Change in direction... Motor questions

**akforsyth** · 09/21/18, 01:42 PM

I am hoping to get a few opinions (which are so rare around here

) about my current dilemma. Long and short of it is I got a 75 about 14 years ago while I was newly married, no kids, etc. Began tearing it down and rebuilding it as an off road beast/krawler.... then daughter was born and things slowed down. Then my son was born and things slowed down even more. Then I was transferred with work and things came almost to a stop, but I got so far as to get a 351w that i rebuilt under the watchful eye of an old school engine builder who taught me tons. I was dreaming of fuel injecting this beast and managed to get the brackets to an explorer front dress and upper intake as well as a mustang harness and A9P computer, and to top it all of a lightning lower intake off a buddy';s truck (he couldn't remember to keep it rubber side down). Then life changed again, got an amazing position at work, caught my wife cheating, subsequent divorce and move with the kids and getting things stabilized.

In all of that last gong show the new owners of the house agreed to keep my old 75 body there till I could come back and get it in a few weeks, but I ended up in the hospital with them reconstructing a leg after a bad work accident. They did't care that I was in the hospital and sent the body to the crusher. Luckily I kept the glove box door with me so I have at least those parts.

Now things have stabilized, and the new girlfriend is very pro-Bronco and encourages me to continue the dream. I picked up a 74 in pretty decent shape here a couple of months back and have been back reading as much as I can and planning the new build (hoping to move to a new house/acreage here with a shop this winter). I know my lifestyle has changed since those early years and can say that I am not into building the hardcore off road machine anymore, more of a daily driver, weekend off road warrior. And realistically something my kids will learn to drive and my g/f will enjoy rolling around in.

So now I have a 351w rebuilt sitting on bare frame stored at my parents place for the past few years. In reality it has been sitting since we built it a long time ago. It gets turned over quite often and the oil pump primed and oil moved through it, but it just hasn't run. Reading online I have been rather curious about explorer swaps as it seems that they are a nice simple all-in-one swap into the Bronco. I checked my local pick and pull yard and low and behold there were two there, both running with a whopping price tag of $208.

So who thinks I would be better off with the Explorer rebuild and swap and selling the 351 for whatever I can get for it or ...

should I stick with the 351, try to piece meal an efi system onto it and go with the Mustang FI?

Wow that turned out way longer than the thoughts in my head....

**sykanr0ng** · 09/21/18, 02:30 PM

Sell the Mustang EFI parts.
Keep the 351W and the Lightning lower.
Grab one of the Explorers.

Now the choice:
Put the 5.0 in?
Or put the Explorer OBD2 EFI on the 351W?

**Apogee** · 09/21/18, 03:30 PM

I'm biased, but I wouldn't ever want less torque than my 351W provides, just from a driveability perspective. It's so much fun. If anything, I'd be wondering about a 393W or 408W while I was there, but putting the 5.0 in where a 351W now sits seems a bit blasphemous.

As for the EFI, give EFI Guy a holler.

**Rustytruck** · 09/21/18, 07:36 PM

Keep the 351 build around it.

**sykanr0ng** · 09/21/18, 08:22 PM

/\/\ I'm with them on the 351W.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykanr0ng

Sell the Mustang EFI parts.
Keep the 351W and the Lightning lower.
Grab one of the Explorers.

Now the choice:
Put the 5.0 in?
Or put the Explorer OBD2 EFI on the 351W?

My first plan was an Explorer 5.0, .... mostly because it was the easiest.

Second plan was the Explorer but built as a stroker, ...those Lightning intakes are getting rarer and more expensive all the time.

Then I found a boat version of the Lightning intake, so the decision became easy 351W.
With the Explorer OBD2 EFI, EFI Guy makes that simple.

wsager · 09/21/18, 08:23 PM

Agree with what’s already been said. If I had the 351 and lighting lower, I would stick with it. Use the explorer front dress and upper manifold. If you want an automatic, grab a 4wd 4R70-w and EFI GUY can program the explorer computer to run it and the explorer EFI on your 351.

