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74 Explorer (swap) - The "Great Pumpkin" Build

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1buckeyefan1

1buckeyefan1

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Was that paint orange metallic poly or solid non metallic orange?

as far as I can tell the PO tried to match the original 'Y' code orange, which was a solid non-metallic. I think i'm going to keep it orange, possibly a darker metallic..

I really like AZ73's and AGDuck's metallic orange colors.. right now I'm digging the *eep "Copperhead" orange. the new 2021 "Cyber Orange" would be a nice lineage color, but a bit too bright yet.
 
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1buckeyefan1

1buckeyefan1

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So i'm about to rename this "project lockdown".. as i've had more time to spend on it over the last year vs. the previous 2 yrs prior.

Sandblasting at home well..sucks. I have a 60gal compressor and it struggled to keep up. a local place quoted me 1k+ to blast it and I figured I could use the $$ elsewhere. Part of the experience was having to do it twice.. as I had it nice and clean and hit it with KBS.. and it peeled the next day. The best I can figure is that 50 degrees is too cold and 'touch dry' isn't valid to start your second coat in cold weather. So i scraped off 80% of it and went back at it again. Since it got cold(er) here, I decided to pony up for powder coat this time.. and knocked out my bumpers, cage, radius arms, etc at the same time. Turns out powdercoating is now my current addiction, as I convinced a relative to buy the eastwood kit and I've tried to do anything that will fit into a standard oven. bolts, nuts, washers, brackets, you name it.

Also got the body, doors, dash, tailgate in epoxy primer.. as it started to flash rust from 2yrs ago when i blasted it. not taking my chances this time.

Went with raptor liner underneath the tub. it sprayed really easy. almost put it inside the tub, but since i'm going carpet, I plan to cover the interior with dynamat, then a carpet kit.

Still can't decide what to do with the front filler hole I cut out for the aux tank. I have an aux tank, but don't really need it w/ the 23gal now. so either I leave it there and put a cap on it in case I ever want a transfer-type system from the aux to main tank, or I weld it over before I paint??
 

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1buckeyefan1

1buckeyefan1

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Have spent the last few months hunting down parts and starting to put it all back together.

I'm now fully committed to my Explorer/Mountaineer swap. Had my harness done by Garry last year and have been slowly picking up parts for it. got the 4r70w cleaned and the block soda blasted and painted. Plan to powdercoat the upper intake, serp brackets, valve covers etc. I was able to personally drive the Mountaineer w/ 125k on it and it drove, shifted, etc well. So I don't think I'm going to tear into either the heads or the 4r70w at this time. Am I foolish? I have a new water pump, timing chain, valve covers, etc. Figured I'd replace that, put new seals and run it?

Went with a PPG silver on the block and semi-gloss black on the axles. really wanted to powdercoat those too, but I already had them rebuilt with 4.56gears, seals, bearings, ball joints, etc. They look pretty nice painted, and should be easy to touch up.. but not near as durable as the frame coating.

I decided to go with a tanks inc pa-2 drop in on my old NWMP tank that I picked up here. Still waiting on the hard+flex fuel lines from BC..but should be ready to install next week.

Brakes are buttoned up.. it's been some time since I rebuilt drum brakes.. it always feels like you need 4 hands to put it all back together.
 

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Rosco

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Mar 21, 2015
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Check the crank for excessive endplay, I failed to do so, installed a 96 explorer block which was super clean with 85k on it but had(s) a bad thrust bearing. Inexperience on my end as I even had it on a stand with the oil pan off but nothing obvious (to me) looked bad.
 
