98 Explorer doner

[Dave]

Thanks for the info! I bought the Explorer and will pick it up tomorrow.

Dave...

 

[needabronco]

It will have the P heads. The price seems a little high for a donor rig, unless it really runs and shifts top notch.

 

[bigmuddy]

1,500 sounds a little better considering that you will probably on use the engine and tranny. But if it does shift and run good, you get some added peice of mind when you swap everything.

Ben

 

[Broncobowsher]

If I remember right, '98 is a split year on the fuel rail. Depends on early/late build. Personally I run the single fuel rail and have a remote fuel pressure regulator just before it. Works fine. Oh, part number is MSD-2222.

From what I hear the Explorer exhaust will not clear the Bronco frame. But have not dried it personally.

$2k sounds a little high for a 10 year old wrecked SUV. I don't know your local market so it may be right. Last car that I looked at that they were asking $2k for I picked up for $700 in the end and I could probably gotten it down to $500 if I was better. Then again that was a 10 year old wrecked Escort station wagon with no options and bad A/C. Since then I have not paid over $30 for any of the 3 running vehicles I have gotten.

 

[RnrdTheFox]

That sounds high to me unless your going to be able to salvage or sell other parts of the Exploder. I'd go to Denver Ford Parts on 52nd st and tell them you want a conversion engine and tranny.

I used them to run down my '97. Got everything from the fan to the tail shaft including the computer and extra harness with 40K miles for $1500. It took them a while to track one down with that low of miles. If you want one with more miles, they should be able to get you fixed up sooner. I even talked them in to delivering it for free.

If your going to use the stock exhaust manifolds, make sure they are not cracked when you get them. Most are cracked on the passenger side.

 

[Dave]

That sounds high to me unless your going to be able to salvage or sell other parts of the Exploder. I'd go to Denver Ford Parts on 52nd st and tell them you want a conversion engine and tranny.

I used them to run down my '97. Got everything from the fan to the tail shaft including the computer and extra harness with 40K miles for $1500. It took them a while to track one down with that low of miles. If you want one with more miles, they should be able to get you fixed up sooner. I even talked them in to delivering it for free.

If your going to use the stock exhaust manifolds, make sure they are not cracked when you get them. Most are cracked on the passenger side.

You are definitely a better wheeler and dealer than me. I think they interpreted my trust in my fellow man as being a sucker!

I bought a 94 Mustang 5.0 HO with the computer, harness, and all of the parts to make it run for $1500 from Denver Ford Parts a few years ago. It was and still is gem. I got to hear the car run and verify the milage of 64K before they pulled the engine. I got to see the damage and why they scrapped the car. I've driven it in my truck for 3 years now and its the best starting, most reliable, and trouble free vehicle that I've driven.

I told Larry to find me another one just like it for my 70 EB project. He found one in a wrecked 94 Mustang GT. I picked it up and brought it home and set it up in my test stand. Took a while to get it fired up and started trouble shooting. It turned out to be a junker. A $1500 boat anchor! ODB self test showed 2 weak cylinders and a bad ERG valve. Compression ran from 85 to 120 lbs. The rubber on the harmonic balancer was pooched out and wabbling. The rear seal leaks and pan gasket is pooched out on one side. They had cleaned it up pretty well and I didn't notice the problems until I got it home. Heart surgery prevented me form dealing with it for about 6 months. To be fair, Larry would probably have swapped it out with another if I could have returned it. They did tell me that they had run the engine, it sounded good, had good compression, and was not throwing any codes. The old guy that pulled it even told me that he had put it on the exhaust analyzer it was running clean. This was impossible given some things that were inoperative on the engine. The plugs were frozen and hard to remove. Hard to do a compression test without pulling the plugs! Two plug wires were reversed and looked like they had not been moved based on the way the ends stuck in place. The throttle body had been removed and they had to come up with another one that was obviously not run on that engine based on the dust and dirt inside of it. I assume it had some aftermarket one on it that was pulled before it was junked. The bolts didn't even match.

With all that said, I'll never buy another used engine that I can not observe run.

 

[RnrdTheFox]

I bought a 94 Mustang 5.0 HO with the computer, harness, and all of the parts to make it run for $1500 from Denver Ford Parts a few years ago. It was and still is gem. I got to hear the car run and verify the milage of 64K before they pulled the engine. I got to see the damage and why they scrapped the car. I've driven it in my truck for 3 years now and its the best starting, most reliable, and trouble free vehicle that I've driven.

I told Larry to find me another one just like it for my 70 EB project. He found one in a wrecked 94 Mustang GT. I picked it up and brought it home and set it up in my test stand. Took a while to get it fired up and started trouble shooting. It turned out to be a junker. A $1500 boat anchor! ODB self test showed 2 weak cylinders and a bad ERG valve. Compression ran from 85 to 120 lbs. The rubber on the harmonic balancer was poocked out and wabbling. The rear seal leaks and pan gasket is pooched out on one side. They had cleaned it up pretty well and I didn't notice the problems until I got it home. Heart surgery prevented me form dealing with it for about 6 months. To be fair, Larry would probably have swapped it out with another if I could have returned it. They did tell me that they had run the engine, it sounded good, had good compression, and was not throughing any codes. The old guy that pulled it even told me that he had put it on the exhaust analyzer it was running clean. This was impossible given some things that were inoperative on the engine. The plugs were frozen and hard to remove. Hard to do a compression test without pulling the plugs! Two plug wires were reversed and looked like they had not been moved based on the way the ends stuck in place. The throttle body had been removed and they had to come up with another one that was obviously not run on that engine based on the dust and dirt inside of it. I assume it had some aftermarket one on it that was pulled before it was junked. The bolts didn't even match.

With all that said, I'll never buy another used engine that I can not observe run.

That sucks. The story you describe about the engine being a junker is the main reason I decided to go down the explorer path instead of a Mustang. Figured a low mileage Explorer was a safer bet. But it also sounds like they lied about checking it out. That's good to know if I need another engine in the future. I did make sure I looked the vehicle over, checked the vin, mileage, CarFax, etc... before I took the parts. I also watched them pull it.

 

[Dave]

That sucks. The story you describe about the engine being a junker is the main reason I decided to go down the explorer path instead of a Mustang. Figured a low mileage Explorer was a safer bet. But it also sounds like they lied about checking it out. That's good to know if I need another engine in the future. I did make sure I looked the vehicle over, checked the vin, mileage, CarFax, etc... before I took the parts. I also watched them pull it.

They always seem pretty wierd about letting anyone out in their yard or shop without an escort. After doing one sucessful 94 Mustang conversion and getting intimitly involved with the computer and making my own harness, I was somewhat pissed when the old guy wouldn't listen to my requests for the components I wanted and chopped up a bunch of stuff that I had to reconstruct. I think having this running Explorer will make it a bunch easier to do the ODB II conversion. I'll do business with them again but in a much less trusting manner. To add insult to injury I had even given Denver Ford Parts and Larry praise in the article that was published in Bronco Driver a couple of years ago.