Shot Valve seats and a cracked head (junkyard head build)

[MankDeems3.0]

Title says it all, I work at a ford dealer and heads are $390 a side so I'm junkyard hunting for 3.0L heads. The tech library states Pre 99 had 8mm valves, guessing they went down in size to make them cheaper and changed the chamber to help burn E85. I don't run E85 even with gas prices and it seems like they'd breathe a little better. If I can find them is it worth grabbing non methanol E6AE or F6DE-GA Heads?
Also plan to lap the valves, Magnaflux and test, and throw some 5.0L 1.7 Roller rockers on it.

 

[franklin2]

Have you priced the machine shop prices to redo the heads? I have bought rebuilt heads off ebay and had good success with them. I cant buy them from the junkyard and get them rebuilt cheaper than the ebay heads.

All the machine shops are closing down in my area and then ones you do find are expensive and backed up for weeks.

 

[MankDeems3.0]

it's virtually the same price to rebuild or get OEM. And one head is cracked so im already headed out to the yard

 

[MankDeems3.0]

Picked up a set of 06 Taurus flex fuel heads, unfortunately these were the best option/mile that I had access to. Older years had 8mm exhaust valves and smaller chambers but I'm happy to work with what I got, Machine shop is cutting .0030 off of them and I'm going to lap the valves and port the runners. Already did the upper and lower intake while they test my heads.

Placed the gasket on top with the bolts through centering it the best I could, etched the inside of the gasket and Marked the inside area with a highlighter

Die grinder, sand paper rolls, sip of beer with aluminum dust in it, rinse and repeat, Kept placing the gasket on perpetually to check my work and this was the end result!

Between gasket matching the head and manifold, 65mm TB mod, 1.7 rocker arms and the slightly raised compression I'm hoping to squeeze an extra 15-25HP out of it

Also found some sweet aluminum valve covers at the salvage yard. Would love to do a writeup on how I pick my cylinder heads if anyone is interested!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Picked up a set of 06 Taurus flex fuel heads, unfortunately these were the best option/mile that I had access to. Older years had 8mm exhaust valves and smaller chambers but I'm happy to work with what I got, Machine shop is cutting .0030 off of them and I'm going to lap the valves and port the runners. Already did the upper and lower intake while they test my heads.

Placed the gasket on top with the bolts through centering it the best I could, etched the inside of the gasket and Marked the inside area with a highlighter
View attachment 74656

Die grinder, sand paper rolls, sip of beer with aluminum dust in it, rinse and repeat, Kept placing the gasket on perpetually to check my work and this was the end result!

View attachment 74663

Between gasket matching the head and manifold, 65mm TB mod, 1.7 rocker arms and the slightly raised compression I'm hoping to squeeze an extra 15-25HP out of it

View attachment 74664

Also found some sweet aluminum valve covers at the salvage yard. Would love to do a writeup on how I pick my cylinder heads if anyone is interested!

Please do a write up. I'm always interested in tech.

 

[RonD]

The 3.0l Valve STEMS are 8mm in 1998 and earlier, 7mm STEMS in 1999 and up
Valves/seats are the same size, just to clarify
So different valve guides and different spring design as well, 7mm are tapered at the top so easy to ID 8mm or 7mm valve stem heads by the springs used
8mm is 0.3inch

Head bolts are also longer in 1999 and up, the block is what changed, deeper holes and recessed threads, heads were the same, so use the correct bolt length for the year of THE BLOCK you are using

Good article on 3.0l changes here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/3_0-build.shtml

3.0l head gaskets are different for FWD and RWD, so different for transverse engine(Taurus) vs longitudinal engine(Ranger)
Has to do with coolant flow thru the head and block, different coolant holes/passages in the gasket

 

[MankDeems3.0]

The 3.0l Valve STEMS are 8mm in 1998 and earlier, 7mm STEMS in 1999 and up
Valves/seats are the same size, just to clarify
So different valve guides and different spring design as well, 7mm are tapered at the top so easy to ID 8mm or 7mm valve stem heads by the springs used
8mm is 0.3inch

Head bolts are also longer in 1999 and up, the block is what changed, deeper holes and recessed threads, heads were the same, so use the correct bolt length for the year of THE BLOCK you are using

Good article on 3.0l changes here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/3_0-build.shtml

3.0l head gaskets are different for FWD and RWD, so different for transverse engine(Taurus) vs longitudinal engine(Ranger)
Has to do with coolant flow thru the head and block, different coolant holes/passages in the gasket

I got my 99 with a blown 3.0, it has had an 05 Taurus block for the past 40K and will have 06 Taurus heads. I ordered the longer head bolts and the ranger head gaskets, intake gaskets etc. Didn't know it was the valve STEM that changed shoulda figured as 8mm is nothing. Should get the heads back sometime this week can't wait to post pics and a clip of how it sounds!

