Bah darn sorry I did not run across them sooner.

 

That just means you should get them and do your own motor swap

 

I plan to stick with my supercharged v6 for now, gradually add more and more boost till it blows up then build up a stroker 4.3 with new heads + blower should be fun!

 

That sounds like a pretty awesome plan! I'd prefer to not blow the 347 up, but the 3.0 is definitely on its way out the door.

 

Something I was thinking about today that will need to be addressed when the swap is going on... brakes. Do any of y'all have experience with or can recommend some higher-performance brakes that will be able to stop this beast in a hurry?

 

they all suck... that has been my experience, I have run EBC, Hawk, Motorcrafts all on the larger 12in rotors with cobra brakes in the rear and they all suck! I am working on machining brackets to fit 13in brakes with much larger calipers but still in work at this point.

 

That's encouraging lol. I'll search around and see what I can find. At least I know it really doesn't matter haha

I was also thinking ahead a little bit to the suspension and the second round of lifting that I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later since I'm already looking at parts this early on. I guess it comes with having the job that I do. I always have to think and plan ahead. Here's what I've come up with:

Doetsch lift spindles and Bilstein 4600 shocks up front. What else will I need to consider changing out while I'm doing all this (wheel bearings, ball joints, etc)?

Getting rid of the lift block in the rear and going with Skyjacker 6" lift springs and Bilstein 5100s.

35x12.5x?? MTs or ATs. Right now I'm leaning towards Duratracs, MTRs with Kevlar, and Trail Grapplers.

Also leaning towards 18" rims over 17s. Want to go bigger than what I have now. My top 2 right now are the Ballistic Jester and TIS 535B.

Thoughts/suggestions? I'm still very open to ideas since none of this is an immediate need, but I figure I'd throw out my ideas so y'all at least know where I'm going.

 

Had these beauties waiting on me when I got home from fishing all weekend

 

I need to have him make me a set. Mine are f*cked lol

I don't know anything about 2wd suspension lifts so im useless there.

For tires, Duratracs suck to balance, MTR's aren't really street friendly, trail grapplers are nice, a friend has them on his Sierra.

17s would look awesome with 35+. the member I got feedback for about the MTR's is also upgrading to 17s with his next set of tires, which Aren't going to be MTR's lol.

I'm going to run KM2's again, i love them.

 

Dang who made those beauties! lol glad they made it there safe. hope you like them.

Let me know on the corners! (getting good at it now)

duratracs are a pain but great tires. I love my MTRs they have been quite on the street and great in the rain snow and mud. the KM2s are great tires. I'm hunting for a 33x12.5x17 myself in a C load range.

 

Will do! Gonna drop you a PM. Shane didn't seem to like his MTR's too much last time i asked him about them since I'm window shopping for tires right now haha.

 

Thanks for the corners Mike! They're going to look sick with the projectors.


Thanks for the tire input guys. I'm definitely just window shopping right now, so I'm open to suggestions outside of what I threw out there. This set of reviews gave me a pretty good list to start from. I'll be on the street more than anything, so good road manners are a must. I definitely don't want something that's only going to last 15-20k miles. How long have your KM2s lasted for you Pedro?

The Kumho Road Ventures look pretty good too, and it seems like they were designed with street driving in mind. Just haven't seen anyone running them.

 

I have 33k on my tires right now.

 

How much tread do you have left? Are they good in the rain and on ice?

 

They still have pretty good tread but I'm going to want new ones in spring. They're starting to break loose a bit more in the rain now but I enjoy a drift every once in a while lol. I'm running em this winter so I hope theyll still move me around. I very rarely used 4wd in past winters with them though

I think I still have a pic on my laptop of one of the daily tires on top of my spare which is still brand new. I'll look when I get home

 

I may have to add them to my list too. All I'm concerned about is if they have good grip is rain and ice, and will last awhile. I know any tire I get will hold up in mud obviously lol

You have any luck on those Expo parts we talked about last week by chance?

 

They're good in the rain because they're sipped. Mine arent anymore since they're old. I've never had issues during the winter with them.

I forgot about the sensor and cubby. Dewey reminded me but I was already outta the JY at that point lol sorry

Edit: full of fail today, I don't have the picture of the tires on my laptop anymore either

 

Lol it's all good man. It's not a big rush, but I would like to get it done soon. I hope Terry gets back in the modding business soon because I need to get up with him about a couple of things, especially about a LED panel for the OHC.

Once all that is done, the interior can go back together minus the seats. I still haven't been able to get those over to the shop since they're closed on the weekends and that's my only time to do anything.

 

heres a size comparison, this is my buddies edge, 3 inch spindles, cranked tbars, and a body lift with shackles, stock blocks and aal in the rear on 35 12.5 15x8s

 

That looks good! I want to get rid of the rear block, so the 6" Skyjacker springs should get me the lift I'm looking for (6" lift - 2" from scrapping the block). That would get me close to the same amount of lift as shackles and AAL.

 

Got the engine dropped off at the builder's shop yesterday, and the transmission will be done this week! My engine guy said they would tear it down this week, and he'd call me Thursday to go over some options and prices. Right now I'm still wanting to do a 347 Stroker over a 331 or 302 not only because I can get more power out of it, but also because it'll be easier to add more power down the road if (when) I decide to. Might as well stroke it all the way the first time (TWSS lol).

He asked me to give him a ball park HP number I want out of it, and I told him 400 or so. I figure that leaves me with plenty of room to grow in the future. I know that won't be an issue considering he has an old Mustang in his shop now with a 520 horse 347 Stroker in it. I'll try to get some pics if it's in there the next time I go. It's a beautiful car, sitting right next to a Galaxie they're working on that has a 302.

Right now, the plan is to swap the 8.8 over myself while the motor is getting done, and have the shop put in the motor and transmission and get it running. I'm leaving the interior out of the Ranger so that it'll be easier for them to work on, and I'll put it all back in after I pick the truck up from the shop. The Torque Monsters are supposed to be here in mid November at the latest, so that gives us all plenty of time to get it done. I'll be off work for 2 weeks after the 10th, and I plan to have the interior and a few other things completely done by then.

 

Yesss
Stroke it all the way! Lmao

 

Saw this in a magazine I got from the shop the other day. Pretty pricey, but it sure would be nice to have! It would probably make my life a lot easier, not to mention I can do live tuning on the EFI system and it comes with a lot of cool gadgets.

Pro M Racing EFI Control System

 

Got a call from the shop owner this morning. They tore everything down, did an inspection, and got some quotes on parts for the 347 stroker. He said the block and heads are in great shape. I paid the deposit for everything and they're going to get started on ordering the parts today. He said he'll be sending me some progress pics (which will of course make their way to this page)

He gave me a price to do the full swap for me, but told me I could get it done for less somewhere else. I'll call the guy that did my transmission later today and see what price he can give me for it since he does motor swaps and I know his labor is cheap lol. He'll probably let me do some of the work myself at his shop, too.

 

Sounds sweet! Doing a 4x4 swap with the explorer parts while your at it too?