I had sworn I wasn't going to do any modifications to this truck. Sometimes I'm a liar.

I bought these: http://search.ebay.com/270194855489

Well, can you blame me? I saw the eBay headers at $200 or best offer. With plenty of them out there, I figured if he denied my best offer I'd just pay the $200. So I put in a best offer of $175, and he accepted. So, about $215 with shipping for shiny stainless headers for the V10. How can I NOT do that?

I'll talk to my therapist more about my problems with justifying these things, but that's not why I came here.

My question: I bought these headers now, mainly because I knew I wanted them and the opportunity arose. I'm not sure if I have broken exhaust studs yet (I haven't looked). When the truck is cold I hear what sounds like it could be a slight leak from the passenger side. So, I may not have the need yet. This truck is also my winter driver, and it needs to function. I really don't have the option of taking it out of commission for any period of time (unless I can do it in a day), because it is my only way of getting to work. So, the way I see it, I have two options:

1) Try to get it done sometime over the Christmas break while I'm in New York at my friend's shop

2) See if I can convince the Ford dealer to do it (the idea being that I can also convince them to give me a loaner vehicle, and I'll have them do a few other items while I'm at it)

So, then my questions:

1) These are listed as not having the EGR bung welded in. My 2000 Excursion V10 doesn't seem to have an EGR bung. Is there supposed to be one there? If not, that makes this a lot easier!

2) How long should I expect this to take? I've got a couple days that I can probably try to get this done at my friend's shop while he's not working on customer cars over Christmas. I'm a proficient mechanic, but I also haven't done this before

3) I seem to remember hearing something about having to notch the frame a bit or some such to make the headers fit. Is this true, or should they just bolt in?

4) Do the exhaust studs normally come out on their own, or do you have to torch them/use PB Blaster/whatever?

5) Any other "gotchas"?

I'd like to get the knowledge and experience from people who've done this already so that I can hopefully get this done quicker and easier! Overall, my truck seems to have a minimal amount of rust, so I shouldn't have too big of a problem trying to get everything apart. Plus the oxy-acetylene torch is always available for those tough bolts. I am hoping that there aren't any cracked studs yet, which should hopefully make the job that much easier.

Thanks!

 

When I ordered my Thorley headers from Thorley the tech told me that 98% of 2V V10s made did not have EGR. Mine doesn't have it.

Spray the manifold studs many times several days before and right before removal. I used PB blaster but any penetrating oil should work.

Expect to have broken studs. My truck is an 04' w/27k and the shop said one of the studs was broken but it came out easily. Some studs will fight you the whole way out though.

Krewat has a thread about the ebay headers he put on his truck, I'm shure he'll pop in and post a link.

 

This link should help.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ud-or-two.html

 

The job is not that bad. I installed Gale Banks headers. It took me about 10 hourse to do the headers. I bet a Ford dealer would stay well away from anything like that. I had the same questions about the install. I got one price from a local shop that I trust. He told me about 8-10 hours at $75/hour so that made up my mind to tackle it.

First off, soak the studs for a few days with pb blaster. All 20 of mine came right out with no issues. My engine only had about 25K miles though. My Banks headers fit great. No frame notching needed. One HUGE tip is to remove both fender liners to make your life easier. Kinda a pin to do but it is a must. My banks kit came with a starter heat shield and sway bar bushing heat shields. They do get hot so that is something you might consider. Plus, make sure you have plenty of extensions and universals to get the bolts tight. With five tubes per side, you can run out of room in a hurry for your hands.

Good luck and be patient. A mapp torch might be needed to break the connections at the down pipe.

 

Oh man, you beat me with my own thread

Only the '99 (as far as I know) has an EGR, so you're safe from that. My stock manifolds had the boss cast in, but not drilled and tapped.

Two things to watch out for. The header might hit the frame on the passenger side. I had to grind off some of the frame. Just be aware of this if it's necessary.

The other thing, one of the holes on the header flange on the driver's side was off. I had to elongate it, I forget which direction. Line up a header gasket on the flange, and you will probably see the problem if one hole is off.

Good luck! Mine are a little spotty from offroading, but they are still pretty shiny after almost 9 months. One day, 96 degree summer day, idling mostly with some throttle once in a while for 8 hours (in the "what do you like about your V10" thread), didn't discolor one bit.

Oh, and a third thing - the stock y-pipe might not line up with the header collectors. I took the y-pipe, put it on the ground, put a long jack handle down one of the downspouts, and bent the "Y" closer together. It only needed like 1/4" or maybe 1/2".

 

And one more thing, re-torque them for a month or two, like EVERY time you drive it. Make sure none of the bolts gets loose, the gasket will crush for a while, and then suddenly stop. If you leave the bolts as-is, the gasket will probably blow out.

 

Oh, and ANOTHER thing - I put a very thin amount of red RTV around the exhaust ports on the gasket, let it skin for 10 minutes and then installed them. I just couldn't do it without the RTV - I've used it before on headers on my 390 FE and it lasted for 15 years, so it can't hurt

 

Thanks especially Art for the helpful tips!

I think what I'm reading from this is that I need to wait until the weather gets good enough that I can expect to drive my Jag and won't have to worry about keeping the truck out of commission for a while as I fuss with this. It seems there are too many potential "gotchas" that could easily turn this into a longer process than I would hope it to be, and I definitely can't afford that to happen during the winter.

One thing that concerns me is you said you had to retorque the bolts every time you drove it for the first month or two? I definitely will need to wait for the summer if that's a requirement, but that sounds like a real pain. Do you have any idea what the reason for that might be? When I've done exhaust manifold installs or gasket replacements I've usually torqued them the next day, just to make sure, but that would be it and no problems afterwards. Is there something about installing headers that's different? Should I just get a better gasket?

 

Re-torquing headers is a long-standing tradition

Actually, the gasket they give you with the headers will crush as the headers heat up and expand, and cool off and contract.

I wouldn't say EVERY time I drove it, but I'd say at least once a week for a month. I think mine still were getting tighter and tighter through the second month, although I don't put a lot of miles on mine.

 

Well, I put a lot of miles on my truck. Daily use is about 35-50 miles, and weekends seem to rack up the miles by the hundreds. If you follow the mileage in my signature, you'll notice that it creeps up pretty quickly. I'm about to change it from 94k (which it rolled over exactly a week ago) to 95k (which it rolled over today on the drive here from PA). 96k will probably come sometime around or within the first week of New Years. I keep on telling myself that the miles are going to stop adding up so quickly...

I definitely think what I'm hearing from this is that I need to wait until spring/summer. Maybe I'll get the Y-pipe and an appropriate Magnaflow muffler and do them all at the same time, or else do the Magnaflow first and the headers and Y-pipe over the summer. No big deal, I have enough other projects to work on until then and I can be patient.

 

Take the (PAPER) header gaskets and put them in warm water for at least 4 hours before installing them. They will expand and seal better. You don't have to let them dry before installing them do put HIGH Temp sealer on both sides of the gaskets before installing . You should not have to re-torque using this method. But you should check them anyway. I used this method for over 30 years before the HIGH TECH header gaskets where avalible. It was know fun changing leaking header gaskets on 1969 Mustangs with an FE engine 390/428 after two months after the installation for free to a customer that thought his car was supposed to glide over speed bumps and curbs with out slowing way down. You get the drift don't you. Hope this helps. I put the same headers on my 1999F350 SDSC defintly made a diffrence with a modified Y pipe and modified stock Diesel exhaust system. Sounds really weird at low RPM's but sounds great at wide open throttle. Ron