EFI Swap Thoughts

[bannind]

So I have narrowed down the winter projects and EFI is high on the list. As I think about the costs, I was wondering if the following plan was out of line.

We have fairly reasonable pick-n-pull's in my area. I was going to grab the upper/lower intake and EFI parts from a 96/7 explorer and all the associated parts attached to them. Then grab a harness from an early 90's MAF 5.0 with computer and distributor. I would save the Explorer coil packs, harness and computer for when I can justify a 4r70w swap. modify the other harness as needed and do the install. The reason for not using all the explorer parts, is it saves me PCM reflash and the Explorer harness rework. Even though the costs for Explorer PCM and harness are reasonable, the ability to save $500+ bucks on those parts alone makes the swap easier to justify with my wife. If I understand everything correctly I won't have to reflash early 90's MAF computer.

I have already gathered the parts and pieces for the explorer serpentine swap, so that is covered.

Thoughts?

 

[hankjr]

Buy her some jewelry or whatever is her interest to camouflage the exploder EFI conversion up front. If that fails, give her the " honey, I saved us so much by doing this now instead of later" line. You know the one

Hank

 

[Broncotj0]

My .02. I have done multiple things twice.... Never cheaper. Bite the bullet and do it once. You can do the harness work yourself. I highly recommend just buying a complete exploder or mountaineer. If you don't use the trans now atleast you have it. I paid $700 for a complete mountaineer and sold the tires for $300. $400 into most the parts isn't a bad deal to me. I will sell the trans and rear end when the time comes. I should get all the efi parts and roller motor for nothing. All said and done I will have roughly $600 into my swap including computer reflash.

 

[sykanr0ng]

My .02. I have done multiple things twice.... Never cheaper. Bite the bullet and do it once. You can do the harness work yourself. I highly recommend just buying a complete exploder or mountaineer. If you don't use the trans now atleast you have it. I paid $700 for a complete mountaineer and sold the tires for $300. $400 into most the parts isn't a bad deal to me. I will sell the trans and rear end when the time comes. I should get all the efi parts and roller motor for nothing. All said and done I will have roughly $600 into my swap including computer reflash.

/\/\/\/\ What he said x2
Doing it the way that you want it to end up being the first time will be both better and less expensive.

Take everything off a whole Explorer/Mountaineer then sell parts and scrap the rest.

You also left out the cost of rebuilding your current 302.
An Explorer 5.0L will be in better shape even if it has more miles than your 302.

 

[ren71]

The main advantage to your plan is you don't have spend as much time dismantling a whole car.But you're not really saving money since a big upside to getting a 96-97 explorer is that an ecu flash is unnecessary and the wiring will work as is if you know what you're doing. There are pluses to getting a 98up exp vs 96-97but both have pros and cons so they are about equal imo.
If you do go with your original plan and find a mustang setup you won't lose any money either, you'll be able to resell it easily, but you'll be doing the same work twice when you're ready to remove the old stuff and install the explorer drivetrain. I agree with the others that using the whole explorer engine from the get go makes the most sense in most cases; unless you want efi asap with less work involved initially but willing to redo it again when you want the 4r70w. Or leave the mustang efi installed and just buy an aftermarket trans controller, lots of routes to take.

 

[ransil]

You not going to go down to the pick a part and find a 90's maf setup.

I would do the explorer either 2 setup one with out tranny and one with or just do the explorer project once.

explorers are easy to find

 

[sanndmann3]

Buy the Explorer and part it out, keeping what you want. bought mine for $400 (tranny didn't work) and parted it for $1000. kept the trans, rear disc brakes, computer, harness and some other misc. stuff...