Yesterday was interior day.



It was also three amigos day. Fixed. Thanks for the ABS Amigo, Dusty! My donor had a good shuttle valve.

 

Today I'll finish removing the dash and window and lock motors. Hopefully the green rover will be DONE today so tomorrow I can get back on the engine so the heads, crank, and bottom end can go to the engine machinist.

 

Per usual I didn't finish what I'd hoped. It was just too hot. Pulling off the rest of the good stuff then to the engine... probably tomorrow.

From this morning:



The interior is bare metal.

I am taking off the oil cooler and lines for the 4.6. Also got the wabco abs, radiator,, BCM computer, air bags, fuel pump, the little plastic doo dad that holds the fuel door closed, spare tire carrier, etc. I have to remember to get all of the transmission/TC mounts too. The heat is frying my brain.

 

Nanocom can re sync the odometer and BCU. So I'll stick with the new cluster.

 

Green rover is ready to go. Lined up for the trailer, which is remarkable since it has no steering wheel, the steering is locked (ignition fell out when I tried to turn the key, and no brakes). Of course it has no transmission or driveshafts. Steering is by means of a crowbar. Had to cut the ball joint on the steering arm so it is held straight by the drag link. Putting it on a trailer is going to be interesting tomorrow. The Ranch Hand grill guard/cow pusher on the old Excursion came in very handy.

The salvage yard is excited at the thought of an aluminum and steel setup with maybe five pounds of plastic to take off.

Removing the BCU this afternoon it was right next to a WABCO box that I assume is the alarm. Hopefully, I won't need any of the computer boxes. Can anyone tell me whether I will need any of the computer boxes with SAI gone? Is there anything to the thought of disconnecting my battery for the night and touching positive and negative to reset the adaptive values when the time comes so I can limp to Dallas for Dusty's Nanocom magic?

Tomorrow the valve covers and heads come off and go to the machinist to get the heads planed and Green Rover finds its new and final home. The only real worry is that I can't find the fourth torque converter bolt. It fell in the bell housing an disappeared at some point.

UPS came three times today with almost all of the parts I need for the inline thermostat mod. I'm not really sure what I lack at this point but I haven't seen the thermostat housing, crucifix seals, and my power steering pump. Future purchase may be new main and rod bearings and some new key fobs if the nancom will program them. Unknowns are limited to the questions above (anyone know the answers?!) and whether the bottom end will have to be redone.

 

Remove the ignition, it will unlock. Two screws on top, tap with a chisel counter clockwise.

 

Ah , wish I'd checked that. I cut the ball joint on the steering arm and by the time I got to the salvage yard it was turned all of the way and was a pain in the behind to get off the trailer.

Green Rover gone. Long live blue Rover.

 

Now that the teardown is done and I am focusing on the meat of the 4.6 in a 4.0 swap, I watched a youtube video on various means of cleaning engines (by shops). I've never worked on a bottom end but the bake it it shake it cleaning method seems to be the preferred method of cleaning an aluminum alloy engine. My local shop has this setup. They bake the engine to dry all oil, paints, and stickers, then shoot some powder at it to blow all of the dust off, then spin it around in a washer to make it look new.

The only thing that distresses me about this process is how bare the engine has to be in order to make this happen... that part being up to me. The engines I saw in videos were a bare block. Nothing inside except maybe sleeves.

I need some tips here. Basically I can pull it all apart, take pictures, etc. But I don't want to screw up. For instance, I know I should number the cylinders. Probably the same for the main bearings. Are there any other gotchas??? Flex plate and starter gear? Rods?

 

wabco is the SLABS for the ABS/Air Suspension

 

The alarm/BCU should say valeo on it I think.