I know it has been said 1 million time but what explorer motor should i be looking for i belive it a 96-98 v8 5.0l is this correct?

 

rmodel knows for sure!

 

while he answers this i have a question for him also would a 289 crank drop into a roller 302 block

 

i believe its 95 or 95.5 and up..... in 97.5 they switched over to the P heads which require special headers to clear the plugs....... more work to get them installed properly but a little more HP outta the box.

to fit any early crank into a later block, just have the machine shop grind down the lip on the back (near the seal). once thats gone, it will drop right in with no problems.