question on ford exploror P heads....

OrangeMustangGt

Founding Member
Mar 7, 2002
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Cape Cod, MA
I was wondering....how good are they really over the stock heads, say horsepower, or seat of the pants. Also, what year exploror should i get them from, when i call the junkyard what should i ask for?? Also, i guess the exploror intake is a good setup as whell, how about the cam? Do they even compare to say afr's or say trickflows...basically i assume there not as good, but how much better than stock are they? and most of all what will a head and intake setup from a junkyard roughly cost?
 
great budget head. don't compare them to aluminum heads. it's apples and oranges. if you have the money, get the best. if you don't, get P's.

they are easy to spot...they say "GT40P" in 3 different places on the head. look for 1997-2000 explorers with 5.0's. you can expect to pay between $250 and $350 for a set. remember to budget for P-specific headers. pick a cam with an emphasis on exhaust, don't go over .500 lift or you'll need to change out the stock springs...but for god's sakes, if you're getting a cam, talk to one of the cam gods about the best way to go. you'll milk the most out of these things with a custom cam. that said, i have a goofy steeda #19 cam, and i still LOVE the powerband of the P's. seat of the pants difference between P's and stock E7's? HUGE.
 
oh man, that red car guy has a problem.... just cause he can afford stuff he wants to rank on the guy who has no money to put anywhere except for the body on the mustang.. ha. Also. What will i need as whell do do the swap? can i use regular 94/95 headers------WHAT CAM do you reccomend if i DONT use the stock ONE!!!???? How about if i just got a whole new engine...would it drop right in, i have 100,000 miles DAMN, SON!!!!!!!? Also.....i hope with this mod i could beat those pesky lt1's( they have 285 FRIGGIN HP!!!!)!!!!!!!!! (edit) HE SAID HUGE POWER DIFFERENCE!!!!!
 
I kept up with an LT1 with LT's, o/r h, and some flows :D

For the swap you'll need all kinds of gaskets, some ARP head bolts, plus other miss. little things. You can use stock headers but WHY?!?!? Find some aftermarket ones for cheap. Everyones had great success with the Steeda 19 cam so I'd say go with that one.

If you have no money, how the hell are you going to afford a new engine? :lol: :rlaugh:

BTW: names Zach ;) not the red car guy
 
Honeslty, I wouldn't bother with the cam untill you get into the more serious mods. New cam = potentially huge pain in the but. Beside, the stock cam isn't bad, just get some higher ratio rockers. Just my opinion really, the only aftermarket cam I would ever even consider buying for our car is an FTI custom one. It's the only way that makes sense to me.

ANyway, does anyone know of any dealers who sell P heads? I'm really wanting to try some over these muther F'ing stock pieces.

I'd really like to know what issues people have other than just the headers. Is there anything else I would need to know about? I'd like to look into the cost of such a project.
 
fiveotony said:
well lets see I did it myself with Heads/Cam/Timing Chain/Headers from Motorsport and all the gaskets and stuff right around 700 bucks or so.

get an intake...performer or cobra

buy some gt40P heads

upgrade the springs for a .550 lift

AFM b-21 cam

crane 1.7s rockers

get all the gaskets and bolts for the heads cam swap

for headers... if you wanna run shorties... there are P specific shorties due to the spark plug angle.

2 companies make these, do a search

if you want to run long tubes...... the new MAC headers will work, BBKs will work as well.

with each of these, you will need to make a small tap on the header tube on # 7 and maybe 3 cylinders

also get some 90 degree spark plugs (chevy)

what will all this get you? a really torqy setup making 275-300 rwhp depending on your other mods.

oh yeah, get an off road H pipe
 
95snoozer covered all of the bases. it's really not a difficult thing.

details:
1) gasket set will be for a 97-2001 ford explorer 5.0. (heads, intake, exhaust manifold) or a 94-95 mustang cobra.

2) central coast assured me that they were THE ONLY DISTRIBUTOR of the MAC 94-95 P headers. don't know if it's true, but i never found them listed in any other catalogue or website.

3) the new FMS headers that are P-specific for mustangs are for 87-93 fox bodies...the techs at ford assured me that they WOULD NOT work with my car. that said, the key difference appears to be the EGR bung.

4) my 94-95 MAC P headers cam with an EGR bung that is obviously meant for some other brand of car, maybe a daihatsu or hyundai. it's only about 3 INCHES OFF.

5) if you are wanting a cheaper (read, slower, milder, etc) setup, skip the spring upgrade and keep the lift on the cam lower. that makes the heads pretty cheap to buy used. (but not too used....don't get 100k mile P heads and expect those wimpy springs to last.)

6) ford racing plug wires are not quite 90 degrees at the plug, but they work fine.

in the end, just think of the P heads as stock irons....with different headers and gaskets.
 
as for cam i reccomend the Crane 2031 its a .513 .529 with 1.7's and it works well with the stock computer.....

some guys on here are running it i think.

i had one but im stepping up to something bigger when i get the stroker done.
 
Zero Signal said:
...Beside, the stock cam isn't bad, just get some higher ratio rockers.
Normally not a bad suggestion, but take a look at what the P heads flow and you'll see they flow very little difference from .400" lift to .500" lift. I had 1.6 rockers and thought about going 1.7s for about 1 second until I remembered the above fact. With the stock cam we're talking .444" (1.6) to 4.76" (1.7) lift so the benefit will be minimal.