i bought a 302 out of a 2000 explorer. Will it fit in the maverick with the gt40p heads and its stock gt40p manifold? If any one has done it already please let me know.
I understand that the revised plug angle on those heads is going to give you fits finding headers. Same story with these heads in early Mustangs etc. The 1996- early 1997 heads still had the old plug angle, so regular 302 headers fit.
Yep.. you'll need extra header gaskets to push the header flange away from the head mating surfaces and possibly shorty plugs to even have a chance. And quite possibly a ball peen hammer too. And even after all that you might still have heat issues that will eventually burn up your plug wires. Fancy heat resistant wires and special boot insulators might buy you more time if you keep tossing money at the underlying issue. They're decent heads.. just might not be worth the long-term hassles to run them.
Does this look familiar? I also have a 99 Explorer 5.0 with GT40P heads for my Maverick. The stock exhaust manifolds that came with my motor would probably fit, but they were terrible. They curved up instead of down and were so close to the valve cover, there was baked, charred motor oil stuck to the inside of the valve cover that looked like a big brownie. they looked like this: I read all about the issues with GT40P heads and spark plug clearance of headers. I thought the correct thing to do was get headers specifically for GT40P heads. I got these Ford Racing headers made specifically for GT40P heads from Summit: No spark plug issues at all!! They look awesome! But... they don't fit our cars, with a stock suspension, not even close...3-1/2" too wide at the shock towers. They would work if I was converting to a Mustang II front suspension and shaving the shock towers, but that is past my budget. I need something that works with a stock suspension. Those headers went back to Summit, and we got some Hedman 88400 Street shorty's that are specific to Mavericks. It took lots of small "adjustments" to the tubes with a torch and a big ball-peen hammer to clear the spark plugs on the drivers side. This is what they look like after "adjusting" and then the paint/bake process. the passenger side fits great with no "adjustments". And the motor dropped in after we ground off 1/2" from the end of the upper control arm bolts that stick out right in the wrong spot half way up both shock towers: I also am using Accel plug wires with ceramic boots for heat protection because the boots touch the headers in a couple spots. It's possible. It takes more work. The GT40P heads are supposed to be the best flowing factory heads ever made for the Windsor motors. Same flow as the GT40 but smaller combustion chambers for slightly higher compression.
Yes the engine will fit with mav mounts/frame stands No the stock manifolds from the exploder will not fit Many header/exhaust issues as stated above with the P heads. As for the intake...It will fit but you will have clearance issues with the Throttle body/shock towers. Also, interfearance issues with the export braces (Brackets between the tower tops and cowl/firewall)... You do need to keep these brackets,cant delete em without some form of reinforcement to take their place.
The ones that came with the motor I bought looked like this: I sold them on craigslist because no matter how good they flow, or how well they might fit, they cook the crap out of the oil in the valve cover on the driver side. A dude building a Foxbody mustang bought them along with all of the injectors and both upper and lower intakes and EFI stuff for $150. Money to go back into the Maverick!
My P heads fit with my old Blackjack headers with just a little grinding on the flanges and Accel shorty plugs on the driver's side. If you search you'll see what others have done.
IIRC, those Hedman shorties are the same headers that forum member ESampson is using as well. Don't remember him having the P heads though(RHS with slightly raised ports?) and they seemed to fit much better. My advice to you on those tighter boot clearance areas would be to run some boot sleeves.. or just wrap the headers in that area to help reduce radiant heat into the wires themselves simply because the high temp boots can only do so much over the longer term. Just a friendly suggestion.. nice looking motor!
On mine, for spark plug boots, I used the small 90* boots and terminals that connect to distributor caps. They snap right on a spark plug.
Thank you everyone all this info is great since I was going to try and see if it would fit. Might go with a set of 96 gt40 heads a friend is selling me for $100.00. It will be carbureted it's a big protect for me since I'm limited in time, knowledge and cash but I'll get it done. Thanks for all your help
The GT40 heads are also great heads. it should simplify your build. The Hedman 88400 should fit your heads with no or mods and clear the shock towers with no problems. You probably won't need header plugs, ceramic plug wire boots, or any "adjustments". Building an old car is easy and cheap compared to messing with modern stuff. The oil pump in my wife's 300M just failed. I caught it before the motor seized or blew up, but now I have to tear it down and send the block off to the machine shop and replace all of the bearings and crap like that. It will cost me around $1200-$1500 to put it back in the road, but we've had the car for 3 years, it's still under 100K miles and I still love it when its right. It's the fastest thing I have ever driven that wasn't a really built V8 or turbo and gets 32 mpg with the cruise set at 65 on flat highways, and has 8 way power, heated, leather seats.
