That was my intent on starting this thread ... so everyone who reads it could learn from my mistake ... never buy a car sight unseen based on the seller's description. Like I said before, I wanted to go 3L so that the car would have more power to be more attractive to an enthusiast buyer since I will be listing it on CEG's classifieds and in the NECO for sale forum. I'm building it up to "factory fresh" status with Clevite bearings and having a Torsen fitted in the transmission because I'm plan on putting the car through it's paces during the turbo kit development. Trust me, I'm not into throwing away my hard earned money ... I do things with planned intent. However, in this instance, I was a little wavering in my attitude of getting this done quickly for a quick sale. As I see it now, my only chance of recouping as much money as possible is to develop this piping kit for a FMIC turbo system.

Anyways, back to your regular programming: I'm about to pull the head off the side of the engine where cylinder #5 is right now ... I will report back with the findings later tonight. I have some time to kill waiting on parts to arrive and I'm reusing the SVT cams anyways, so what's another 30-45 minutes to pull the heads and assess the damage

For Sale: 1997 Explorer XLT V8 AWD