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1buckeyefan1

1buckeyefan1

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Back to a rolling chassis!
1a5eecae8d6b8655ed35eb8bd3fd54f9.jpg
580e2e5116a21403dcffd524375a3de3.jpg


Sent from my SM-N981U1 using Tapatalk
 
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1buckeyefan1

1buckeyefan1

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So I realized that I've neglected this thread.. time for some catchup (and questions). I think my kids call this a "photo dump"

While I had the body off, I took the plunge to cut the hole out for the ECU. From another thread, I found the housing from a Ford Escape and used the same mounting location as 904Bronco and others. It fits, but is really tight for the defroster hoses inside. I had to squish the passenger side a bit, hopefully it all goes back together once I get the dash fully wired up.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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When i originally installed the new quarters, I pre-drilled the aux gas tank. Now that I'm going with a 23 gallon tank, I have to put the metal back :( I quickly learned that welding flat sheet metal is prone to warping no matter how slow you go. I've got a little indent now.. my body guy says he can fix it. I'm a little bummed I didn't plan ahead for the Explorer swap and left the quarter w/out the front hole.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Rather than keep the engine bay black (as many of the high-end builders do now), I decided to paint it the body color (copperhead). When I was chatting w/ the builders over the summer, their logic is these pro athletes, etc get bored of their early bronco and trade it in.. they then repaint it for another pro athlete. It's easier to keep the bay black and change the body color to fit the new customer's taste. Since I'm not a pro athlete or planning to sell this anytime soon, I went with body color.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Engine back onto the frame. I went with the BroncoHut stainless headers for the GT40P heads. I thought they were going to be Sanderson, but shipped a different off-brand (was around the time B-hut was going through transition). They seem to fit ok, and I had to go with some 90 degree boots to clear them. Overall, the GT40P headers and plug wires weren't as treacherous as first described. Time will tell if I have any exhaust leaks or burned plug wires.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Body is back on the frame! Thankfully my neighbor has a lift and was willing to lend a hand. I struggled with Raptor lining the interior when I did the underside.. but since I'm sound deadening + carpet, I opted for a heavy satin black oil-based paint over top of the epoxy primer.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Since I used the Advance Adapters ZF adapter (50-4303), my transfer case shifter + twin sticks had to move back a couple of inches. Also decided to fill in the Aux tank hole as well.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Got sidetracked a little bit by a new 2022 in the stable.. installed mud flaps since the Sasquatch/goodyear tires like to kick up stones, tow hitch, and built some custom sub boxes.. felt like high school all over again.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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So I bought an Eastwood powder coating kit & oven and decided to try my hand at power coating. I had soda blasted all of my aluminum intake/serpentine parts and powder coated them in a cool "gambler run" gray color and put them in a box for a year. took them out to install and found everything flaking off. After a bit of research, I determined I 1.) didn't soda blast them aggressive enough to remove the oxidation and 2.) didn't prime them with Chemfilm to prevent oxidation in the future. Back to the soda blaster and professional powder coater..
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Started hooking up the Champion reverse flow radiator. For the lower, Gates 20841 worked for me with some trimming. For the upper, I tried gates 21159, but it stuck too far to the right by a few inches (likely worked for others that were using the reverse flow radiator w/ the extended neck). I was able to finally track down gates 21736 which worked for the upper w/ a little trimming.

The BCBroncos fuel line kit worked pretty well. I thought I torqued it down pretty tight when the body was off.. only to find out that I had to REALLY torque it down later.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Started mocking up the 4R70W transmission cooler. Based on Doug/904's mounting design. Since I wasn't using the internal radiator cooler, I wanted a large external cooler, so I went with a B&M 70266. I realize that rotating it 90 degrees is best to avoid air pockets, but based on Doug and other's experience, this produced the cleanest/tightest install w/ limited room. I borrowed the idea from another thread to run the braided flex lines through the frame rail.
 

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1buckeyefan1

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Since I couldn't find a skid plate for my used M1 23gal tank, I convinced my brother to cut me one on his burn table and welded it up. took a few tries to get the mounting brackets right, but I think it fits well. In the end, I probably would have been better off buying a modern tank and skid plate, but this was a fun little challenge
 

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1buckeyefan1

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I originally had a really cool custom Tom's master cylinder that I had laser etched w/ the bronco logo on it. But I didn't realize that it exited on the driver side.. I really wanted it to exit on the passenger so I upgraded to a Wilwood. I have the custom one for sale if anyone likes it.
 

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