2006 4.0 5spd to 4.6 5spd swap

Well the rain beat me out today. Made it about halfway through the k member and the sky opened up. I got a bit of a late start due to a friend stopping by. I hadn’t been able to get the front control arms off. The bolts were stuck on there no matter how hard I tried. I was at the point of torching them off. I had contacted a buddy and asked him to bring his torches. I ran to get some more sand and by the time I came back he was there waiting. He was out of acetylene but even better than torches he had brought his induction heater. If you guys have never seen or used one, you don’t know what you’re missing. It will cherry a nut in 30 seconds and not heat anything else up. The front LCA bolts were frozen inside the bushings. I would have never got them out if I had torched them. This is what Salt does in places you can’t see.

The control arm nuts are welded to the K memeber. You drop the steering rack and take the bolts out from the front. Been there.......

Juice said:

The control arm nuts are welded to the K memeber. You drop the steering rack and take the bolts out from the front. Been there.......

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The control arm bolts were welded to the inside of the nuts and the inside of the bushings lmao.

Picked up my Spindles back up today. Nothing over the top. I’m a sucker for Gloss Black. I’ve got a little more touch up with the sandblasted to go on the K member and rad support. Then I’m gonna drop those off for powder as well.

We’ll get this updated tonight. With new parts and pics of what’s been going on. Moving a bit slow while the world is on fire but still moving. I’ve been laid up the last week after having a piece of steel removed from my eye. Just starting to get back to normal.

In the meantime.... I got my k member and radiator support back from powder. They came out decent for the shape they were in. They looked great blasted, I almost wish I had just powder coated them clear. Any color will show imperfections but black is really good at it. So you can really pick up all the surface imperfections. I didn’t happen to get a shot of the rad support.


I also finished blasting my rearend. I’m preparing for powder coating. Unsatisfied with surface imperfections in the axel tubes etc, I have been spending time cleaning them up. I’ve also since removed my axels, upper bushing, and diff. I’ll post up some better pics of all that tomorrow, but here’s what the rear looked like after soda blasting.




I’ve acquired a Competition Engineering UCA to replace the worn out stock upper and compliment the 2014 track pack suspension I will be replacing the stock 2006 suspension with.



While the rear is apart, why not 4.10 gears, axel bearings and seals, a complete diff rebuild, and traction lok rebuild with upgraded carbon fiber clutch packs?



That’s all for today. Must go rest my throbbing eye.

More work on the rearend today. 90% of the putting in the axel tubes removed. More weight reduction, lol. I’m almost satisfied with it. A little more elbow grease then ford light blue powder.

With it that clean, weld the tubes to the pumpkin before getting it powder coated

oldVOR said:

With it that clean, weld the tubes to the pumpkin before getting it powder coated

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Any insight on building a jig to ensure that it’s square and straight while it’s being welded? I’m a fairly skilled welder and welding the tubes isn’t a problem for me, but I’ve trolled the depths of the mustang 8.8 and concluded that if I can’t do it right why do it? Maybe you can give some insight as I said. Much appreciated @oldVOR !

Soon to be back in black. Blasting calipers and brackets tomorrow.View attachment 72728

Make a one inch weld. Role the rear end 180* on the stands and do another one inch weld. Role it back and continue the first one inch weld and then role it again and continue the second weld. Back and forth till complete. Then do the other tube. Been done a million times.
Buy the way, I think your P coated parts look damn good.

Midlife Crises said:

Make a one inch weld. Role the rear end 180* on the stands and do another one inch weld. Role it back and continue the first one inch weld and then role it again and continue the second weld. Back and forth till complete. Then do the other tube. Been done a million times.
Buy the way, I think your P coated parts look damn good.

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I’ve read this, others say to lay a single continuous weld all the way around. Then the others say it needs to be jigged square and straight then weld the tubes along with bracing.

Thanks for the kind words on the powder. I will likely abandon the welding for now save for a new rear build.

I’d like to add food for thought. If, and I likely will, I do another complete rear buildout... I will likely implant a winters or frankland quick change.

More ready for powder...

Got my parts back. Didn’t grab a quick pic
Of the rear. I’ll post up some better pics when I get home for the evening.

Looking very pretty.

Dino Dino Bambino said:

Looking very pretty.

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Thanks, much appreciated.

OEM Ford Parts, as god intended them...
Trans Crossmember


PCM Mount



Rear Calliper Mounts


Rear Caliper Brackets

Rear End

All this for a driver? Right?

tjm73 said:

All this for a driver? Right?

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I may end up caging and racing this one down the road. Or, a complete separate build all together... we’ll see. This car however was too nice not to at least fix its faults. I plan on keeping it for some time which means I’ll inevitably have to wrench on it. I HATE working on crust rusty POSC. It was previously a daily driver year round in the western NY area. We all know how our vehicles love salt and slush.

I plan on daily driving it and putting it up for the winter. So with the work I’m putting in and a little PM, it should be very easy to maintain and keep clean. I’m used to pulling race cars, engines, machines apart... polishing the turd and making it new again. I may be a bit OCD in that respect but not as bad as most.

Looking forward to moving this one out and getting on to the next one. Seems like the weather will be turning in my favor and allow me to get the chassis blasted, painted, assembled, and back out in the road. I had planned on moving onto the SN95, tho it looks like a 408 Fox may have line jumped it.

Haven’t don’t much since the rona started. Try to get some updates done on my car. In the meanwhile.... this one is almost track ready.