1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[97Sandbox]

I got under the truck and then found the loose front pinion flange, it moved a bunch, say 3/8" or so.

Wow! I don't think mine's nearly that bad, but I'll check when I pull the drive shafts for the trans swap.

 

[97Sandbox]

Finally getting back to this.

I got the Mounty up on stands high enough to slide the 4R70 out and the M5R2 in. Pulled the rear drive shaft without issue and started on the exhaust. It's as rusty as I'd expect, so I'm working slow, soaking bolts in penetrant, and using the Sawzall where necessary. While I will be re-making the exhaust from the secondary cats to the tailpipe, I'm trying to avoid butchering things so I can reuse tubing, ball flanges, etc.

I believe I have all the parts I need to get the swap running and driving, just missing some interior bits that I want to have in order to make the swap look more seamless. Those can wait though.

 

[410Fortune]

Now we are taking! Still driving our 03 sportrac many are calling the “stangtrac”
The clutch works awesome the 302 is happy as can be with the manual behind it and the sucker is a hoot to drive. So reliable!! Tons of torque … 1st gear is about useless for streets, I’m running 265 tires and 4.1 gears will likely put 3.73 in this truck eventually or bigger tires (more lift)

I’m super glad I used the gigantic late model clutch the pedal is effortless
Such a tough setup!
The only thing I would change is the pcm tune, my pcm was tuned to delete the egr, the pats, the auto trans functions and also the cat monitor downstream 02 sensors… all good! But apparently they did not do anything with the idle settings as a manual trans needs a little more rpm at idle especially with ac on.. so sometimes we have to double foot this sucker to keep her from stalling when rolling to a stop in second gear. I have bumped up the base idle screw about 1/2 a turn and that helped but still hot idle with ac on is like 650-700 rpm imo it should be more like 800-900 rpm so she doesn’t stall. I’m gonna try another 1/2 turn on the screw

Also if it was my truck those secondary converters would me Mia

 

[97Sandbox]

The only thing I would change is the pcm tune, my pcm was tuned to delete the egr, the pats, the auto trans functions and also the cat monitor downstream 02 sensors… all good! But apparently they did not do anything with the idle settings as a manual trans needs a little more rpm at idle especially with ac on.. so sometimes we have to double foot this sucker to keep her from stalling when rolling to a stop in second gear. I have bumped up the base idle screw about 1/2 a turn and that helped but still hot idle with ac on is like 650-700 rpm imo it should be more like 800-900 rpm so she doesn’t stall. I’m gonna try another 1/2 turn on the screw

Also if it was my truck those secondary converters would me Mia

The PCM I got tuned has the idle air table updated to address the issue you're referring to.

I am planning to remove the secondary cats and put a custom H crossover in their place. Then dual straight-through mufflers to dual 2.25" tailpipes. We'll see if it sounds like trash or not -- may need to add resonators if it has too much rasp.

 

[410Fortune]

302 sound soooo good with the setup you are talking about
True duals w crossover and small straight through Mufflers ooooh la la

I also open up the factory airbox a little

 

[97Sandbox]

I'm excited to hear it!

 

[97Sandbox]

My muffler surprisingly detached from the secondary cats without issue, but I couldn't fish the tailpipe through without the muffler hitting the gas tank or the ground. Out came the sawzall...it was going to get cut up and re-welded anyway.

Does anyone else have an extra cat just past the secondary ones?

 

[97Sandbox]

Last night I couldn't resist firing up the Mounty with no muffler on it -- there's just something about that pushrod V8 sound.

It got me thinking, it may actually be more practical to mock up and tack my custom exhaust setup now, then pull it off for finish welding and to do the trans swap. This wasn't the order of things I originally planned, but now my head is in exhaust land so I'm just going to do it. Ordered tubing for the secondary cat and resonator deletes this morning and I'll pick it up this afternoon...it sure is nice to have the Speedway HQ right here in town!

 

[Turdle]

Sometimes, you just gotta get it out of your head regardless of the plan. Diapers come to mind here .

Had to do it to ya.

 

[410Fortune]

There is a resonator after the mufflers the small coffee can looking dealio

Stock 5.0’exhaust is so blah

 

[97Sandbox]

Started mocking up my new muffler setup, but ran out of C25.

I'll swap for a full tank today and keep rolling!

 

[97Sandbox]

Muffler swap mocked up. Sounds better already!

