let me know asap! 1999 5.0L, gt40p: exhaust issue insurmountable? +time to remove?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Alright!

Paid a visit to crazy rays, never been before.
Found a 1999 mercury mountaineer with the v8; intake looked quite familiar Although the throttle is facing to the passenger side and not the driver's side....
Lots of '96 explorers, not one of them 5.0 sadly.

Odometer was digital and I could not read it, no idea how many miles.
Not obviously destroyed though, unlike one car which had been on fire, hahaha. That wasn't a good candidate for a 3g alternator, that one....

So as I understand it, this car ought to have gt40p heads right?
Despite my cluelessness, I seem to have found everything that I need.
I know the heads have a weird spark plug angle not compatible with our exhaust headers.
However, I'm redoing the exhaust anyway... I was just going to go stock mustang exhaust, though I know they're not compatible with that, either!

If I keep the headers off of the mountaineer, what WILL the spark plugs go with?

And I know everyone says copper plugs for our engines, but as I'm rebuilding this with the '99 heads, if I put in platinum plugs maybe I won't need to worry about the weird spark plug angle for the rest of this car's lifetime, or rather-- long in the future, 8 yrs and 100,000 miles from now, I'll find myself pulling the engine to do plugs or something awful like that ?

what I'm getting at... worth my time to run back to crazy rays tomorrow morning and pull those '99 heads, maybe the intake too, and maybe even the fuel injectors (crazy rays wants $64 for 8 fuel injectors!!) though I might leave those?
Can I use the gt40p's?
Or pay up the $250 that seems to be local market rate for gt40s?
Or just leave it at e7te heads? Still far better than lopo.

btw, will all 5.0 v8s have, "v8" on the side?

As a followup... I have a full schedule. I know I didn't see anyone walking out with them last night, sweet; so I can
a) get there at 8am sharp tomorrow morning, and try to remove the heads in 2 hrs?
b) get there Friday afternoon at 3pm... leaving 1.5hrs before they close :-(
c) Saturday midmorning, like 10am, leaving a full day-- if that car will still be there on saturday!

...think 2 hrs can do it? Would you just clamber up over the engine bay and start unbolting top down, or would you try to drop the engine first?




I was fortunate on this, my junkyard cherry popping visit, to find both the trim I needed for my bent wheel well (body work over spring break!), and a mark viii fan With 150,000 miles, sadly, but still. Where is the damned thermostat for it located btw? I didn't know what a mark viii looked like, versus any other kind of lincoln. They all just say "lincoln" on the side. But this one had a sticker in the window proclaiming it a viii.
And there was an overabundance of 3g alternators; I can pick those up any day.
I might already have one... question on that elsewhere.

[BerniniCaCO3]

how rare are gt40p's anyway, is that car going to still be there saturday, or will another one be in its place already?

btw, I've got a good HO block... HO camshaft will work with gt40p heads?
And, which years explorer had the internal versus external egr and which do I want if I'm keeping my egr?

[86VickyLX]

Don't use those sucky stock things they call exhaust on the mountaineer. They look more restrictive than the damn cast iron manifolds. You can make the spark plugs work with 1990 Town Car Tubular Manifolds.

You'll have to make some modifications to the manifold on cylinders 5 and 6. But other than that, they'll work. You'll also need at least 2 90 degree plug angle boots on cylinders 5 and 6, and plug insulators on 5 6 and 7. The good thing about the 'lincoln logs' is that they bolt up to the stock exhaust. HO camshaft should work with GT40Ps.

As stated in the other thread, 96 and early 97 intakes have internal egr passages.


If you're redoing your exhaust, get FRPP GT40P shorty headers. That'll solve your problems, you may still need to run 90 degree boots some of the cylinders though.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hmmmmm....
OK. FRPP headers seem to be $240. I can get gt40 heads for $250; getting the gt40p heads for $80 is only to save money and paying $240 on the exhaust would negate that.

Oh HELL. Just looked up a photo of the mountaineer exhaust, you were NOT joking! Some engineer must've thunk that the straightest line would be the most efficient, not considering that you're taking FOUR pipes and making them ONE pipe well, nigh immediately! Some engineer who must have never heard of long tube exhaust manifolds, and thus never mused on just why they might be better. hahahaha, no, I do not want them.

