Project: AeroTank

[svt98t]

Smoked rod bearings:




Oil pump pickup:


Being me:



Clicky-clackety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flXPLGxetlY

-ryan s.

[svt98t]

Out of all the junkyards, only one had an 02-04 Explorer with the lightweight WAP block. Unfortunately, it was seized. Since it's difficult to get a hold of these blocks, I've decided to buy the seized motor and tear it completely down. I only need the block.
I'll be picking it up tomorrow. Then tear down with commence.
It should be torn down, cleaned, and prepped for , and possibly painted by the weekends end.
I would love to have my heads powder coated and reassembled by the end of next week.

Ideally, if this motor is completely built up by the end of the month, I'll be on track.


-ryan s.

[The_Jed]

Still watching and learning.

[svt98t]

Tore down the seized motor:




This is the passenger side timing tensioner. Looks like it seized due to lack of oil pressure. The result is the failure of the timing chain and tensioner guides. Yuck.


This is the drivers side. It's what it's suppose to look like.


There's a piece of the tensioner guide in the crank.

Stripped down. I'm going to clean it tonight, and it should be weighted tomorrow evening.



-ryan s.

[svt98t]

Ok, I weighed the new block.

I'll be going from this :



To this:




-ryan s.

[The_Jed]

Sweet!

[svt98t]

Buying a new heater tonight. I need to keep working. I might have it primed tonight, then painted tomorrow. Then I can put the internals in over the weekend and focus on the heads.

-ryan s.

[svt98t]

Ok, so I've had a good few days in a row to work on the Tank.
First off, get your sunglasses out.


I removed the A/C condenser in dash. My A/C is completely removed now. That weighed 5.2 lbs, for a total of 118.2 lbs removed, not including this block swap. The boz is resealed with grey RTV.
I'm also replacing a brake line to the right front, since I did the other three last summer.

I also realized that it was a good time to get some pics of my lower air dam.
I made a template out of cardboard before cutting the final piece out of aluminum. It's secured with nut plates so that it can be removed easily, if needed. It's kinda hard to see since it's painted the same flat black as the car.
Pic from the front:


You can see how much it covers up. Pic from behind:


I painted more stuff. I should be able to set the crank tomorrow night and maybe throw some pistons in soon.


-ryan s.

[svt98t]

Crank is in and mains are set. I also installed the pistons and the rod caps and they are all torqued down as well.
Time to install the oil pump and pick up and get these heads assembled and ready for install.


-ryan s.

[svt98t]

Driver side head is on and painted. Time to get the passenger head on tonight and get this thing in the car!!





-ryan s.