Explorer Head And Intake Install Questions

Heads will need to be cleaned/inspected and have new valve springs installed. I wouldn't bother porting. If you stick with the stock cam then your pushrods should be fine. Anything else especially with 1.7s will need to be measured for correct rod length. If the engine is going to be out of the car I would at this time check the timing chain, replace the oil pump, and the water pump.

No change in maf or injectors is needed for the setup you are wanting.

They make cams specifically for gt40 heads. Anderson N41, crane 2031, steeda #18, etc.

Just for the sake of argument here, a cam and roller rockers will be worth maybe 15hp.

Yeah, but choppy idles drop da panties

Unplug a vacuum line.

good advice so far... my 2 cents. I am going to cover the big things. There are 100's of little steps and things

intake

• if your intake and heads are 97 then they could be either internal or external EGR. Does the intake have a hole in the middle for the EGR? The mustang uses an internal EGR and if the intake you bought is external, then your EGR won't work.
  
• Cooant tubes- as the Explorer intake is not internal EGR, it does not have the rear EGR coolant tube tapped on the rear passenger side. Either grab the Explorer coolant tubes that have 2 external coolant tubes or you will need to tap the intake to use the mustang coolant tubes
• IAT- the explorer intake is not tapped on the #5 intake boss pad for the IAT. You will need to tap that for the IAT
• bolts- you can use the same lower intake bolts for both mustang and explorer. Uppers are different.
• vacuum fittings- they are different on the explorer. You can take the vacuum tree off you mustang upper and tap the explorer for it and you will cap off some on the explorer.

throttle body

• what throttle body are you running? the stock mustang is 58MM, Stock explorer is 65MM. Youll need to adapt the linkage to make it work on the mustang but its easy
• bolts- same for both mustang and explorer

heads- add up the total cost to refurbish the heads before you start. It may cost $400-500 and then I'd be saving up for a set of aluminum heads instead

• Before you spend dollar 1, have the heads magnafluxed for cracks. No sense investing in a set of cracked heads
• If they check out, have the deck milled the least amount to true them up, hot tanked
  
• Have new guides installed
• Check the seats - you may need a valve job
  
• Check the valves for straightness, cracked, bent, worn, twisted, etc and repair/replace as needed
  
• You will need to change the valve springs even if you use the stock mustang cam. Go with the springs your cam manufacturer recommends. I like the TFS springs. You will also want to out in new valve seals

Cam

• You can get about the same HP and torque with the stock cam and a set of 1.7 rockers as most cams designed for these heads, but retaing better mpg, manners, and idle
• Do not get a Ford alphabet cam
• If you do anything but a stock cam, you should measure pushrod length. I like the TFS1

Rockers-(they are pedestal mount on these heads) & pushrods

• Depends- you can reuse your stock ones with the stock mustang cam
• 1.7 rockers- Ford, Crane and same for pushrods- ford or crane hardened ones

Timing Chain

• Buy a quality Cloyes, Ford, or Crand double roller chain. No chinese made junk.

Headers

• unless you are going long tube, shortie aftermarket headers maybe add 10hp. Aftermarket shortie headers sound and look better, but in reality aren't going to give you a huge hp increase in your application

MAF

• you can use the stock mustang MAF, but it is 58MM to match the throttle body and a bottle neck. Get a 94-95 mustang MAF- it is 70MM and you can get them for around $40 or less in a junkyard. You will need to buy or fabriacte an adapter to mate to the intake tube as the mustang one is flanged on one side.

Injectors

• You can use your stock 19lb injectors. get new o rings and if needed pintle caps

Balancer
Get rid of the stock one- it is probably seperated by now anyway
I like the Pioneer 872030 balancer

GAskets- use all Felpro

• Head gasket- 93333pt1
• Intake- 1250S3. you can re use the upper to lower intake gasket
• Timing cover gaskets
• Thermostat- get a new thermostat too 195 degree
• water pump
  
• valve cover- get the blue rubber ones with steel reinforcements
• Exhaust- depends on header.

