I'm going to pick up my Mountaineer tomorrow if all goes as planned. I'm excited to be finally ready to work on the actual swap!

For those of you who've given up hope or are wondering what's been going on with me, I've been busy with Mid-Term projects and cleaning up the frame.

The one I'm going with is a 1998 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0L V8 with 2wd and an 8.8 inch 3.73 geared rear behind an E5OD tranny.

I'm not certain on the tranny specs. Does anyone know anything about an E5OD tranny? What came with the 1998 Mercury Mountaineer 2wd V8's? I would appreciate if someone could share a resoure for this info.

Here's the current status pics, after the 2-day frame cleanup job.
I put 12 hours into grinding the frame down to bare metal with a wire brush in an air grinder, then re-coating it all with:
2 layers of Duracoat undercoating
followed by two layers of Duracoat Heavy Duty Rubberized undercoating
sealed with a layer of Permatex Undercoating.

BEFORE:



AFTER:




Stay tuned. I'm the kinda bum that actually takes time to take pictures after each major step along the way. This should make for an interestingly enjoyable pictorial for all to enjoy!

 

that your current DD in the left corner?

looks good. keep updates on the swap. I want to know any problems you run into.

 

Take lots of pictures!

I would be very interested in all the work that you need to put into doing this (as it may be in my trucks future...)

 

would love to have a 302...torque LOL....take pics i wanna see...heck i wanna ride

 

I will be satisfying you all when it comes to pictures and documentation. I'm OCD, especially on things I like.

My DD is actually the White Honda Civic you see in the neighbor's driveway behind the truck. The gold Kia Spectra you can barely see the front end of behind my truck is my wife's car. I've fixed it up with some mods and it's our "Porsche wanna be". It'd a great car, very reliable, and fast as all heck!

Here's a question for you guru's:

Since it's a 302, and I'll be boring it .030 over, won't that make it a 305???

 

If it were me id spen like 1g on some heads and a cam.. it will make that smog choked 5.0 a screamer.. you wont belive the difference.. 60hp gain!..


Good luck, what are you going to do with the truck??? show, drag, lowered,.. ???


JOSH

 

think its a 306 if bored .30 over...someone correct me im only a high school student lol

 

I'm going stock heads, modded cams, and sleeper style (other than a V8 emblem on each fender).

The rings and pistons will be from a Federal Mogul forged aluminum rebuild kit, along with the main bearings, cam bearings, rod bearings, and oil pump. I'll be putting Fel-Pro gaskets throughout.

I've already warned and informed my neighbors, and they all seem to be okay with me going high-performance with semi-loud exhaust. I'm wanting to get Flowmaster 40's for each bank, with no Y or X pipe (depending on what my AR state law research turns up).

I would get it fabbed to exit at the cab/bed joint, unless the fuel tank becomes an issue. Then I would have it at 45* angles at the rear bumper with 3" wide 24" long slash cut tips topping off a full 3" exhaust system with Catco High-Flow catalytic converters.

I'll keep it on 15 inch wheels if I can, but may upgrade to something WIDER in the near future, or use the 16" from the Expo. I'm concerned with the 8.8 being wider than the 7.5 rear. So it all depends on what I find out during disassembly.

 

I'm pretty sure the 8.8 and 7.5 are the same widths. I would stay with 15's as well. cheaper to buy tires for since they are more common. Youre going to need that.

 

Yes I agree, but in another thread someone told me they were physically wider, so it made me wonder...I guess I'll wait and get a general census. I'll be sticking with the 15" wheels for sure, at least until a year or so when I have the reason or money for a new set of wheels. Like I said, I want it sleeper style, stock height with stock wheels. If I can get away with that with my current coil-spring set-up, I'll keep it. Otherwise I'll upgrade the coils and leafs at some point.

 

wow...great job grinding and painting! that must've been a labor of love!

 

I think you will be fine with an 8.8, my truck has one, it is a very common rear end in rangers.... Good luck on the swap, I can't wait to see pictures!

 

gonna be slick......you will be putting tires on the rear A LOT!

 

expo 8.8s are 1.5" wider, not a big deal, throw some 17s on it man...i cant wait to see this finished, something i want to look into too

 

At this point I'm sticking with stock wheels for financial reasons. In the not-so-near future, I'd like to get some 17s that are offset so I can get a wider tire. I love the look of wide tires on a truck, especially if your main reason for going wider is traction!

 

There are some 17x9/17x10.5 combo cobra R wheels on eBay and they are really nice. I don't know if they will fit the hub on Rangers, tho. Just type in " black mustang deep dish wheel " and look for the store: OE Performance or something to that effect.

 

great job on the grinding/coating man! such a tedious, but rewarding process. good luck and its good that you like taking all the pictures. i like seeing the processes laid out that people did.
good luck!

 

To the best of my knowledge, all Explorer/Mountaineers that had the 5.0L also got the 4R70W transmission - one of Ford's better electronic autos.

 

That's it! I called on it today and got the info after I re-installed the fuel tank in my truck. It's a 3.73 geared 8.8" rear behind a 4R70W Overdrive 4-speed automatic.

 

looks nice (those pics werent up when i posted) and 3inch exhaust is too big its going to resonate like crazy.. but dual 2.5 would be more then plenty. and on the striaght, x or h pipe all depends on the sound you want mostly.. no crossover your going to hear the cam more meaning you will hear each cylinder go boom.. and it is going to "rap" more think of a harly and youll know what i mean... h and x pipes are about the same niether really making much more power then the other and both will make the exhaust sond "smoother" and the x pipe will be the smothest.

i have a set of heads on my mustang they are street legal and under 900 bucks for a set "world roush 200cc"for more hp or the "180cc" for lower rpm torque. and they will make a big difference especially if your going to be rebuilding the enigne i caint stress enough how you will regret not changing them when you had it apart..(assuming your going for fast) take my oppinion as a grain of salt if you feel like doing so BUT just know that i made the mistake and regret it everyday i drive my car ( the heads werent big enough for my motor because i was "cheap" and bought less expencive heads)

the explorer rear end is wider and it has 31 spline axles.. with wide tires it may hit your fender during articulation..


Good luck with your build caint wait to see it...


JOSH

 

Just what I needed to see...my lil sis has a 92 3.0 that sucks...her third motor I think...I told her I was gonna take it away from her and put a real engine in it! my 95 (XLT 4X4 extracab) has finally had a problem that has taken it off the road (the bad way) the left front wheel bearing has come apart and the wheel was cast off pretty badly...not bad for 156,000+mi. I'll keep watch for the rest of the swap...she will too...btw, I'll post a pic with my next post...