For 5.0 owners with exhaust leak / ticking sound...

[masospaghetti]

I am in the process of installing my passenger side exhaust manifold and thought i'd share a couple things I learned along the way.

1 - Early 5.0 steel "tubular" manifolds are still available, but the cast-type manifolds used on later years do fit, and are a lot cheaper. They also look like they will flow a little bit better. Advance auto has the cast type, Dorman brand, for about $70 (which means you can get them for less than $50 with their coupon codes). Part # 674-329 (passenger) and 674-334 (driver).

Here is a comparison between the cast and tubular style manifolds (this one is the driver's side):

2 - Attaching hardware to the head are 3/8-16 bolts, 1" long. Any hardware store will have them. With the cast manifolds, one bolt goes through a thicker section of the casting and therefore needs a longer bolt. I used a 2.5" bolt.

Mcmaster is a great source of high quality hardware. You can get a box of 25 bolts for $10 - enough to do both manifolds (just have to get one of the longer bolts separate). http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-cap-screws/=p6l7ew

3 - The driver's side dipstick will have to rotate a bit to clear the cast manifolds. I had to cut off the mounting tab. I currently am using a worm-type hose clamp to keep the dipstick tube from moving around but will eventually weld on a new tab.

4 - My driver's side manifold had a 3" long crack at cylinder #1 hidden by the heat shield. My passenger side manifold was cracked about 90% through between cylinders #2 and #3 .

Here is my cracked driver's side manifold:

Here is my severed passenger side manifold:

5 - The passenger side tubular style manifold cannot be removed in one piece with the air conditioning plumbing intact. I broke mine in two to remove it. The cast manifold is smaller and can be installed without much issue. Also to note, Haynes manuals' say that you have to remove the a/c pump to take out the driver's side manifold, and this is plainly not true. You can remove the single bolt holding the steering shaft together and move it out of the way to get enough room.

Here is the new cast manifold installed, this gives you an idea how much room there is to work:

6 - The inner bolt between the passenger side manifold and the collector was difficult to get to. I used freeze-off lubricant, 15mm deep impact socket, impact swivel, and a couple extensions and I could get to it from underneath. There was a little "peg" that I had to hacksaw off the pipe to get access. I don't see how there's any other way to get this bolt off. A good 5 minutes with an impact wrench pulled it loose.

Here is the two extensions and swivel I used, its hard to see because they are obviously impact black. The "peg" I had to cut off was where the swivel is in this picture:

7 - The replacement passenger side manifolds all have the EGR port built into it. Since my 5.0 is an early build with the "internal" EGR, I didn't need this port. I believe a M22-1.5 plug will fill the hole. It's not a common size but it does seem to be available online from a few different sources. Alternatively, Dorman provides a fitting already installed in the manifold to allow hookup to an external EGR pipe. Thus fitting could be tapped with a 3/8 NPT pipe tap and plugged this way.

Many thanks to other members here, I wouldn't have gotten this far without ya'll!

As koda2000 mentions below, definitely use a high-temp anti-sieze on all bolts and grade 8 hardware. Grade 8 bolts in these sizes are about $0.50 each - don't skimp out.

 

[97exploder19]

Waiting on pictures. My explorer is ticking too on the passenger side. Im dreading pulling the manifolds. Each side already has a broken stud for some reason?

 

[bronchole]

Mine is also ticking, but I got me some Torque Monsters to install to fix that!

 

[koda2000]

good write-up. the only things i would add is to use grade 8 replacement bolts and to use hi-temp anti-seize on the threads of all exhaust fasteners. both done in the name of ease of removal in case there's a "next time".

 

[pbnj22]

im not sure about how to post a video in here but here is a youtube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctaZbrq1Jto
that is "how to install the torque monster headers" their companies video... 16 minutes long but would surely help with just replacing the stock manifold as well.. maybe someone could stick this in the "how to" forum if it is useful? just a thought..

 

[greenbeer]

I just pulled my passenger side out of my 97 last night in one piece. A little maneuvering and it slipped right out of the wheel well above the shock mount.

 

[delexploder]

Glad it worked out for you, like I said I have the tube style on my p-head motor so I figured they would fit the other way around, I still dont think the cast ones are better but to each his own

 

[masospaghetti]

I don't really think the cast ones flow significantly better, the ports look a tad bigger, but the routing is probably better on the tubular ones. To me it was the price - replacement tubular manifolds are about three times as expensive, and I really don't want them to crack again.

I drove it home today and boy does it sound sweet. So quiet and smooth!

greenbeer, that's good to know it can be removed in one piece. I tried for a while but couldn't figure it out.

 

[greenbeer]

I just finished up my driver side, again pulled it through the wheel well. I left the splash shield in, but removed the dip stick. I pulled it and had the new one installed in less than two hours. The ports on the cast look quite a bit bigger than those junk tube style. I replaced my passenger side with a Dorman tube style 20k miles ago and it cracked right on the weld to the down pipe. DO NOT waste your money on the over-priced tube style, Ford redesigned them for a reason! The cast MAY still fail, but for how cheap they are, just go that route. The only problem I ran into was coming up with a longer stud for one of the holes. Since I had it in the garage, I also installed the alignment eccentrics in the upper A-arms. With the fuel, tranny, and brake lines, I feel that was a bigger job than the exhaust manifold.

 

[masospaghetti]

So the ticking is tremendously better but I can still hear it, from the passenger side.

How does the "internal" EGR work? Could it be leaking?

 

[masospaghetti]

After researching the "internal" EGR system, it appears there's a special exhaust port that feeds back through the lower intake, thru the upper intake, and through the EGR valve, so the only leak points would be those gaskets, or the EGR valve itself.

 

[crunchie_frog]

Just finished up passenger side on 2000. Thanks for the tips! All in all, about 6-8 hrs for me. For the manifold to exhaust collector bolts, I had to heat up the manifold with oxy acetylene torch to get the bolts to break loose. For the inside bolt I used a universal impact joint from harbor freight (2 Piece Universal Impact Joint Set Pittsburgh Professional - item#67920) and a second universal about 6 inches behind that one. I could get to both bolts ( inside and out) with that set up along with extensions.

I go the new manifold from rock auto, ~$55, and it fit perfectly (OES 674-329). I did have to use a 3/8 14 mm socket as some of the casting was too close to get a 1/2 socket on it squarely, but no real problems. Disconnecting the EGR tube from the old manifold a little difficult for me. I had to remove the oil fill tube from the valve cover and the rubber intake to be able to get to it squarely and get enough torque on it.

Not the worst job ever, but not the most fun either. The posts on this forum were very helpful.