explorer 5.0 engine swap

[Unit 5302]

I think he got side-tracked a little.

The Explorer engine is a direct swap, for the most part. I believe you can use the stock 5.0 headers with the GT-40P heads on late 96+ Explorer 5.0's, but it's a really tight squeeze. You can also use the Explorer headers. The best thing to do is use GT-40P specific headers to maximize the performance gain. Another problem is the camshaft.

I don't know about the flywheel vs ring gear, and whether or not you'll need to drill anything out there. Also, the Exploder engine has no smog pump connections to the back of the heads. You'll probably need to mess around with the throttle body too. Since you have a 88 (I assume non California model) you'll also need to convert to a mass airflow setup because of the camshaft differences between the 5.0HO and the 5.0 Exploder GT-40P engine.