Plated's 99 GT Project

[NXcoupe]

Project Explorestang! Plated brought his car to me with some issues, leaking trans, engine miss, spark plug hole that had been repaired, etc. He wants something fun with good power and pretty much problem free, so I laid out a plan for him and we have gathered the parts. Follow along as we put a late model explorer all aluminum 4.6 and a 5 speed trans into his 99.

[NXcoupe]

Here it is before we began. I had taken a compression test and checked the plugs, the results were not good.

[NXcoupe]

So I looked around on the internet and the search led me to my old friend Keith at Stricker's auto parts. They had a decent mileage 4.6 out of an explorer and the price was really reasonable. And they deliver! So it was a no brainer after that, an all aluminum 4.6 with PI heads and intake, with low miles, delivered, I said send it up. Here are some pics of the engine as I received it.

[PonymanfiveO]

Cool!

Glad to see ma dude with another Stang!!!

[NXcoupe]

Now it was time to get the engine in and pull it out of the car along with the auto. We have a cool tool that allows us to drop the engine and trans out as one unit. Here are pics of the old engine and trans assembly out of the car.

[NXcoupe]

Next, we had to pull the engine and trans out of Dougie's car for him and in the process he and Plated worked out a deal so the manual trans would end up in Plated's stang. We swapped out the pedals, wiring and trans so he would end up with a new engine and a manual trans for a little more fun.
This is a pic of the T45 we took out of Dougie's car. Pics of his engine are in the media section.

[NXcoupe]

So next thing to do was put the new explorer engine up on a stand and start swapping parts so it would go down into the stang. The oil pan, pick up tube, water/oil filter manifold, motor mounts, timing cover, and misc stuff were different, so we had to swap this stuff over. The inside of the engine was very clean and looked great. We had to trim a boss off the block that came too close to the oil pressure sensor but other than that it was pretty straight forward.

[92coupe]

Looks like a cool project!

[NXcoupe]

Here is the completed engine ready to be dropped in. Strickers plugs every hole and tube on the engine to protect it. Very high quality.

[NXcoupe]

Here's what it would look like as a 4 wheel drive donk.

[NXcoupe]

Seriously, that was the body being lowered onto the engine/trans combo. Mike just threw the tire in there for effect, yo.

[NXcoupe]

Here are some shots as the car is lowered onto the engine and T45 combo.

[NXcoupe]

These are pics of the front brakes after we put new pads in and assembled them once the K member was bolted back into place. It's coming along, just need to hook up all the electronics and hoses and such. Should be running in a day or two.

[NXcoupe]

More pics of the engine bolted into place, but still waiting on the new crossmember/trans mount to come in from Ford. that's why it's leaning back some.

[NXcoupe]

Some before and after shots of the pedals and shifter. I'll get more pics up once the manual pedal assembly is installed and the shift boot and handle are on.

[NXcoupe]

Thanks guys! It's coming along nicely. He is a good friend that gave me a race car that looks better than I ever dreamed, so it's the least I could do for him.

[mustangboy]

So what are you guys going to do with the old engine? I would love to try to powder coat a plastic intake.

[NXcoupe]

It is hanging out with me. If you want to try to powder coat it, get with me. I also have some 3V valve covers we would like to get a price on powder coating.

[8NO4CYL]

Wow, Chris will be excited to see this thread. Way to go. :bigthumb

[Mustard]

It's not a bad looking car for sure. I wana know if Chris is going to be putting his painters "touch" on it?

[COOP]

Is the old trans going to be up for sale?

[quik lx]

Nice project guys!

Just an FYI, If he wants a stronger trans,I have a 3650 with 28K on it out of a '01 Roush stage III. Asking $750. I'm putting the T-56 in mine.

[plated]

dayton performance kicks ass!!!!!!!! mike you are the man:cool2: i'm sooo happy right now i could just chit:) so what your saying is slap a masterpower t70 on it:D hey don't forget to slap one of those daytonperformance stickers on the glass for me.i can't say enough good things about mike and daytonperformance a speed shop that kick ass and ggod peope to deal with:angel: woot woot woot.so no more driving my sons lifted caprice on dubs:cool1:

[NXcoupe]

Glad to do it up for you! I can't wait to hear it on the dyno once we get it finished up. Mike is working his arse off on it, so we should be dyno'ing this week some time.

[Holly]

It's not a bad looking car for sure. I wana know if Chris is going to be putting his painters "touch" on it?

I love the look of that stang... solid black looks bad ass.

Good luck Chris and Mike! I can't wait to see it when it is finished. You'll have to bring it to the spring cruise-in!

[plated]

I love the look of that stang... solid black looks bad ass.

