little help with the accessories
 

So I went to the you-pull-it salvage yard today and there was a complete 97 merc mountaineer awd 5.0 . so I grabbed the power steering and bracket and the alternator and bracket.. I got the upper intake throttle body injectors, fuel rail, and Monday im going back for the lower intake and heads ...

so my question is now this ... do i have to use a ac unit with this setup .. I haven't been able to locate a ac delete pulley .. is there just a shorter belt i can use .. and to i need to get the water pump and timing cover off this motor too.. ??

The complete accessory drive, water pump and front cover are all unique to the Explorer 5.0. They were redesigned to make the 5.0 engine shorter front to rear and easier to package in the tight Explorer engine bay - originally designed for V6 only. The compact dimensions also make these parts a good choice for the Ranger bay. For clearance and belt alignment, I'd use everything from the front of the engine as a system including the damper/pulley assembly.

I'm sure there's a way to bypass the A/C although it may involve some experimentation with pulleys and/or belt length. All Gen 2 Explorers came standard with A/C, so there's no factory "A/C Delete" bracket available specifically for the Ex 5.0. If you want to take the easy way out, you could just install an A/C compressor - working or not - and use it as an idler pulley for the stock belt.

well i got everything off but while pulling the timing cover off the bolt hole by the coolant passage cracked so now im on the hunt for another..

I took my compressor off for the time being and I just ran a shorter belt. I believe it was 83.5' six rib. But i would run 83', mine was a little loose.