1998 into 2000 5.0 Swap: Sandbox 2.000 Goes V8

[410Fortune]

There are two egr setups the gt40 with internal egr passages and the gt40p with the egr line on passenger manifold

However there were 3 upper and lower intake combos

I believe you will find your egr passage ends at the elbow. Later they finally ended it at the upper intake

It should dead end here at the gasket

 

[97Sandbox]

Ah okay. I'm surprised there's so much carbon in the intake holes if it dead ends at the elbow and nothing ever flowed through. But yeah, it looks like there's nowhere in the elbow for the gas to flow through.

 

[410Fortune]

You will find a bunch of black soot at the end of the egr orifice at the throttle body elbow gasket

Some who have come before you have tapped and plugged the hole at the lower intake in and effort to keep the heat out of the upper plenum. A good spacer with no egr hole in spacer and gasket can do the same thing. So does the 99-01 upper intake because it has no hole in the middle

Crazy ford and their mid year changes keep us on our toes!! I
Mean the 5.0 explorer was only a thing for 6
Production years and there are 3 different upper and lower intake combos?? Crazy

 

[97Sandbox]

Yeah this 97.5/98 is full of anomalies. I'll probably just leave it as is, I'm not sure it's worth buying a newer intake just to get rid of the hole. I can't imagine much additional heat gets transferred if the exhaust gas isn't actually flowing through.

 

[410Fortune]

Exactly!!!!! Blamo!!
Besides a small spacer even 1/2” will stop the heat soak transfer into the upper plenum and it can plug that hole. Easy cheap solution

 

[97Sandbox]

I haven't been keeping you guys updated...

Engine is out of the donor. Anyone need remaining Mountaineer parts?

Teardown has begun on the 5.0. Lower intake manifold bolts came willingly, but I've got two water pump bolts that don't want to let go.

I'll keep at them with the torch and penetrant. I'm trying to work slow and not break anything on this engine.

 

[Turdle]

Back and forth with those bolts. Go back in a bit, spray unstick in, back out a bit, turn bolt back in a bit, spray unstick, repeat.

 

[97Sandbox]

Balancer and water pump are off! I didn't break any bolts, but the socket slipped off the most-stuck bolt a few times and rounded the head to the point I don't think I'll reuse it. Pretty sure I have spares around here somewhere though.

 

[410Fortune]

Looks like that oil cooler / front seal or / Timing g cover had been leaking a while!
Nice work I love the view at first I thought it was a pic from my shop hahaha

 

[97Sandbox]

The whole driver's side is covered in years of gunk. Surprisingly valve cover gaskets look dry on both sides. Around the oil pan is so nasty, I didn't realize it had the cast pan until I started scraping off crud haha.

 

[amj441]

Does the mountaineer have any good front seats? and a headliner without a sunroof?

 

[97Sandbox]

The bucket seats are actually going into my buddy's Ranger. They're cloth and just okay condition anyway.

The headliner (no sunroof, not sagging) is yours if you want it. That's not something worth shipping though.

 

[97Sandbox]

I finally cracked open the top end of this '98 5.0. It had the original Ford intake and valve cover gaskets which were surprisingly not leaking. It's looking pretty crusty inside though, more carbon than my '99 had when I opened it up at 190k.

What would you guys do to clean this up before doing the valve stem seals?

 

[410Fortune]

Taking the heads off?

 

[97Sandbox]

I wasn't planning on it, but I could. I have head gaskets in the Fel-Pro kit and an ARP bolt set on my shelf.

 

[410Fortune]

I would then can give them proper cleaning and easier to do the seals

You can go really crazy and clean all your lifters

Of course you have to deal with the manifolds otherwise you are pretty much already there

 

[97Sandbox]

Man, now I'm kicking myself: someone semi-local to me was just selling a set of unused Flo Tec aluminum heads for a great deal. Would've been fun to just swap those on!

Once I'm done with the header revival, I'll get my shed clean and bring a head in there for disassembly. You're supposed to keep all the pushrods and lifters in order, right? What did you like to soak the lifters in for cleaning (before you got the ultrasonic cleaner anyway)?

 

[410Fortune]

I soak lifters in atf

I would run some flo tec beads yes please

I use a box to store all the valvetrain parts in order
But since I am usually changing cams its
Not a huge deal if the parts get mixed up. It is more important that each pushrod rocker arm and lifter are inspected then that they go back in the exact same hole

The theory is that the e roller lifter will get used to its bore in the engine and to the lobe on the cam… but if I see no wear and I’m changing the cam.. we are using roller lifters … so what I’m getting at is it is less important to keep everything in the same spot then it would be with an older flat tappet engine

With the v6 the rockers arms and pushrods will usually wear faster on cyl 3 and 6 so I actually like to rotate the parts with the front cylinders

Not a huge deal to keep them all organized imo
Any worn parts should be replaced so… screw putting them back into the same worn hole on the same worn cam hahaha

 

[97Sandbox]

Sounds good.

Yeah, they guy bought a pair of the Flo Tec heads with all the valves and springs in them, and I guess sold his Fox body before he used them. He only wanted $600 (they go for $490 per head retail) when I saw the listing last week. They're gone now though...

Probably for the best though. If I was doing heads, I'd probably want to do a cam. Then I'd need a different tune on my PCM, next thing you know I'd be into things for another couple grand and stuck with an unfinished project when I move this winter. Top priority is getting this swap running and driving! Idk if the M5R2 can really take much power anyway.

 

[97Sandbox]

Alright, I'm ready to get down to business with this 5.0. I read the 5.0 chapter and the general engine chapter of my Chilton manual, but I'd love to hear any recommendations or tips and tricks from you seasoned pros before I dive in.

I went ahead and got cylinder 1 at TDC on compression as I figure I'll clean the whole block and replace the timing set while the block is stripped down. I may paint it too if I have the patience to get it clean enough.

Anything I should know about removing the heads aside from they're really heavy and you're supposed to back out the bolts 1/4 turn at a time?

I went ahead and poured some diesel over the valve train to hopefully loosen up the varnish on the valve retainers and keepers.

Is there a benefit to doing some gasket matching on the exhaust ports of these heads? I figure it'll be a good opportunity when the valves are all out.