Can I take a cylinder head from the junkyard and install it right away, or would the timing be off?

[rfishi]

If I remove my cylinder head including all the valve springs and everything, and take one from an explorer at the junkyard, can I just swap them out straight away? Or will I need to adjust the valve springs or anything like that to match the position my original one was in?

I really don't know the names of all the components, but I've removed my cylinder head previously to remove a broken spark plug and was able to reassemble everything. I'm wondering if it will be that straightforward this time, or do I need to make adjustments to the new cylinder head?

Thanks

 

[Rick]

Swapping cylinder heads on a 5.0 will not affect valve timing.

 

[C420sailor]

Not trying to discourage you at all, but given the question…I highly suggest you do a lot of research before beginning this and/or find a knowledgeable friend to help.

 

[rfishi]

Swapping cylinder heads on a 5.0 will not affect valve timing.

So your saying I can install this entire assembly shown in the photo and just bolt everything down to specs and I'll be good?

Mine is a 1998 with 5.0 V8 engine. They have one at the junkyard the exact same year and engine as mine.

 

[Turdle]

Yes. You can just plug and play. Others are thinking more items checked but you should be ok, provided the old cylinder head is the only problem, and, everything else is in tolerance

 

[rfishi]

Yes. You can just plug and play. Others are thinking more items checked but you should be ok, provided the old cylinder head is the only problem, and, everything else is in tolerance

If the one at the junkyard is higher milage than mine, do you think it would be a good idea to put my original valve springs into it, or should I just leave it alone?

The only problem with my original head is that a couple exhaust studs are messed up so the manifold won't bolt on just right, and in an attempt to re tap the threads, I drilled into a coolant cavity. I patched it with ultra copper, but after a few months it's leaking again, and I'd rather just replace it; since that would fix the coolant leak and the exhaust leak, and it would give me a chance to swap head gaskets.

 

[410Fortune]

You will need new head gasket and new head bolts.. as the bolts are torque to yield, one time use.

Everything else is the same as your engine

Once you remove the old head and clean the engine block, prep the surface for a new gasket. Then do the same to the junk yard head
New head gasket, new bolts
New lower intake gasket, new injector o rings a good idea

There are other things to change in there like valve stem seals… but that is more
Involved then what you are doing here.
Good time for new spark plugs and plug wires, good time for a new thermostat. B

You will have to battle the egr line on the passenger side exhaust, they sell new ones for $25 if your egr tube gets screwed up

The pedestal mount rocker arms get torqued to 24 ft lbs

You will want to change your oil since chances are very good you will get some coolant and other debris in the crankcase

Let us know how this goes!

 

[rfishi]

You will need new head gasket and new head bolts.. as the bolts are torque to yield, one time use.

Everything else is the same as your engine

Once you remove the old head and clean the engine block, prep the surface for a new gasket. Then do the same to the junk yard head
New head gasket, new bolts
New lower intake gasket, new injector o rings a good idea

There are other things to change in there like valve stem seals… but that is more
Involved then what you are doing here.
Good time for new spark plugs and plug wires, good time for a new thermostat. B

You will have to battle the egr line on the passenger side exhaust, they sell new ones for $25 if your egr tube gets screwed up

The pedestal mount rocker arms get torqued to 24 ft lbs

You will want to change your oil since chances are very good you will get some coolant and other debris in the crankcase

Let us know how this goes!

Thanks. I've already done this job once when I removed the head to get a broken spark plug out of a cylinder. And yes I have all the gaskets needed and have the torque specs saved.

I removed the manifold and EGR all in one because the nut connecting them was seized. It was easier that way.

Since the trucks at the junkyard will have significantly higher milage than mine, do you think I should take the valve springs/rocker arms from mine and use them in the junkyard head? That way it would be more new. Or would it not make much of a difference?

 

[Turdle]

If you do swap springs, do valve seals also since you are 98% there anyway.

 

[rfishi]

Are the heads side specific? Can I take the head from the driver side and install it on the passenger side?

 

[Turdle]

No, and yes.

 

[rfishi]

No, and yes.

Can you explain what you mean?

 

[rfishi]

I need the passenger side head. The passenger side head at the junkyard had one or two exhaust studs broken off flush with the head, so I figured I should get the one from the driver side. Will I run into problems doing this?

 

[Josh P]

Can you explain what you mean?

The cylinder heads are not side specific.

 

[Turdle]

Can you explain what you mean?

No, not side specific

And yes, you can swap side to side.

You asked 2 questions I gave 2 answers

 

[rfishi]

No, not side specific

And yes, you can swap side to side.

You asked 2 questions I gave 2 answers

Okay thank you. Sorry, I thought you meant "yes and no" as in I can do it but with complications. I'll let y'all know how this goes. Thanks again!

 

[410Fortune]

Use your lifters pushrods and rocker arms on the junk yard head

As mentioned above if you want to go a step further you can compress all of the valve springs and replace the valve stem seals

 

[rfishi]

I've read something about the thermactor or something being different on the driver side vs passenger side, and I'm reading things about GT40 vs GT40P heads, and all of this info all over the Internet is very overwhelming. I don't even know what a thermactor is...

So I just want to make 100% sure that the driver side head will work on the passenger side without any modifications?

 

[410Fortune]

It will

96-97.5 gt40
97.5-2001 gt40p

The p heads are obvious because they have the external egr hose

The earlier heads use egr that comes through the intake manifolds and the spark plugs are at a different angle

So if you stick with 98-01 you will get external egr and p heads

Yes the heads can swap drivers to passenger and vise versa

 

[410Fortune]

Junk lol
Just making sure they aren’t a the early fms “headers”