Tall valve covers to clear 5.0 roller rockers | Page 3 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Tall valve covers to clear 5.0 roller rockers

I do that too, for periods of time. I've got three transmissions to do now, and bunches of other not small projects. I've put them off, so the dam is about to break.
 



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This has been going on off and on for... Four years, I think? Had it running two years ago and lost the new rebuild with a thousand miles. Long story, but this one just about killed working on vehicles for me. I'd walked away from it completely until a couple of months ago.
 






Well, make this one right then. Get the transmission set up against the engine with the good easy movement of the torque converter. It's been painful to see so many people lose the engine thrust bearings due to the TC not being fully seated when bolted up, or an aftermarket TC out of spec(too long) and doing the same thing. Go slow and make it right.
 






Valve covers will clear the headers and EGR. BARELY.

View attachment 330031
Somewhat relieved to know my EGR tube wasn't the only one that fit this terribly. eBay headers? I wound up having to put a 1" spacer between the intake and the throttle body elbow so it would line up.

Anywho... thanks for documenting all of this! I'm also planning an engine build and this has saved me a bunch of time.
 






They're the OBX headers, yes. At the end of the day they'll probably work fine, but I'm glad the engine is on a stand to sort out the fitment issues. It's mostly frustrating because they're welded together really well - it's a gorgeous set. But clearly whatever they're using to get everything positioned right before welding just isn't set up right. Lots of small issues. I absolutely could not have installed them in the truck. Wouldn't have been able to tighten some of the bolts because the pipes wrap over them too soon, and the flange issue on the driver's side required a belt sander to sort.


Now that they actually fit - does anybody have a recommendation on header gaskets that are least likely to leak?
 






Find header gaskets that have a metal core such as steel, Al, or copper. Ultra Copper RTV is great for exhaust connections too, if the surfaces are a good fit without big gaps. Really good fitting header flanges can be RTV'd with no gasket, but I'd try a gasket first.
 






Find header gaskets that have a metal core such as steel, Al, or copper. Ultra Copper RTV is great for exhaust connections too, if the surfaces are a good fit without big gaps. Really good fitting header flanges can be RTV'd with no gasket, but I'd try a gasket first.
Thanks.

I wouldn't put 'really good fitting' in a pairing with these, given that the belt sander was involved. But it should be close enough at this point.
 






Exactly, that's why I prefaced the RTV idea with the mating surface condition. If they were really well fitting, I'd consider Copper RTV alone, given how much trouble some headers are to seal. It's great stuff, but under the right conditions. I've read good thiongs about the high end Mr. Gasket header gaskets, and some Felpro's with steel core types. I'd start with that kind of gasket, test fit it, and if it seemed like a nice fit but not perfect, a little Ultra Copper could help. Cometic makes very good gaskets also, check those out as well, Summit lists several of those too.
 






Is there a good reason not to put a bit of copper RTV on under all circumstances (aside from the annoyance of cleaning it off the next time you have things apart)?
 






It cannot hurt anything, it's just kind of a rarely done, most people don't believe it could work or help. Ultra Copper has even been used on head gaskets, for decades. I haven't done that myself, but I've read of it and believe it after so many times reading it. I've used it twice on header gaskets, once in the early 80's(young and wanted to try it), once in the 90's with a header that had a slight flange leak. Both were not really necessary, the gasket of the last time was a low end stock style from some gasket kit(I should have thrown it away). So I've rarely needed it, but I would not hesitate to use it if the parts or gaskets worried me.

These TMH headers don't inspire my respect regarding fitment(not leaking) or ease of servicing. They are way too hard to work with, I liken them to any equal length shorty header. I helped a friend in the late 90's install both equal length shorties onto his 95 Mustang, and long tubes not long after that. The LT's were hard to put on as expected, we had to loosen the engine mounts and lift the engine a little. But they weren't that bad besides lifting the engine some. The equal length were worse, because they took up all the space next to the engine, everything was in the way. It looked like they'd go in without much work, but we ended up loosening the mounts and tilting the engine for each side. Thankfully both headers fit the heads right, and neither leaked.

For the trouble it takes to put the headers on, a little copper RTV would be a good added measure. IMO, anti-seize is very messy, RTV isn't bad at all.
 






I'm still frustrated sourcing header gaskets...

The GT40P gaskets are different from the traditional 5.0 manifold gaskets, right? If not, I'm just overthinking it.

Felpro only lists the 95954, and it doesn't appear to be anything beyond the basic manifold gasket.
Rockauto shows a total of five gasket options, two of which are out of stock. None of them indicate anything about steel core, multi layer, etc.

Mr. Gasket doesn't show -any- gaskets going beyond '95.
A search for 'gt40p header gasket' and similar didn't provide particularly usable results.

If either of these are actually compatible with the GT40P heads, then let me know which you'd suggest and I'll put in an order. Thanks!
 






Those should work, the difference of P heads is the spark plug angle only, and slightly smaller chamber, but the port sizes and bolt locations are all the same. The plug area between the ports might need opening up if the gaskets run across that area. I like the AL version, the other sounds like the typical header gasket.
 






Thanks - I wasn't sure about bolt hole locations without having two sets of gaskets to compare.

I ordered a set of the 7410G's and will follow up with the results.
 






Two quick questions...

1) Can you install the engine with the upper intake attached? I've never tried, but it would save quite a bit of time to have that prepped rather than doing it after bolting the engine in.

2) How do you tighten the passenger side motor mount bolts with the header in place?
 






Install the intake, that's much better out of the truck for sure. I don't know about the engine mounts, someone else has them loose or worn and asked yesterday about changing them. That's a Tim and the TM headers question.
 






Thanks.

Who's Tim?
 






His truck Evil, the real flames paint job, 347 Sport, super charger, Canada. He's R&R'd more Explorer engines than I would want to admit. He's good, he knows all of those tricks.
 






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