Header cracked...

[OSUChE]

I'm afraid you'll have an even greater heat issue with the obx's as they are not ceramic coated. Longer tube length is more surface area is more heat under the hood. On top of that the tubes are closer to everything (if they fit right to begin with) and you'll most likely melt even more wires and the hvac box and maybe a vacuum line and steering shaft cover.

May I suggest Magnecor 10mm for your ignition wires. You can have them built to custom lengths so as to route them as far from the headers as possible.

You could put some hood vents in like the 98' Jeep 5.9 Limited's have for ventilation. Maybe some Shelby ones!

I don't know if ARP Ultra Torque assembly lube works for headers but as far as bolts, look into Nord-Lock.


So you made it across the border with a 5.0l ex tugging a vastly overweight trailer and drove the alcan and 12 road side wire changes? You know haw to party!

Thanks for the info on bolts, ARP Lube and plug wires, I’ll look into it. Already know the OBX headers are going to need a bit of grinding, as we test fit them to the heads at the machine shop.

I was considering the hood venting and thinking out loud here; Bernoulli tells me venting this area of the hood would pull air from the compartment correct? Higher velocity air = low pressure zone.

And...Not certain that I’ll ever want to “party” like that again

 

[Centaurus5.0]

Nord-Locks are washers. Proform Wedge Locking Header Bolts is the same thing with bolts too.

Dead Link Removed

Cowl hood is another option but more involved.

Haha. Yeah, I've been apart of a few harry trips. The party part is when you look back on the trip and are thankful you are still alive.

What was your average cruising speed on the alcan?

 

[CDW6212R]

Ouch, serious towing there, congrats on making it. I towed my 99 Explorer home 175 miles on a car trailer, behind my 98 Mountaineer, in 2005. I had to go up a long steep grade at one point in NC, a good 1.5 miles at maybe 35mph.

The stock 302 Explorers don't have ideal gearing or transmission cooling. The small up front cooler is fine for short towing or very light loads, but more than that really runs the ATF way too hot. I've got two Super Duty trans coolers to install into two of my trucks eventually.

I suggest working on the ATF cooling, gears for the diff, and a cooler T'Stat such as a 180. The exhaust manifolds are horrible for flow and they trap heat due to that terrible design. I'd stick with the cast iron type, and concentrate on bringing the coolant and ATF temps down. That would help more with the manifolds and plug wires. You might have to have the full thick radiator if you're driving speeds are below say 35mph a lot. The radiators are great, they can easily cool to temps below 140 if you used a marine T-Stat(don't do that), but it takes some airflow in any case.

I also endorse Magnecor plug wires, I've had them on my Mercury since about 2006. They have some of the best insulation, but you still have to keep them from laying on the manifolds.

 

[Centaurus5.0]

Although I was taking it as easy as possible, things get extremely hot around the exhaust manifolds, red hot. The ambient temps at some of my stops were -20F

Running lean? Fuel pump going out? Are you sure you put a 98' and not a 99' engine in with the smaller injectors?

 

[traveler]

Sounds like the radiator upgrade is a “must do” to add to my list when I get back! Where did you find it?

I found mine on Ebay, though I'm not sure I could find the exact one now. Pretty easy search though. I was mildly irritated when the bungs for the transmission lines didn't fit, but I am running a pretty big Transmission cooler so I just bypassed the radiator and let the cooler stand on its own.

 

[CDW6212R]

There are a ton of choices for the radiator, even the Visteon original maker unit was available when I got my two. The price wasn't bad on any of them, the plastic/AL units don't cost as much as older brass etc, or all AL types.

 

[Centaurus5.0]

Why does he need a new radiator?

 

[OSUChE]

Nord-Locks are washers. Proform Wedge Locking Header Bolts is the same thing with bolts too.

Dead Link Removed

Cowl hood is another option but more involved.

Haha. Yeah, I've been apart of a few harry trips. The party part is when you look back on the trip and are thankful you are still alive.

What was your average cruising speed on the alcan?

Amen brother, this was my fourth trip up with a grossly overload trailer.

I like the hood vents

My Garmin tells me my average moving speed was 47.5 MPH. On the flat she would comfortably do 65-70. Going downhill was always more of a concern than going up because of the packed snow and ice. Had to put it in 1st or 2nd with OD locked out most of the time. Even with new binders front and rear and trailer brakes it took a while to stop the train...

My fuel consumption averaged 9.6 Mpg with non ethanol fuel

The last scale I rolled across gave me:
Front axle: 2684 lbs
Total Vehicle: 7040 lbs
Rear axle: 4400 lbs
Trailer: 8096 lbs

 

[OSUChE]

Running lean? Fuel pump going out? Are you sure you put a 98' and not a 99' engine in with the smaller injectors?

I’m wondering about the fuel pump, it’s never been replaced but will be when I install the new engine this fall. I pulled a plug on the trip and it looked fine, not bone white like a lean burn... I run a clean K&N air filter at all times too.

