5.0 questions!

i have a 2 wheel drive 90' ranger with a 5.0 and an AOD out of a 91 gt. right now, i have explorer manifolds on it and i am looking to find headers for it. what is the best kind to use and where can i buy them from?? also, does anyone have an idea on where i can find an electric fan for a ranger that will fit between the radiator and water pump pully. thanks, keith.

headers you can get from jegs and summit the both sell them in a shorty stlye and in a long tube

does anyone have any experience with long tubes with an aod?? if so, what kind? i have been looking on summit and i found the hedman 89500, does anyone have them with an aod?? any other suggestions??

The 89500's right side header sucks. It dumps directly into the axle under the gap between the motor mount and starter. A better header set is Hedman's 88400, same left side as the 89500's but the right dumps above the starter. If you're willing to tweak a set to fit and improve breeathing over shortys, try a set of Shelby style Tri-y's for the 65-66 Stangs.

I have the headman headers and will be dropping in my motor hopefully this weekend, so ill let you know how they fit. As for a fan, I heard of people using electric taurus fans

baddad457 said:

The 89500's right side header sucks. It dumps directly into the axle under the gap between the motor mount and starter. A better header set is Hedman's 88400, same left side as the 89500's but the right dumps above the starter. If you're willing to tweak a set to fit and improve breeathing over shortys, try a set of Shelby style Tri-y's for the 65-66 Stangs.

Click to expand...

i brought up pictures of the 88400 and the 89500's.... the left sides look different.

The 89500


The 88400


to me, it looks like the 88400's won't clear the steering linkage... what is the problem with the 89500 right side??

thanks, keith

the second set looks like a set of stock mustang cobra headers that i used on my swap.
had to redo the front tube on the drivers side tho.........
cheap on ebay.........$30 a set on average
just my 2 cents

89500, those are the ones I have and am going to be using, ive heard good things when you use those and trans-dapt mounts

which mounts do you have right now?

5.0gray90' said:

i brought up pictures of the 88400 and the 89500's.... the left sides look different.

The 89500

The 88400

to me, it looks like the 88400's won't clear the steering linkage... what is the problem with the 89500 right side??

thanks, keith

Click to expand...

The tubes are slightly different but they still clear the steering. As for the right side 89500, I already posted what the problem with it is. But if you think it's OK, go ahead and use it. You'll find like lots of others here did, what the result is. Another problem with it is the starter. You HAVE to remove the header to change the starter. I've "been there"--- "done that" with the 89500's. They're the reason I went to the Shelby Tri-y's.

mustang shorties 94-95 clear the steering linkage no problem. The passenger side kinda dumps down above the frame...might have to notch the frame about half way. I guess it depends on your motor mounts.

anyone have pictures of there 88400's, i just dont want to spend money on something that might not work... does anyone have expierience with the L&L or Kaufman headers?? will try-y's work with an aod? i have a 2wd aod, does that make a difference with the 89500's???

One of the members here and on the TRS forums has done the 88400's, he's got pics over on TRS or he can show you a link to em here, if you ask him nicely. His screen name here is "SRL" Tri-y's need "tweaking" to fit with an AOD or any other 164 tooth bell. 88500's fit with either, but still have the same two deficiencies I've covered already. Header fit with anyheader, also depends heavily on engine placement, you can try one brand header and it fits in one guy's truck, but may not fit in another's, chances are no two have the motor located exactly alike. What ever brand or type you choose, be prepared to make changes in something to make em work. This is true in any kind of engine swap. If you can handle that fact, you need to drop the swap now. Most of us have gone thru all this trial and error process in doing our swaps. I personally bought and used the 89500's, then when I wasn't happy with the right side in that set, bought a right side 94-95 Stang header(I didn't want to notch the frame to fit it), then a Hedman 351W swap shorty (right side) for the 65-66 Stangs, modified it heavily both by replacing two tubes then resorted to the BFH method to make it fit. Then bought a used set of Hooker long tubes that were supposedly for a Ranger, but they didn't fit. Then finally bought my present set of tri-y's used off ebay for $85. I've used these on several engine combos with both E7 heads and Canfields. I welded up the outside of the tubes all around the flanges to allow porting to better match the Canfield head ports, and finally, repaired the "Y" sections when they cracked. Even after all that I did with the tri-y's, I still think they're the best $85 headers I've ever bought, better even that some far more expensive ones. After all that's been said and done, I guided SRL toward trying the 88400's on his swap. Between all of us, we think we're pretty well qualified to advise anyone else.

I was gonna do these in a PM but I figured I may as well post them in the open forums for anyone's future reference.

Keep in mind that I used the vert mounts which dictated the placement of my motor. I cannot guarantee success with these headers using any other mounts. They may also interfere with large plate-style mounts (either homemade or factory).

The 3rd picture down (the one looking through the wheel well) really shows how close to the frame I was even with the vert mounts.

I've got a '89 that I'm running a set of '86-'93 MAC unequal shorties and the stock '92 Lincoln Mark VII cat-equipped H pipe. That's with a 3 inch body lift and some frame clearance (heating and bending) on the pass side. I'm gonna do the same thing on my next swap but I'm gonna try it with only about a 1 inch body lift (or none at all) and see if I can still pull it off. For that swap I'll take lots of pics as I go and post along the way so stay tuned!