I have a 94 F150 4x4 w/ a tired 5.0 in it. She has about 210k on the clock right now and is drinking water like a fish. Instead of messing w/ head gaskets on that wore out bottom end I was considering just swapping engines. I work for a salvage company and have access to engines at reasonable prices. My question is can I use an explorer (GT40) engine and still bolt up all my accessories? I can get the explorer motors cheaper than I can get the truck motors so I was thinking why not go ahead and get the GT40 heads/intake (even though I don't think intake will work because of throttle body design) and have a better platform. If anyone has any experience in this please fill me in on what years work and what has to be changed in order to bolt up.

 

If it were me I would nab the whole engine. I would think that your truck acessories would bolt up, if you use the truck brackets. You may have to swap front covers as well, but I'm not sure. Make sure you retain the explorer exhaust manifolds because the spark plugs come from a different angle on the gt-40 heads. You will also likely need to modify the exhaust to fit the new manifolds. I would retain the original truck wiring harness and sensors, just find a place to put them all on the explorer engine. Some wiring harness mods (shortening/lengthening) may be required. I'm not sure which side of the explorer the throttle body is on, but you can 180 the upper manifold without a problem. Again, it just may require some vacuum/wiring mods to hook everything up.

It sounds like more than it is, I'm sure...

 

Have considered the same notion for my truck. Motor is not as sickly as yours, but playing with ideas to boost power a bit. If you work at a salvage yard, you can reference Hollander. The Explorer 5.0's for 96 and early 97 use GT40 heads (3 bars cast into the end of them) and the plug angle is the same as the truck heads so I would not use the manifolds from the Explorer (from what I understand, they are really restrictive). The mid-late 97 up 5.0 Explorers use GT40P heads (4 bars cast into the end) which do indeed have a different plug angle (I have a set on my Mustang). Standard SBF headers or manifolds can work but the plug wire clearance is tight and plug changes are a PIA. I run Ford Motorsports headers specifically for the P heads on my stang and they are great...no issues. I like the P heads, but if I were to go and do the swap in my truck I would stick with a GT40 equipped motor...plug change, etc is enough of a stretch/PIA stock let alone the issues with the P heads and the fact that, as far as I know, no one makes P specific headers for the truck (although I have heard of Mustang headers being used but clearance on the driver's side is snug to put it mildly). Let us know what you do...I for one am curious.

 

The GT40p heads have different exhaust manifolds than the others. Also, they will most likely not mate up to your exhaust. I know this has been done, but I don't think I would fool with it. I would just rebuild the 302 that is in the truck and leave it at that. If it were me I would just put GT40 heads on it after rebuilding.

 

im doing that right now.. i have a 1996 Explorer Gt40 engine...im going to run it carbed tough.. you can just take the whole engine remove the GT40 intake and put the truck EFI intake on it and all the trucks accesories on the Explorer 5.0 gt40 to make it work..

 

If you have a 5.8 in your truck why would you want to put an explorer 5.0 in it. I would rather have the 5.8. Just curious.

 

lol.. not into my truck.. my truck is currently forsale.. its a project im doing putting a mild 5.0HO in a smaller truck a 5.0Ho would just rev the hell in my F250 and wont go anywhere