Not really any questions, more of an update. I started last month on a 95 F150 engine swap. I had quite a few opportunities to get a complete drop in/running motor, but opted to do things just a little different.

I acquired the truck at the end of March knowing it had some serious engine issues. So immediately I pulled the motor out of a wrecked 97' Explorer. I even heard it run before I pulled it. It ran good, but that wasn't good enough for me. I'm not about to drop a motor in anything with 180K miles. I gotta tell ya, this motor was clean, but not taking any chances. For those who don't know, many of the Explorer's came factory with forged flattops, GT40P heads, and GT40 upper & lower intake. I knew this would be a good combo. I did have to question myself several times as to how well everything would hook up with the new intake though.

Immediately I broke the engine down and got it to the machine shop and got it all cleaned up and rolled all new bearings in it. I then pulled the motor out of the truck and started cleaning everything up that I would have to re-use. The block, heads, and intakes were used from the Explorer. The timing cover and all the brackets were used from the truck. I put a B303 cam in it which gives it a really nice rumble. I also got a few other parts off the Explorer that I thought were useless, but did come in handy. I had to use my cruise control module, but had to get the cable off the Explorer. That was the trick to keeping my cruise control.

As soon as I got the motor set, I took it to the exhaust shop and had duals run. I already had a set of Flowmasters laying around and had the headers bolted up. Keep in mind though for those of you that have F-150's that are Four Wheel Drive........it is not an easy task to run true duals on them because of the transfer case. When my exhaust guy first saw it, he said "NO WAY"......but then examined it and sure enough he pulled it off. I gotta tell ya.....with true duals, flowmasters, and the B303......She Sounds GREAT!

For a truck that weighs 6800 lbs with a set of 32x11.50's, I never thought that a naturally aspirated small block would push a truck so well. I'm just now getting all the bugs worked out of it and it is fun to drive as long as I can afford the gas since it is going back up. The last thing I have to do now is to get the EGR plugged back up and functioning properly so that I can get better gas mileage.

If any of you have ever thought about doing this swap, it is a good combo and I have learned first hand what will and won't work. I have been in the parts business for over 10 years and have heard a few claim that they put a mustang motor in a pickup, but that it would not run right. Granted, this is a little different, I think they may have had some problems with some sensors.

I have a few pics up now with more to come. Dial-up takes too long.....