 

[MankDeems3.0]

Polished the valve covers and got to work adapting the Taurus PCV system to work with my factory 3.0. Deleted the hose that goes to the rubber intake tube by the oil cap and put a pod filter on it. The 2 coil pack bolts nearest the cap work well enough to hold the pack on. Ground the mount fins a little bit and boom! OE bracket deleted, I'm sure I'll end up making custom plug wires.

The passenger side was more difficult

If you reference the first picture you'll note there's a PCV with a sensor wire on this side which our rangers don't have. I started by removing the baffle. I used the old valve cover as a stencil, punched the center and drilled a pilot hole. With a combination of my step drill bit and my Dremel with a sanding wheel attachment this was the result!

theres a good amount of support for the old PCV you'll have to cut out but in the end I got all the way up to the 1 3/8th" step on my bit but didn't punch it all the way through and it fit snug!

should be pretty damn close to factory.

 

[mtnrgr]

Always enjoy seeing another 3.0 build, looking forward to updates. I had my 3.0 built up in the past.

 

[franklin2]

View attachment 74700

Polished the valve covers and got to work adapting the Taurus PCV system to work with my factory 3.0. Deleted the hose that goes to the rubber intake tube by the oil cap and put a pod filter on it. The 2 coil pack bolts nearest the cap work well enough to hold the pack on. Ground the mount fins a little bit and boom! OE bracket deleted, I'm sure I'll end up making custom plug wires.
View attachment 74701

The passenger side was more difficult

View attachment 74702
If you reference the first picture you'll note there's a PCV with a sensor wire on this side which our rangers don't have. I started by removing the baffle. I used the old valve cover as a stencil, punched the center and drilled a pilot hole. With a combination of my step drill bit and my Dremel with a sanding wheel attachment this was the result!
View attachment 74703
theres a good amount of support for the old PCV you'll have to cut out but in the end I got all the way up to the 1 3/8th" step on my bit but didn't punch it all the way through and it fit snug!
View attachment 74704
should be pretty damn close to factory.

You do have some remnants of a baffle covering the PCV valve? If you do not cover the PCV valve over with a baffle the engine will use oil. Been there, done that.

 

[O No 3.0!]

I have an 02 long runner intake for my 97 that ive ported & got an 01 mustang (60mm?) t-body, ported mass air, 1.8 roller rockers, underdrive pulleys, e fan, 2-1/4" exhaust with flowmaster muffler. 8.8 rear with 4.10 gears Ported heads & headers are next on the list. And then possibly an auto to 5 speed swap. Id like to get some of those valve covers, what did they come off of?

 

[MankDeems3.0]

You do have some remnants of a baffle covering the PCV valve? If you do not cover the PCV valve over with a baffle the engine will use oil. Been there, done that.

I should have noted I just removed it temporarily to drill and clean the cover so it has the baffle that valve cover came with!

I have an 02 long runner intake for my 97 that ive ported & got an 01 mustang (60mm?) t-body, ported mass air, 1.8 roller rockers, underdrive pulleys, e fan, 2-1/4" exhaust with flowmaster muffler. 8.8 rear with 4.10 gears Ported heads & headers are next on the list. And then possibly an auto to 5 speed swap. Id like to get some of those valve covers, what did they come off of?

The mustang T body is 60mm but there are some BBK 65mm tb's floating around for too much money. Covers are off a 06 Taurus but be careful I've read some Taurus, sable etc have one plastic and one metal valve cover

 

[MankDeems3.0]

Really happy with how my upper intake turned out! I do not recommend the chemical bath I made to de crust this thing as I was coughing up a lung

Wish the lower was a little brighter, it all blends nice when ya stack it together

 

[MankDeems3.0]

LONG TIME NO POST! been chasing gremlins out of my engine bay but as promised here's a video! let me know your thoughts, thank you all for the help!