got some more parts in. I ordered an 06 header panel and 06 grille. After seeing the 06 grille, which is one piece except for the honeycomb inserts, I don't like it...

I was thinking it was the two piece design with the grille shell and the center was an insert. I wanted to do a full one piece billet grille, not the 6 piece design for the one I have. Still not sure if I keep it or sell it and get the two piece design...

SVT
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top