50Runner

Well let me give you some pointers from my experience already having done t
this swap.

The 302 gives tons of space in all but one area, the radiator. The electric fan has to be placed in front of the radiator because there just isn't any space between the radiator, and the pulleys. Also I had to get creative and place the Ac condensor in the back where the spare would be. I have a swing out spare anyway so that wasn't a problem.

The t18 is crap. Yeah, it has a granny gear, but try using that thing on the street. I got a totally rebuilt one, and the shifting was incredibly sloppy, not to mention the lack of an over drive. I tried the over drive that AA sells, and although it is very strong,it wines like nothing else! 30 minutes on the freeway, and you just want to blow your head off! The NV 4500 is the best imo tranny out there right now for off road,but it is so huge a new trans tunnel would need to be made, and thats with a 3 in body lift. The 5spd from the mustang is not strong enough with big tires, and low gears. So in the end, as much as I dislike autos, I went with a ford AOD, and an atlas transfer. Atlas is bomb proof, and the aod has overdrive.

If you have any more questions let me know. Oh, and by the way, the northwest motor mounts are very good, their headers are crap, and their radiator is so-so...I had a new aluminum one made by ron davis.

manuel

bigmuddy

I have never done the 5.0 swap but I run a SEFI 5.0 in my 75 bronco. I did investigate doing the swap in my 90 runner before I found an OEM 3.0 motor with 24k and swapped it for the 3.0 that had the rod sticking out the side. I would have to agree that using the either the C-4 or the AOD would be your best bet. I would suggest trying to run down a C-4/dana 20 from an early bronco which will bolt to the 5.0 and is really quite bulletproof for all but the most extreme wheeling. If you run it with 4.10 gears and 35" tires you will get a small overdrive effect. The early bronco C-4 tranny with the attached d-20 should run you between 400 and 600 dollars for something decent and useable. The absolute best 5.0 to buy would be one from the 96 explorer which had gt-40p heads which were better than the mustang, the cobra intakes and the short waterpump and acc, which might help you squeeze the fan inside the engine compartment. By the way, the manual tranny may have a low first gear but the auto trannies have torque multiplication on their side. Meaning if you low gear is a 2.46? when you add in the torque converter it could easily be 2-2.5 lower than than 2.46.

good luck with the swap! should be sweet when you are done.

Ben

50Runner

Hey Ben...unfortunately I tried, or have I should say, the short set up, and it still is way too tight for the fan, even very skinny electric ones. Thats actually one of the reasons I used an aluminum radiator instead of the NW one. One a side note, the one I received fron NW looked used! The black paint was all flaked, and rubbed off on some parts.

As far as the tranny goes, personally I have to have an overdrive, but I guess that depends on what you used the truck for. Mine is more expedition type, so long drives are a given.

Manuel

bigmuddy

No sweat, just thought I would throw the short setup out there. Actually I forgot it myself when I did SEFI swap 5.0 from a mustang in my bronco. It makes the fan really close to the rad. Need to swap to the explorer stuff one day but need to find it cheap first.
The C-4 would be cheaper but if he has really low gears, I would go for the AOD if money allows. 4.88 or better would probably be best with the AOD's hi ratio OD gear.

Ben

50Runner

Hey Ben, since we're on this toipic...would you know how come my AOD doesn't shift to the higher gear unless I rev the engine to the max? Either that or if I let go of the throttle completely...part throttle it just hold the gear, on all of them. I'm new to automatics, can you tell?

Manuel

DudeBud

does it have a shift kit in it?


im am able to get a manual fan in there whitout a short water pump and still have 3" between the rad and the fan this is also with a 3 core 67 mustang, fairlane rad. they are about 4 inches wide at the tank

jposey66

In my 88 4Runner, I have a 5.0, AOD, Yota T-case, kept IFS(running Total Chaos long travel), no body lift, and run a mechanical fan. Accessories are from a 94-95 Mustang, which are shorter than previous years but a little longer than Explorer accessories. I also run a stock V6 radiator and have zero cooling problems. Started out with two small electric fans(cheapos from autozone), but they just weren't doing the job. Bought a large Black Magic fan to put in front of the radiator, but I couldn't get it in there without cutting a major body brace and didn't want to do that.
I love the AOD. My fuel mileage actually went up 1-2 mpg after swapping from the 3.0 to the 5.0. I made my own frame mounting pads, for the engine, and tried using stock Mustang motor mounts, but they suffered a quick death. I have since been running solid mustang mounts and have had no problems. Driveshaft lengths had to be modified.

50Runner,
Sounds like your kickdown cable (throttle valve) is not adjusted correctly. An AOD will not last very long running with it mis-adjusted. Fluid pressure end up too low, letting things slip more than they should, and it ends up burning up a clutch pack. Find you someone that knows how to adjust it "correctly". I took mine to the guy that built the tranny for me and let him adjust it like he wanted it.

JD

My HO 4RUNNER and LATEST PROJECT