Definitely a 98, gt40p heads and it was a complete replacement; fuel rails, intake etc. Everthing that came with the engine. As I recall the injectors are the orange ones.

 

[Centaurus5.0]

Perhaps it is just the brutal trip stressing the headers then. That is an impressive haul! Original transmission too?

I used to own a 97 and it wouldn't rev past 4,000 but ran like a top and got good mpg. Fuel pump was dying and gradually losing pressure over time. I probably drove it 5 months like that before finally fixing it.

 

[CDW6212R]

Those are great numbers, I'd like to trust my truck to pull that if I needed it to. These are about 4600lbs trucks empty, which is a decent size for most loads, but as you know the brakes aren't enough to handle trailers without built in brakes.

Mine did great with the car trailer that had them, but poorly with a bigger trailer with no brakes, and 3000lbs of sod, from Alabama. That was more flat roads, but an declining road was to be delicate with the brakes. That's part of why I put together some custom brakes, which help a lot.

These 2nd gen Explorers just need good maintenance to keep running. At this age they need more attention than most people want to do for an "old" truck.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I towed 6-6500 pounds for a few hours ( trips back and forth from the gravel pit.) I can’t imagine how frustrated I’d be pulling anouth 2,000 in mountainous conditions. Someone’s got

 

[Centaurus5.0]

I know the 5.0l can pull 5,000lbs no problem. I've towed more than a few vehicles from FL to MI using a tow dolly with hydraulic surge disc brakes which is a pretty stable setup. If I was using a trailer, I'd definitely have a load bearing hitch for piece of mind. I don't have much experience towing heavy loads with passenger vehicles but if you want to talk about backroading an overweight 18 wheeler through amish country at 2 am so as to dodge the weigh station at the state line, I can tell you about that!

 

[Mbrooks420]

It pulled the 6500 just fine, and stopped fairly decent, but it was all pretty flat. I’m just impatient.

 

[CDW6212R]

I know the 5.0l can pull 5,000lbs no problem. I've towed more than a few vehicles from FL to MI using a tow dolly with hydraulic surge disc brakes which is a pretty stable setup. If I was using a trailer, I'd definitely have a load bearing hitch for piece of mind. I don't have much experience towing heavy loads with passenger vehicles but if you want to talk about backroading an overweight 18 wheeler through amish country at 2 am so as to dodge the weigh station at the state line, I can tell you about that!

LOL, that reminds me of a Top Gear(the American version) episode, where the three guys drove lumbar trucks for the first time ever. They followed the one in a hurry who took a turn near the end, through a suburbs residential area. One of them "grazed" a boat on a trailer next to the road. It obviously destroyed the boat and was funny as #### to see it coming. Some jobs deserve more pay, a lot more.

 

[OSUChE]

Perhaps it is just the brutal trip stressing the headers then. That is an impressive haul! Original transmission too?

I used to own a 97 and it wouldn't rev past 4,000 but ran like a top and got good mpg. Fuel pump was dying and gradually losing pressure over time. I probably drove it 5 months like that before finally fixing it.

Hard to believe but the tranny is still going strong 215k later. Of course I service it regularly. Fluid is still cherry red. Funny thing is I happened to be carrying the tranny from the 98 Mounty with me in the trailer, not as a spare but because it was part of the move. The border guys laughed when they saw it and said “you’re gonna need it.” I love proving them wrong!

 

[CDW6212R]

Hard to believe but the tranny is still going strong 215k later. Of course I service it regularly. Fluid is still cherry red. Funny thing is I happened to be carrying the tranny from the 98 Mounty with me in the trailer, not as a spare but because it was part of the move. The border guys laughed when they saw it and said “you’re gonna need it.” I love proving them wrong!

The 4R70W is a strong transmission, the "70" in the name means 700lbsft capacity. I love that it is working great for you. But it's still worrisome, do whatever you can to lower ATF temps, increase fluid capacity etc. I like the deep pan I put on mine, and the external filter added another quart or so.

 

[OSUChE]

The 4R70W is a strong transmission, the "70" in the name means 700lbsft capacity. I love that it is working great for you. But it's still worrisome, do whatever you can to lower ATF temps, increase fluid capacity etc. I like the deep pan I put on mine, and the external filter added another quart or so.

When I return from Antarctica next November and drop in the new engine, I was planning on adding a Mag-Hytec extra-capacity pan, temp gauge and new torque converter.

 

[CDW6212R]

That's the pricey one. I liked it also, but the PML brand was my 2nd choice. I love that they are all flat on the bottom, Ford was dumb to build the stock ones with a bulge in one small spot. I got a shallow one for my Lincoln.

 

[Centaurus5.0]

I had a mag-hytec and I don't think you could build a more solid functional pan but yeah, pricey and overkill for most vehicles.

Do you know if the accumulators were updated in your rig?

When I return from Antarctica next November...

You know, if you have the means to make it to Antarctica you have the means to make it to French Polynesia. No snow, no cold and the native women are better looking.

Juss sayin'