Water pump- you will most likely snap a few bolts

• Ford racing
• Edelbrock

Bolts -ARP except for upper intake

• lower intake
• Heads
• exhaust
• timing cover
• upper intake- stock
• water pump- Late model restoration sells a kit with all the ARP ones in one set

Exceptional write up Mike. It's easy to discount all the little steps in what is seemingly a bolt and go swap.

hoopty5.0 said:

Yeah, but choppy idles drop da panties

Click to expand...

That's a guy thing, it doesn't work with women.
They could care less about how your car idles as long as it doesn't stall out or require them to help you push it to the side of the road and wait for a tow.

You want to impress the quality ladies, here's how you do it.
Be well dressed when you go out with them, especially for a first date. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Use your best manners (open doors for them, help them with their coat, help them with their chair when you go out to eat).
Put your phone on do not disturb, and focus on them and not your phone or internet. The lady with you wants to be the center of your attention.
Actively listen a lot more than you talk; nod your head (not like you are dozing off), maintain eye contact say yes or no at the appropriate time, and don't interrupt. Listening to some women is real work since their conversation is often about things you have no interest in.
Don't cheap out on dining or entertainment; dinner at McDonalds and a second rate high school band concert will not impress the pretty lady who can pick and choose who she spends her time with.

The above has worked for 50 years (yes, I am an old guy) and has enabled me to spend quality time with some very pretty ladies (including a former Miss Memphis). It also works well with wives and not just girl friends.



Now back to the automotive world...

Cylinder head removal & replacement

Revised 25-Aug-2014 to update parts list

Plan on 3 days to do the job if you haven't done it before.

Day one gets the heads off in 4-6 hours. Remove the A/C compressor mount bolts and move the compressor out of the way. The A/C compressor swings out of the way without disconnecting any of the lines or losing any refrigerant. Mark all the electrical, smog and vacuum lines with tags to help you remember where to re-connect them. If you have a digital camera, take several pictures.

Day two gets all the gasket surfaces scraped off extra clean and the heads dropped off at the machine shop if you are going to have them reconditioned. Time here is another 4-6 hours. Whatever you do, don't skimp on cleaning the gasket surfaces. New gaskets need to seat against bare metal and not the residue left from the old gaskets in order to seal leak free. This is the most time consuming and tiresome part of the job. Look for little things that need to be replaced like the short hose from the thermostat hosing to the water pump, damaged vacuum lines and hose clamps that are rusted or broken.

Day three starts when you get the heads back from the machine shop. This is the time to pick up all the little odd pieces you found needing replacement on your day two inspection/cleanup. Plan on 6-8 hours to reinstall the heads and reconnect everything. Plan on an additional 2 hours to troubleshoot/adjust everything.

Now for some practical tips:

Tools: a good torque wrench is a must have item. A razor blade scraper that holds a single edge razor blade from Home Depot or Ace hardware is another handy thing. Get a Chilton or Haynes shop manual - you'll need it for the bolt torques and patterns. The intake manifold has an especially odd pattern.

Diagram courtesy of Tmoss & Stang&2birds


The bolts are torqued down in a 3 step process.
Step 1 8 ft/lbs
Step 2 16 ft/lbs
Step 3 23-25 ft/lbs

You'll need access to a timing light to set the timing after you re-stab the distributor. Look in the A/C repair section for the fuel line tools. They look like little plastic top hats. You will need the 1/2" & 5/8" ones. The hat shaped section goes on facing the large part of the coupling. Then you press hard on the brim until it forces the sleeve into the coupling and releases the spring. You may need someone to pull on the line while you press on the coupling. Put some motor oil on them when you put the line back together.

Whatever you do, don't skimp on cleaning the gasket surfaces. New gaskets need to seat against bare metal and not the residue left from the old gaskets in order to seal leak free. This is the most time consuming and tiresome part of the job. Look for little things that need to be replaced like the short hose from the thermostat hosing to the water pump, damaged vacuum lines and hose clamps that are rusted or broken.
Put some cardboard in the lifter valley to help catch the gasket scrapings. Have a shop vacuum handy to suck up the scrapings and any coolant that leaked into the lifter valley.

