Dan Long
Well-Known Member
So, a few weeks back I posted that I was going to soon be rejoining the ST family with the purchase of a 2001 Sport Trac from Vic up in Maine. Unfortunately, a few days before I was set to fly up there to pick it up Vic emailed me and said that he thought something in the rear end had gotten damaged and he wasn't comfortable with selling it until he knew more. Luckily, I was able to cancel the tickets for my wife and I without any penalties and we weren't out any money.
Since then I've been keeping my eyes open on Craigslist and various other classifieds sections in search of another ST for sale, and I wound up seeing po-man's (Allen) thread about the motor in his 2001 ST overheating and blowing a head gasket. Low and behold, he was in Panama City, FL, which is only about 3.5 hours away from me, and I happen to have a 2000 Explorer with a 5.0 V8 that would love to get transplanted into a needy Sport Trac. :grin:
I emailed Allen about it and once he finally decided to sell the truck we hashed out a deal, then yesterday my dad and I took a drive over with his trailer and brought the truck home. It's going to be several weeks at the earliest before I get started on the project, as I have a kitchen remodel that needs to be finished first (well, at least if I enjoy sleeping inside the house rather than in my shed out back, lol), but there will be a motor swap happening!
My plan is to do the swap, get everything sorted out and working, then eventually pull the motor again for a rebuild, some minor upgrades, and maybe a 347 stroker kit to really up the fun level. I will definitely try to document as much of the swap as possible, and will post updates as the project goes on. For now, here's a pic of "Project 5.0" all loaded up and ready to make the trip to her new home! Try to ignore the fact that she's being towed by a Dodge... :cry:
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Since then I've been keeping my eyes open on Craigslist and various other classifieds sections in search of another ST for sale, and I wound up seeing po-man's (Allen) thread about the motor in his 2001 ST overheating and blowing a head gasket. Low and behold, he was in Panama City, FL, which is only about 3.5 hours away from me, and I happen to have a 2000 Explorer with a 5.0 V8 that would love to get transplanted into a needy Sport Trac. :grin:
I emailed Allen about it and once he finally decided to sell the truck we hashed out a deal, then yesterday my dad and I took a drive over with his trailer and brought the truck home. It's going to be several weeks at the earliest before I get started on the project, as I have a kitchen remodel that needs to be finished first (well, at least if I enjoy sleeping inside the house rather than in my shed out back, lol), but there will be a motor swap happening!
My plan is to do the swap, get everything sorted out and working, then eventually pull the motor again for a rebuild, some minor upgrades, and maybe a 347 stroker kit to really up the fun level. I will definitely try to document as much of the swap as possible, and will post updates as the project goes on. For now, here's a pic of "Project 5.0" all loaded up and ready to make the trip to her new home! Try to ignore the fact that she's being towed by a Dodge... :cry:
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