My Explorer EFI swap

[broncoman1972]

That's a relief! Was hoping it wasn't something wrong with Dan's RMVB. Going to double check the microswitch I put in my shifter and make sure something similar doesn't happen to me. So, what gear do you get if the OD is engaged when the lever is in 2nd? OD...or something else?

It's also very interesting to see Dan's recommendation on where an aux. tranny cooler should be located. I always thought it should go in the line to the radiator so, if it cools the tranny fluid too much, there's always the radiator to warm the fluid up a bit. Maybe being too cool is not nearly as bad as being too hot.

I'll tell you what gear you get, neutral with a side of something probably f**king up in the trans. Dan clearly stated not to let the gears cross bleed or bad stuff happens. Hopefully I've spared my trans from an early death.

As to the trans cooler, there is at least one thread out right now discussing just this. I was always told the external goes after the radiator to further cool the fluid. I'm sure there's most likely not really a best answer to this and it depends on the situation. I could always do both by using a lateral cooler along the frame as the fluid leaves the trans.

Sent on the fly

 

[broncoman1972]

Well I found the source of the problem. The tab I screwed to the nylon detent bushing, well actually the screw holding it, hits the hinged end of the micro switch sometimes when pulling the shifter to 2nd. I devised an easy fix, well easy once the shifter is out. I disassembled the shifter, removed my previous tab and offensive screw. Then I welded a small tab to the shifter shaft above the nylon bushing. Painted it up and and reassembled the shifter. I welded the bolts to the bracket for the shifter cable to ease reinstallation. Here's a pic of the tab on the reassembled shifter and one of the tab pressing the switch. It's ready to be reinstalled and tested. Hopefully that'll happen tomorrow if the weather holds out for me.




Sent on the fly

 

[ralls]

awesome build, been following your conversion and I'm impressed. About to start the same with the explorer efi and 4r70w swap. Had a couple of questions
Would you do the zf adaptors again or just spend the money on the 4r70w specific adaptor. Are you happy with the driveshaft lengths and angles the zf created. Thanks, Gil

 

[broncoman1972]

Thanks, ralls. On a build like this I would likely stick with the ZF adapter to squeeze every inch I could out of the rear driveshaft. Especially since I found a way to make a crossmember work for me. If I was just adding the swap to a stock truck for a retro build I would probably go the other route.

The rear driveshaft length is fine, only an inch shorter than it was before. Keep in mind that I'm running a 14 bolt and I did push the rear axle back a little over an inch. If you're sticking with the 9" I would think it would be about the same.

Good luck with your swap and feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll do my best to answer them.

Sent on the fly

 

[ralls]

So the zf adaptor is shorter in length installed with the stock and tailpiece than the 4r70w adapter and new tailpiece. I thought it was the other way around? Thanks

 

[broncoman1972]

So the zf adaptor is shorter in length installed with the stock and tailpiece than the 4r70w adapter and new tailpiece. I thought it was the other way around? Thanks

At least that's the way I remember reading it so I went that way. Of course I could've read wrong. Either way, the price was right and it worked fine for my application. Keep in mind if you go the route you have to get creative with the shifter and cross member and install the seal in the adapter to keep trans fluid out of the t-case.

 

[Real Big Stache]

Here's a pic

View attachment 307496

I plan on pulling the engine out of my 99 explorer this weekend. Was it fairly easy once you removed the front dressing and transmission from transfer case?

 

[66horse]

I plan on pulling the engine out of my 99 explorer this weekend. Was it fairly easy once you removed the front dressing and transmission from transfer case?

I did not remove the front dress to remove the one from the 96 explorer donor I have.

Came out fairly easy. Hardest part for me getting the exhaust disconnected and out of the way.

 

[Wyflyer]

I removed the entire drivetrain at once: engine, tranny, xfer case. Same thing as 66Horse, the exhausts were a pain in the rear. I sawzall'd them and also the rear drive shaft, and the front radiator support. Made lots of sawzdust. The nuts and bolts part was pretty ergonomic.

 

[broncoman1972]

'Nuff said I think. It's not bad getting it all out at once. My donor was 2wd so I didn't have to worry with the t-case, and anything coming out from the bottom wasn't really an option for me. Normally I'd say to just work it out carefully, but my donor went back to the SY after so we just pulled the hood, threw it in the back and used a fork lift to pull it all. Everything was already disconnected when I got it to work so it literally only to a couple of minutes.