So... 1990 town car exhaust manifolds? is it only 1990, or is there a range that will work?
And if I do that, and keep stock exhaust... is the single y-pipe that restrictive? I'm only upgrading exhaust because I imagine I'll be adding 10hp or something. If it's not so significant --the air IS getting denser as it cools from 600F to 100F, so that single 2.25" y-pipe exhaust maybe doesn't hurt as much as I'm thinking?

[BerniniCaCO3]

these are shorties for a mustang... but think these might be tubular enough to make fit? I haven't seen many like these, and don't really know what to make of them.

[1990LTD]

"lincoln log" 90 town car manifolds are unique to that year

[sly]

search around for "lincoln logs" (try google with "lincoln logs" site:grandmarq.net - the search function here is a little ... umm... weak) and you're sure to find a pic of them. They are pretty much straight logs like the cast manifolds, but they're much lighter and a little fatter in the main pipe. shorty headers would be better though, but the lincoln logs will work fine... and be better than the cast iron manifolds.

[1990LTD]

yeah I don't know if the logs actually flow any better than the cast iron manifolds but they're definitely lighter and can't flow any worse

[sly]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27665[/ATTACH]
these are shorties for a mustang... but think these might be tubular enough to make fit? I haven't seen many like these, and don't really know what to make of them.

these look to be "equal length" shorties. I don't think they'll work since damn near everything would interfere with the outside pipes.

you'll want something that looks more like bbk 1515 headers (not sure if the 1515 is the right one to use... but something similar in design as far as the pipes goes)

for a pic... check out jegs: http://www.jegs.com/i/BBK/129/1515/10002/-1?CT=999

[zoomie]

bbks posted here are 1515

[pantera77]

Use lincoln logs if you want to use your stock H-pipe, but beware they do require a few special things, and will hinder performance over real shorties.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Alright, so I do need to decide: $80 + say 3hrs work, worth it to get these gt40p heads? If so, I'm going to bed now and rising early
And the frpp shorty headers that fit-- on par with, or better than the bbk shorties? bbk shorties are ubiquitous for $50.

So I'd be looking at $350 for the heads+frpp shorties to gain 20-30hp, using the gt40ps over the e7s. Is that money worth it?

I don't know if I can even find lincoln logs for sale, or at the junkyard: *just* '90 towncars you say!

[Smokestacklightnin]

The gt40p's are better than the gt40's especially on an HO block. Gt40ps have better flow and smaller combustion chambers, which will increase the compression ratio.

[Mercracer]

Alright, so I do need to decide: $80 + say 3hrs work, worth it to get these gt40p heads? If so, I'm going to bed now and rising early
And the frpp shorty headers that fit-- on par with, or better than the bbk shorties? bbk shorties are ubiquitous for $50.

So I'd be looking at $350 for the heads+frpp shorties to gain 20-30hp, using the gt40ps over the e7s. Is that money worth it?

I don't know if I can even find lincoln logs for sale, or at the junkyard: *just* '90 towncars you say!

GT40P heads are a proven 30HP over E7TE heads depending on your cam. The gain is even greater when going from factory CV/GM E6 heads. If you are handy with tools, you will easily have the heads off in far less than 3 hours if the engine is still in the truck with accys attached. Bring some strong brand name small torq sockets to get the intake cover off of the Explorer intake. I have twisted cheap ones on rusted intake cover screws. Bring a hammer to pound a 6 point socket onto the exhaust manifold bolts if need be. Don't worry about twisting the heads off of the exhaust manifold bolts as you can heat the heads at home later and get the bolts out easily.

[86VickyLX]

Alright, so I do need to decide: $80 + say 3hrs work, worth it to get these gt40p heads? If so, I'm going to bed now and rising early
And the frpp shorty headers that fit-- on par with, or better than the bbk shorties? bbk shorties are ubiquitous for $50.

So I'd be looking at $350 for the heads+frpp shorties to gain 20-30hp, using the gt40ps over the e7s. Is that money worth it?

FRPP headers would be more ideal since you don't have to modify a spark plug socket to access one of the plugs with the BBK1515 headers.

In regards to your question about gaining horsepower for 350$, my response is what do you want to do with your car? What are your plans? Do you want as much power as you can do with factory parts? If so go with the GT40Ps and get the FRPP headers.

Towny Manifolds are 1990 only. BUT THEY WILL BOLT UP TO STOCK EXHAUST. If you want to save money up for a freer flowing exhaust later down the road (as I am doing).