I just brought my 97 mountaineer home today, it is the donor for my ranger project.

What is up with the exhaust manifolds.

They look like a first year apprentice HVAC project. I have never seen such an ugly cobbed up pile of sheet metal and tin foil.

I simply do not want to put them on my ranger, I read the header thread and it seems headers are near impossible to find.

Are there any other year explorers with better looking exhaust manifolds? The ones on mine are not acceptable unless they are designed that way for some performance reason.

 

Yes, the '96-'98 were a bit convoluted, lol.

Good article here with exhaust manifold options: Ford Ranger V-8 Engine Swap

 

Duplicate post

 

What are the odds these might work?

Ford SB 289 302 351 Windsor Block Huggers Stainless Steel Exhaust Headers | eBay

So cheap I might get a set anyway just for testing.

 

I'd say as long as you don't need a starter and wont need any steering, they'll fit perfectly well right after you remove the upper control arm mounts.

Well, maybe not that bad but I'd be astonished if either side would bolt into place.

 

Dang will have to scratch that idea, I'm going with an automatic so I can't push start it. You wreck all the fun!

 

I used Sandersons

 

I searched the site and didn't find anything specific to a ranger or an explorer, did they bend them up for you or did you use like the FF6? AND if you used FF6 did you encounter any issues?

This isn't going to be a high end build it's my first V8 ranger swap and I want to do another using the lessons and failures from this one, probably a 4 wheeler.

I would like to use headers but might end up using the cast manifolds from a 99-2001 explorer. Price would be the determining factor, if I could get something under about 400 bucks and be sure it would fit I would go for it. So if someone is in the mood to upgrade their headers I would be interested in the old ones.

Pulling ranger motor fragments tonight. Wondering since it isn't a class A build should I even start a build thread? Some spend more on their spindles than I'm going to invest in the entire first project.

 

Well my coilover shock mounts were in the way. So I had to cut and weld to make them fit.

 

Ya ive got those odd looking manifolds on my 98 4wd swap, did it to save money and because egr is connected to pass side manifold. wanted to keep it stock and save $. was looking at a set fro advanced adaptors that look like they might fit but id have to do some modifying, maybe get rid of pre cats, it cant pass emission anyway. turns out the people from epa don't want anything in a truck that factory didn't put in it first, at least that's what ive been told. If you bought a 97 mountaineer like I did can you tell me if it has the gt40 or the gt40p heads cause that makes a difference on headers, also look at some mustang manifolds?