**DirtDonk** · 09/21/18, 10:58 PM

Agree also.
I love my Explorer 5.0 and would not part with it. But in this situation you described (good on you for hanging in there during all that by the way! And for finding a supportive girlfriend and keeping the kids with the Bronco. Uh, I mean "their Bronco" 'cause you know how it is...) I would definitely keep the 351 that's already built, run the Lightning (you have the lower only? Hmm, that might be a deal breaker without the upper) and run it.

Now back to that last comment. Do you have just the lower, or the full Lightning-Monte?
If not the full thing, you still have a choice. Pretty sure the Explorer's GT40 upper bolts right on to the Lightning, but without the ultra trick Lightning upper (which is a very expensive proposition) the whole thing is less exciting for me. I just like the visual of the upper, along with it's performance potential.

But I'm still leaning towards keeping even the old 351 for now.
Maybe stick the 5.0 in the corner after you do all that you need, and see how the 351 works for you. You can always use your more recently minted knowledge to build a killer 5.0 and go that way too.

Good options either way frankly.

Paul

**sykanr0ng** · 09/21/18, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirtDonk

Agree also.
I love my Explorer 5.0 and would not part with it. But in this situation you described (good on you for hanging in there during all that by the way! And for finding a supportive girlfriend and keeping the kids with the Bronco. Uh, I mean "their Bronco" 'cause you know how it is...) I would definitely keep the 351 that's already built, run the Lightning (you have the lower only? Hmm, that might be a deal breaker without the upper) and run it.

Now back to that last comment. Do you have just the lower, or the full Lightning-Monte?
If not the full thing, you still have a choice. Pretty sure the Explorer's GT40 upper bolts right on to the Lightning, but without the ultra trick Lightning upper (which is a very expensive proposition) the whole thing is less exciting for me. I just like the visual of the upper, along with it's performance potential.

But I'm still leaning towards keeping even the old 351 for now.
Maybe stick the 5.0 in the corner after you do all that you need, and see how the 351 works for you. You can always use your more recently minted knowledge to build a killer 5.0 and go that way too.

Good options either way frankly.

Paul

The Explorer GT40 upper works just fine on the Lightning lower.
Close the hood and drive it, you won't notice the difference.

Spend the hundreds of dollars that bling upper would cost on building the rest of the Bronco.

**Timmy390** · 09/22/18, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sykanr0ng

The Explorer GT40 upper works just fine on the Lightning lower.
Close the hood and drive it, you won't notice the difference.

Spend the hundreds of dollars that bling upper would cost on building the rest of the Bronco.

X2......

Running the Explorer upper on my marine cast iron version of the lightning lower.

Tim

**akforsyth** · 09/22/18, 03:47 PM

Well I have to admit using my 351 with explorer EFI never came to my mind. Now that I look at that it seems to really be the no brainer option. Looks like I'll be heading to the pick-n-pull to grab one of those motors. There is a 1996 and a 1999 but not sure on mileage on either yet. I'm pretty sure the yard will charge me for the wiring harness but it's really not that much. Might charge for the alt and ps pump as well. Depends on what kind of a mood they are in on any given day.

As for my GT40, no I don't have the lightning upper. That was crushed in the rollover. I got the lower as it had a broken bolt in it and no one who looked at it was mechanically inclined to use an ez out to get it out. Right now it has an explorer upper bolted to it to keep crap out of the motor.

It's just a waiting game now to get a larger place to work on this. Figure I'll start collecting parts now though.

**sanndmann3** · 09/22/18, 03:52 PM

That is a good choice, going with 351W & Explorer E.D.I.S. The Lightning lower is the hard piece and everything else should fall into place. Got it on my truck and it ROCKS! EFI Guy can be a big help with the wiring and 'puter...
Good luck!