I'm looking at transplanting a 99 or 00 Explorer 302 into my 92 F150. If I strip it down to the long block, will it work? The ignition looks different in the pics I've seen and I'd like to know if this creates an issue with installing into an older vehicle.

 

did they use the 5.0 into 2000? to make it work, youll have to use all of the OBDII electrical stuff off of the exploder, or more realistically, accomodate the new 5.blow to use the equipment off your OBDI truck. what this means is, everything that your wiring harness of your f150 plugs into should be transferred to the new motor. things like ignitinon module (or entire distributor), intake manifold (for the IAC, MAP sensor, and EGR hookups), and possibly the oil pressure sender.

whats wrong with your motor?

 

My engine will last a while longer, so I'm not looking to do this as an emergency replacement.

The condensed story of my ownership of this truck is this.

1. Took off throttle body to clean. Coked up very bad and discovered some holes in the throttle plates.

2. Put back together and discovered the extra air through the holes caused a very high idle.

3. Bought a new IAC valve to cure the high idle. No change.

4. Sprayed carb cleaner to find vacuum leak and discovered that the gasket was bad between upper and lower manifold.

5. Took apart the manifold to replace gasket. Found coke build up so severe that I decided to take entire manifold off and have it cleaned. Took two hot tank sessions to clean it out. While the manifold was off, I replaced all the sensors that the computer uses.

6. Put back together and it runs very well. I don't know how long the gasket was bad, but it caused some cylinders to be lean and some to be rich, resulting in excessive blow-by, resulting in about 1/4- 3/8" buildup inside the intake.

I recently did a compression check on it and they are uneven. One cylinder gets fouled with oil so I have to clean that plug every so often. Even at that, I just did a 1000 mile round trip to retrieve a car for a relative and had adequate power and got between 13 and 15 mpg during the trip.

There is a 5x,xxx mile engine at a local yard from either a mountaineer or explorer available, so I am considering that over a rebuild if it can be a R&R job. I would basically strip it down to the block and heads and put on my truck's intake and sensors. I am basically worried about the possible distributor issues since the newer explorers have coil packs instead of a distributor.

 

the 5.0 was used in the explorer/mounty from 96-01 gt-40 heads and intake, way different front dressing, no distributor i dont know what all it would take to get it going, but it would be nice to keep it stock(using the explorer's computer/wiring)

 

Did all of the V8 5.0 explorers have coil packs?

 

It would prolly be cheaper to just buy a reman then converting and rebuilding a junkyard motor. Just my .02

 

I wouldn't be rebuilding the junkyard engine. This yard is reliable, and the compression and oil pressure numbers are excellent.

I figure if I can get a good used engine with better heads than what I have for less money than rebuilding my engine, then I will do that. If I can't retrofit my intake & distributor, then I'll rebuild an engine that I know will work.

 

complete junkyard motors around here are 200 bucks. i call junkyard swaps "junkyard specials". . .while i would never do a swap like this (i seek very specific motors when im on the hunt), i see the appeal of doing one. its 70 bucks for the heads, 200 for the motor. . . .

if the new exploders are distributorless, the biggest question is:

did ford cast an entirely new block for the new ignition system, or did they retain/plug/use a cam sensor in place of the old distributor? if this were the case, an old distributor would bolt right up.

 

Okay, to clarify, you what to strip the Explorer engine down to the long block and replace your long block. You will use your 92 F150 intake, exhaust, ignition and other engine controls. Is this right? It seems that people are thinking you what to use the complete Explorer setup. So to keep us on the right page I wanted to ask.

If you just want to use the Explorer long block you're going to run into a couple of problems. First the Explorer uses GT40P heads. They will have relocated sparkplugs that will not clear your truck manifolds and could be a deal breaker for you. Also, if your truck is SD it may not like the cam that is installed in the Explorer. I believe it is a little more aggressive than an earlier truck engine and more in line with what was installed in the 94/95 Mustangs. It may work with the SD, it may not. It's an unknown you just need to be aware of. But other than that the engine should swap out without a problem. Explorer ignition should strip off and you can stab in your distributor. All of your accessories should bolt up. I have heard that there are a couple of headers made that will clear the GT40Ps in our chassis. Do a search on this forum and see what you can find as this is a common swap. The GT40Ps are arguably the best smallblock OEM heads Ford ever made. As for the cam, you can swap it out for a stock spec replacement (FYI, the Explorer 5.0 will be a roller cam and your truck could be roller or flat tappet-order the right one), find a suitable aftermarket stick or do the research on the stock Explorers cam specs and see if they would be SD compatible. There are a couple SD experts on this forum and down in the engine forums that can help you there.

 

This is exactly what I am thinking of doing. My current engine is a roller cam engine.

 

yes they do.... but in this case it doesnt matter lol

 

No... that is exactly what you don't want to try and do... that's a HUGH can-o-worms that is completely unnecessary to open.

An Explorer 5.0 that is stripped to the bare longblock and dressed with all the truck parts(intake, distributor, accessory brackets, etc) will work just fine in an F150, and it'll cooperate with the early SD EFI system too with no wiring changes except for routing the spark plug wires for the HO firing order. The cam used in the Explorer is the same one used in all '94+ truck motors so it's no real stretch at all for the truck EFI system, the only significant difference is the heads and the best way to deal with the spark plug issue they present is to simply use the Explorer exhaust manifolds and modify the truck exhaust(if necessary) to mate to them. All said and done this motor will have more jump than the one it replaces but it's still just a 5.0L in a heavy truck so it won't be a rocket ship.

 

could ya include the rest of my quote n stop makin me look like an idiot by cuttin it short?

 

Sorry about that... not trying to make you look bad it just gets to the point a little better that way.

 

Case in point...

Ford did not cast a new block it's the same old 5.0/302 block used since 1987 so it is fully backwords compatable, just remove the EDIS module and stab a distributor.