Completed Project Brandon's mild 4.0 OHV build

[Scott B.]

I was going to buy a set of heads from that guy, too - he wasn't interested in anything less than his asking price.

 

[jd4242]

Man i hear you the waiting game sucks!! Im in the middle of my rearend/gear swap and R1 sent me the damn wrong rotors so im waiting for them.i sure do miss driven my baby,4.88s should make it worth the wait tho!!!!!

 

[jd4242]

I was going to buy a set of heads from that guy, too - he wasn't interested in anything less than his asking price.

Man guess he raised the prices for a reason.that sucks!! EQ heads are still the only and best 95tm heads out though,guess we need to find a place thats cheaper.his price is still right about what alabama 98tm heads are running

 

[Tyson128]

Hey Brandon
Plan on a tranny service too. I put my foot in the "mild' side of my 95Limited and my transmission toke a dump. aggravating problems any with the garbage engine I had before the souped up one got in there.

 

[Brandon96]

Hey Brandon
Plan on a tranny service too. I put my foot in the "mild' side of my 95Limited and my transmission toke a dump. aggravating problems any with the garbage engine I had before the souped up one got in there.

I had the 2-3 Shift flare but got it fixed a few months ago - valve body gasket. So far my 4r55e has been bullet proof, I replaced the solenoids and bands while I was trying to figure out my 2-3 flare so I hope I'm good for another 50-75k!

Man i hear you the waiting game sucks!! Im in the middle of my rearend/gear swap and R1 sent me the damn wrong rotors so im waiting for them.i sure do miss driven my baby,4.88s should make it worth the wait tho!!!!!

With 4.88's, SOA and your motor.. you very well might be the first Explorer to do wheelies..

 

[Xeek]

Man guess he raised the prices for a reason.that sucks!! EQ heads are still the only and best 95tm heads out though,guess we need to find a place thats cheaper.his price is still right about what alabama 98tm heads are running

probably due to all the people from here buying them recently lol

 

[ranger7ltr]

Here is a set of 95TM heads that I have been using...

Man guess he raised the prices for a reason.that sucks!! EQ heads are still the only and best 95tm heads out though,guess we need to find a place thats cheaper.his price is still right about what alabama 98tm heads are running

These are from J&C Cylinder Heads and I used them on my new shortblock this past spring...The heads flow better on the exhaust side than the 98TM heads I pulled off the original engine and the castings are thicker and fully assembled...

You can even get them with a gasket set and bolt set...Oh and shipping is included with these heads and no cores are needed...

Links...

95TM heads...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

95TM heads/Bolt set/Gasket set

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

[Brandon96]

GOOD NEWS!: My head, umm, cylinder head got shipped today!!

Bad news; From Glendale, CA via the slowest ground UPS has.. ouchh.

May I recommend Ebay user "modernengine" to anyone trying to get ahold of 95-97TM heads for their rebuilds. They are a small company overloaded with work, but did their best to work with me and get me what I need ASAP. They sold me a new, in package 95TM head for $169. They do remans as well.

Can't WAIT for this thing to show up!

 

[Anime]

ONE new head? Dont you need two? I would think using one original OEM head and one improved aftermarket casting head wouldn't be preferable due to airflow differernces if the aftermarkets are that much of an improvement. Plus if one of the original heads cracked, the other one will, too, or probably has some hairlines in there waiting to happen when tightened down after all the work on them is done. Cheaper in the long run to just get two new heads and everything to go along with it. Not to mention less work installing them with an engine off the truck.

 

[Brandon96]

The other one was magnafluxed and put through all types of machine shop tests that I don't know about :.. The guy that's doing the work said he'd be comfortable putting the one remaining head I had into a boosted application it's in such good shape. He also assured me that getting a new FoMoCo head would be alright. It's not aftermarket and they are both getting a pretty decent amount of intake and exhaust work done anyways.

They are also both being decked down .022 (I think, need to relook to make sure) to boost compression up about .53:1. If my calculations are correct, I should be starting off at about 9.75-9.8:1 Compression.. It could potentially be higher than that.

 

[Anime]

The 95TM-98TM heads were a lot better than the 91TM, and even the 93TM, but still, the factory ones seemed too weak and cracked.

Just seems like you might have been better off starting with new aftermarket ones at ~$200 a pop, then they'd already be improved and you could just have port matching done and that's it, saving money on the labor and having stronger better flowing heads.

A little late and not too much help now I guess.

Should be okay up to 10:1...maybe. Might need premium gas, might need a tune. Don't let 'em go higher or you'll need stronger head bolts to keep those things from going through the hood..or blowing gaskets.

 

[jd4242]

^i suggested they same thing!wait till you put $300 of work into it and 6months later it cracks,i wont say it then but im sure someone will!!(i told you so)

 

[Brandon96]

Screw 98TM's I've seen the exhaust port on those things!!
Wish I had enough money to buy new everything.. but I know while I have the truck it won't be going boosted, or NOS'ed soo.. I think what I have should suffice.

 

[jd4242]

O yea stock 98tms suck!! Sounds to me they cracked it,dont hear to many 96tms crackn.i would run 90+ but your be fine on reg gas and headbolts/gaskets!

 

[Brandon96]

OKAY. So the head I bought off ebay is a no go. The intake valve guides are not perpendicular to each other and are off by almost .1 (read one tenth) an inch, .079 to be exact. Therefor, probably the valvetrain? (valves, guides and rocker arms) would be destroyed in less that 1,000 miles.

Alabama heads only offer the 98TM casting style, they however did NOT change the exhaust ports like other aftermarket companies did. I really don't want to have to go through getting a brand new set of 98TM's and on top of that having to get a TON of exhaust work done on each when I could just get 1 new/used 95TM and have it matched to the one I have already completed.

Looks like I'm off to track down another 95TM, these things are hard to come by! Amazingly enough all the Explorers on craigslist / in the junkyard around here are SOHC's and V8's . If anyone has or knows about a set please let me know..

I called the place in WV that you linked there ranger7ltr, they should be giving me a call back sometime later today.. hopefully with good news!

 

[Brandon96]

You can kinda see how off they are; look at the gaps between the two valve openings. It's worse on the top side but I can't get a good picture of the differences.

This is starting to turn into a pretty decent headache!

 

[Xeek]

hopefully they give you a refund. you got it from modernengine? if so i wont buy 93tms from him if i need new heads

 

[Brandon96]

Yeah, as of right now I'd say definitely pass on ModernEngine. Though the guy I spoke to on the phone really busted his butt to get me this one.. customer service is good. We'll see what they have to say when I call him, gotta wait till all the Californians wake up though, lol!

 

[jd4242]

Man that sucks!!might have to suck it up and go with EQ!

 

[Brandon96]

I've been on the phone with Modern Engine Inc. off and on all day today.. this is the first they've heard of this problem and they've actually been really pleasant to talk to!

They've never heard of this happening before so they're looking into it with their casting company as well as their personal machine shop, and they're in contact with my guy about what has happened. Holy crap these guys are serious about their stuff!! !!!!