Plan on cutting the thermostat to water pump hose, or removing the thermostat housing. Also plan on removing the distributor to get clearance to remove the intake manifold. Remove #1 spark plug, stick your finger in the spark plug hole and crank. When your finger gets air moving past it, stop cranking. Turn the engine until the timing marks line up with the pointer. Now you can pull the distributor out. Be sure to put a rag or cap in the block where you removed the distributor. It will save you trouble if something falls into the empty distributor hole.

My favorite trick that saves time and effort is the stay in place gasket. Be sure that you scrape (don't use a wire brush) all the old gasket material off, then clean all the surfaces with acetone or MEK.

When the surfaces are clean, use weather strip adhesive on the head to manifold surface, and on the side of the gasket that mates to the head. Follow the instructions on the tube or can and when it gets tacky, press the gasket down on the head.

Clean the area where the rubber rails mount to the block in front and in the rear with more acetone or MEK and do the same trick with the weather strip adhesive that you did to the heads.

Coat the rubber seals and the gasket area around the water passages with Blue Silicone gasket sealer and put it together. Whoopee! no leaks, and no gaskets that shifted out of place.

Get a tube of anti-seize and coat all the bolt threads and under the bolt heads. That will help insure even torque when you tighten the manifold bolts. Plan on re-torqueing them after a week’s worth of driving

The cylinder head bolts are reusable, but some new ARP bolts are a better plan. Be aware that the ARP bolts have a radiused shank under the bolt head. The ARP washers have a matching radius machined into them. Be sure that the machined radius of the washer is fitted next to the machined radius on the ARP bolt heads. Forget this little fact and you will never get the head bolts to torque down properly.

Coat the underside of all bolt heads with anti seize and the threads of the long bolts. The short bolts thread directly into the water jacket and need a different treatment. Use Teflon Pipe dope on the threads of the short head bolts. It will prevent any coolant seepage from around the threads. You can get the Teflon pipe dope from the hardware stores, Home Depot or Lowes.

Fuel injector seal kits with 2 O rings and a pintle cap (Borg-Warner P/N 274081) are available at Pep Boys auto parts. Cost is about $3-$4 per kit. The pintle caps fit either injectors with a pin sticking out the injector end or 4 with more tiny holes in the injector end. The following are listed at the Borg-Warner site ( BWD - Home ) as being resellers of Borg-Warner parts:

Parts Plus - Premium Auto Parts & Accessories or Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper Quality Parts & Service - Home of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Group or Tires, Auto Parts Stores, Brakes & Automotive Parts | Pep Boys or Federated Auto Parts - Automotive Aftermarket

Most of the links above have store locators for find a store in your area.

Use motor oil on the O rings when you re-assemble them & everything will slide into place. The gasoline will wash away any excess oil that gets in the wrong places and it will burn up in the combustion chamber.

Putting the distributor back in is fairly simple. Pull #1 sparkplug, put your finger in the sparkplug hole,
crank the engine until you feel compression. Then line up the TDC mark on the balancer with the pointer
on the engine block.

The distributor starts out with the #1 plug wire lined up at about 12:00 with you facing it. Align the rotor
to about 11:00, since it will turn clockwise as it slides into place.

Align the distributor rotor up with the #1 position marked on the cap, slide the distributor down into the block, (you may have to wiggle the rotor slightly to get the gear to engage) and then note where the rotor is pointing. If it still lines up with #1 position on the cap, install the clamp and bolt. If not, pull it out and turn 1 tooth forwards or backwards and try again. Put the #1 spark plug back in and tighten it down, put the clamp on the distributor, but don't tighten it too much, as you will have to move the distributor to set the timing. Note that if it doesn't align perfectly with #1 position, you can turn the distributor until it does. The only problem is that if you are too far one way or the other, you can't turn the distributor enough to get the 10-14 degree optimum timing range.

At this point hook up all the wires, get out the timing light and start the engine. Set the timing where your car
runs best. Don't forget to disconnect the SPOUT jumper connector when you set the timing, and plug it back
in when you finish.