Next up is cat delete/H crossover then tailpipes last

 

[97Sandbox]

Didn't get as far yesterday as I wanted to, but made some progress. Secondary cats are removed and I have tubing cut for my H crossover going in their place.

I need to bring the welder outside to get everything positioned and marked/tacked.

I ended up removing the factory flanges past the secondary cats because I realized they use 2.5" OD tubing, not 2.25". Instead of buying or making reducers, it'll be easier to weld the H directly to the tubes that slide into the mufflers. The exhaust will have five different sections in the end:

1. Headers
2. Downpipes (including primary cats)
3. H crossover
4. Mufflers
5. Tailpipes.

I don't love all the potential leak points, but it'll be a lot easier to work on the exhaust system in the future this way.

 

[97Sandbox]

Been a little while since the last installment. H crossover is welded and loosely installed. I haven't spliced together the dual tailpipes, but I did a trial run with the stock tails just hanging out the mufflers -- it sounds pretty good. Idle is a bit louder than I'd like but it sounds nice through the rpm range. Maybe I should add resonators in my custom tailpipes? I'd like to quiet it slightly without adding restriction or changing the sound dramatically.

I'm headed to the salvage yard tomorrow to hunt for a few remaining items for the manual swap. Things are progressing slowly, but progressing nonetheless!

 

[97Sandbox]

Still out here chipping away at this exhaust. I've decided to add resonators, but I'm waiting for a second one to come back in stock on RockAuto. I only have 13-1/2" of straight tubing between the H and the mufflers, so I'm stuck needing 12" resonators.

The dual factory tailpipes are close to the shock, sway bar link, and frame, but it looks like everything has enough clearance.

I'm sure some of you will cringe at all this rust, but I'm actually looking forward to having a setup that looks nearly stock and matches the appearance of the outside of the Mounty. Also, the used tailpipes only cost me $9.90 at the local salvage yard and they're already bent to fit haha

 

[97Sandbox]

Wrapped up the exhaust yesterday. I'll still add resonators once I can get ahold of them, but I'm ready for this manual swap.

I got all the O2 sensors disconnected, so now it's time to pull the downpipes which shouldn't be bad since the bolts on the headers have only been on for a few months. After that, it looks like I need to disconnect the bulkhead connector, shift cable, and cooler lines. There's a breather hose for the trans and/or tcase that I'll go ahead and disconnect too. Does the trans dipstick just pull out of the case like the engine oil dipstick?

I'll probably pull the tcase off first, then take some measurements I need for the crossmember modification, then pull the trans.

Anything I'm missing before the auto comes out for good?

 

[410Fortune]

Just have ti get the trans dipstick hold down bolt off the back of the engine then it pulls straight up out of the case

That is tight along that sway bar link.. make sure there is room for the link to travel with suspension and the exhaust to bounce back and forth in its limits
Could you stack the pipes there through that space instead of side by side?

 

[97Sandbox]

Just have ti get the trans dipstick hold down bolt off the back of the engine then it pulls straight up out of the case

Cool, I had the foresight to take that bolt out and leave it out when I was replacing valve stem seals.

That is tight along that sway bar link.. make sure there is room for the link to travel with suspension and the exhaust to bounce back and forth in its limits
Could you stack the pipes there through that space instead of side by side?

It is tight. If I stack the tailpipes there, it'd be tough to "unstack" them before sneaking between the frame and leaf spring, and there's a lot more movement there. I've been thinking about just denting the one tailpipe in a little right by the swaybar link for some added clearance. I'm honestly not that worried about the link sometimes rubbing on the tailpipe, what I don't want is for the hot tailpipe to cook the upper bushing. A bit of header wrap is probably warranted, and I may make an aluminum washer-like "heat shield" to go under the link bolt head and deflect some of the heat away from the bushing.

I got the 4404 out last night without much trouble. Tonight I plan to take some measurements that I'll use when modifying the trans crossmember, then remove the crossmember and downpipes and disconnect wiring and trans cooler lines. I guess I need to remove the starter too because it bolts through the block plate and into the trans. It'd be great to have teardown complete by the weekend then I can start putting in all the fun three-pedal bits.

 

[410Fortune]

Yeah buddy!!

 

[97Sandbox]

Downpipes out. Started removed. Cooler lines and dipstick tube disconnected.

I swear I have all the bolts removed, but the trans does not want to pull back. Is there something I'm missing or could the two dowels just be really stuck?