Good luck Chris and Mike! I can't wait to see it when it is finished. You'll have to bring it to the spring cruise-in!
same here i told myself i'd never own a black car but after i got the 99 i fell in love with black,allthough driving a car around thats painted up all crazy is/was the best advertising you can do,i'll keep this one black but if i build another race/streetcar it will have a crazy paintjob like the plated car or mikes etc.. thanks for the compliment holly:)

[Evil_Capri]

Great project! Thanks for sharing!

[NXcoupe]

Got more done today! The a/c compressor is bolted up, the powersteering pump is bolted up to the engine too. Wiring is going on, had to swap out waterneck with the old engine, so that's done now. I will post up more pics as we get it close.

[NXcoupe]

Ok, belt is on, hoses hooked up etc. Most of the wiring is finished, got some pics of the progress....

We deleted the EGR so that did away with the tube, and paved the way for some long tubes down the road or the turbo. This thing is crying for a JLT cai. Can't wait to get it on the dyno!

[1992MustangDW]

nice job

[NXcoupe]

Pedals are being swapped out today. I will get pics up as they get swapped.

[NXcoupe]

Pictures of the pedals installed and the new firewall adjuster and steeda cable.

[80 hate]

How is this going? Is it done? What kind of numbers did it put up?

[NXcoupe]

Not done yet, waiting on a wiring harness for the manual trans. Couldn't find one anywhere and the one off the donor car wouldn't work, too early. As soon as that comes in, we're installing it and starting it up. Then it goes on the dyno and the tune dialed in for the new combo.

[Silver Bullet]

Coming along nicely Chris... good luck.:bigthumb

[NXcoupe]

Well, wiring harness is here, so Monday should be firing it up and finishing it out. I will post some video of the dyno pulls afterwords.

[plated]

saweet,take your time mike if need to be.thanks for going out of your way like you have,your vert is coming along good,made a ton of progress this weekend a couple more days it should be wrapped up.get some videos up after you get a tune on it,more i think about it i think it's got 87 octane in it you may wanna splash some better gas in it when you tune it.

[NXcoupe]

Cool, I'll run that 87 out and put some premium in it and then tune it on the dyno. Should be a fun toy when it's finished! Can't wait to see my vert. I am really excited to get it back and in the condition it was before all the scrapes and bangs over the years. Thanks a bunch bud!

[8NO4CYL]

saweet,take your time mike if need to be.thanks for going out of your way like you have,your vert is coming along good,made a ton of progress this weekend a couple more days it should be wrapped up.get some videos up after you get a tune on it,more i think about it i think it's got 87 octane in it you may wanna splash some better gas in it when you tune it.

Swifty 87 octane :lol:

[plated]

Swifty 87 octane :lol:yea and from there i went to walmart in ameia:tard:

[NXcoupe]

News Flash!! It runs!!!! Pics at 11.

[wht_stang]

Screw pics throw up some vids

[NXcoupe]

Forgot to bring the camera today, but I will have it this week. Need to get the regular gas out of it first.

[NXcoupe]

Well, it's dyno'd and tuned! Forgot the camera AGAIN! So it is already finished and is an absolute blast to drive. The thing feels like a totally different car. It picked up nearly 40 ft lbs of torque at the lower rpm's and made over 10 more hp at peak. I will let plated post up his numbers if he wants to. Sounds wicked too!

[plated]

well i know it's enough to keep an ls1 6-8 cars behind me ha ha,out driving it for the first time today man it runs good!!!! get onto 275 headed toward eastgate a lowerd loud ls1 camaro pulls along revving it,slow down to a third gear roll he hangs thru 3rd clicked into 4th and pulled away big time on him 6-8 cars it actually runs better than i was expecting i think i can start to like this modular crap. thanks again mike and the guys at dayton performance job well done:)

[8NO4CYL]

Oh great.... hope it has 93 octane in it.. :lol:

[NXcoupe]

Oh great.... hope it has 93 octane in it.. :lol:

SNAP! LOL! I gave him an 87 octane tune this time!

[Stangman]

It's all good! gas is cheap now! :lol:

[Pyro50]

Saw this car tonight. Chris saw me on my front porch and was kind enough to ricer rev and haul ass down my street. :flipoff: :lol: It sounded DAMN GOOD :bigthumb

[plated]

Saw this car tonight. Chris saw me on my front porch and was kind enough to ricer rev and haul ass down my street. :flipoff: :lol: It sounded DAMN GOOD :bigthumb
thanks,i'm just sooo glad to be crackin the throttle again.got to watch arlington they aint got much to do other than drive around the 12 streets they have to patrol:lol:i