The HO firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Non HO firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8



Consumable items:
head gaskets or head gasket kit
Rocker cover gaskets
Upper manifold gasket
Fel Pro 1250 or equal lower manifold gasket set.
Exhaust manifold gaskets.
Short formed hose between thermostat hosing and intake manifold
6 ft 7/64" or 1/8" vacuum hose
2 ft 1/2" heater hose
1 1/2 ft 5/8" heater hose
Blue Silicone sealer
Spray can weather strip adhesive to hold manifold gaskets in place
Acetone or MEK to clean gasket surfaces
1 gallon straight antifreeze (same price as 50/50 mix, but a 90 cent gallon of distilled water makes it 2 gallons at a cheaper price)
1 gallon distilled water
ARP antiseize or equal for the bolts
Teflon Pipe dope
4 each 3/4" hose clamps (spare item in case the old ones are bad)
4 each 1/2" hose clamps (spare item)

Machine shop charges will vary - figure $275-$350 to have heads checked for cracks, cleaned, surfaced, valves ground, valve guides reconditioned, valve springs checked and bad springs replaced.

See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host) for help on 88-95 wiring Mustang FAQ - Wiring & Engine Info Everyone should bookmark this site.

Ignition switch wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif

Fuel, alternator, A/C and ignition wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif

Complete computer, actuator & sensor wiring diagram for 88-91 Mass Air Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91_5.0_EEC_Wiring_Diagram.gif

Vacuum diagram 89-93 Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/mustangFoxFordVacuumDiagram.jpg

HVAC vacuum diagram
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/Mustang_AC_heat_vacuum_controls.gif

TFI module differences & pin out
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/TFI_5.0_comparison.gif

Fuse box layout
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/MustangFuseBox.gif

@jrichker I was definitely kidding. The only part of my car that makes my wife happy are the creature comforts - climate control and radio.

It sounds like you are off to an excellent start and your build should go smoothly. For a street car you won't miss not swapping the cam.
The explorer tb takes a little fab work for use in the mustang but there is an excellent write up in the tech stickies. Let me see if I can find it.

Drews93fox said:

@mikestang63 great write up, thank you. To start I do not run and egr, it did not have one when I first purchased the car years ago and I have not worried about it. I did take the coolant lines with the intake so I will be using those. All the hardware is already arp on the engine, I blew a head gasket about 2 years ago and replaced with them, are they still good? I have studs for the heads and bolts for everything else. I am currently running a professional products 65mm throttle body and it sucks, I am planning on using the throttle body that came with the explorer engine.
The heads will go to a friends machine shop to get checked out, all of you information is great and will be passed along.
I think with the current talk on this post, I will not replace the cam and roller rockers and use the current push rods. I will however get a spring kit.
The timing chain was replaced 2 years ago with a ford chain and sprockets. I don't know how long they last but will be checking how loose the chain is when I tear down the block.
I will be keeping the stock headers for time being.
I will be looking for a 94-95 maf, in sure that there is one somewhere out there!!
I have never thought about the balancer, I will be purchasing one.
Thank you for the write up again! Great information to have.
@jrichker thank you for the information, actually I have this sticky already printed off and have gone through it a couple of times.

Click to expand...

Do NOT reuse head gaskets. They are a one time application due to being compressed. They are less than $25 so don't look to cut corners or you will be doing this exerise again.

As long as there isnt more than a 1/4 inch of slack in the timing chain you should be ok,

I just did this swap last winter, gt40 heads, explorer intake, tfs-1 cam and roller rockers. I put it all together and drove it about 50 miles... You need to throw that stock maf in the trash can. The car ran ok until about 3700rpm but was on the lean side after, at wot... I had a slot maf meter that I am planning on using when I turbo the car. So I put that on the car and had the car tuned to use this meter.. Big difference, now afr is where it needs to be 12.5-13 at wot instead of 15.5-16... You can use the 94-95 meter and trick the computer or get a "calibrated" unit.. I would get something though.. Car feels 100 times better after maf swap and proper afr.


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