i was searching through the forums trying to find out how difficult it would be to drop in my new motor with some longtube headers already installed.. i have a 2000 GT and if anyone knows it would be great to find out if there are any clearance problems with the K or the steering column before i put the motor on the hoist and play around.

i know traditionally you install them by dropping the K and jacking the motor but since its out of the car right now i thought i might try to be clever and install the headers first. any advice would be great! thanks

 

Ive pulled and installed my motor and trans with lt's a couple of times, although I have a tubular kmember so I can't say for sure if it'll work with the factory kmember. but I think the first time I pulled it I still had the factory kmember.

 

I think that it will go in fine. The biggest bitch is oil pan clearance, but I am pretty sure that the headers will have plenty of room.

 

oh rad man so you had headers on the motor each time you dropped it back in?

 

im just gunna jack it high. i took the motor out with the transmision on and there was enough clearance so i think im good in that department.. hopefully your right with the headers

 

I know for sure It will fit with a tubular kmember and bbk lts, but like I said I've never put it in with the stock kmember. Other brand headers may be different though. Just have to try and see.

 

wont clear the stock K... I pulled my motor/tranny with LT's yesterday and could not get the headers to pass the steering shaft.
I have BBK headers BTW.. We had to lift the motor up as high as we could and unbolt the headers to get the engine/tranny out of the vehicle. you are going to have to do this backwards to get them in. Its not hard though cuz with the motor up, you can get to all the bolts easily.

 

alright thanks for the heads up

 

well we dropped the motor in today with the headers installed so it is possible.. heres the deal though. we had to disconnect the steering shaft to allow room for the headers and when we got the motor sitting on the mounts we realized we had no room to reconnect the steering column..we might have to drop the Kmember to give us the room to play around but were not sure yet.



does anyone have any ideas?

 

well we did it. it is possible to intall a motor in a 96-04 GT with headers already on the motor. it was tight and the steering shaft gave us an hour or two of trouble but its in now so anyone wanting to intall headers on their 4.6 and happen to have the motor out of the car intall them first and it will save a lot of money and/or time.. just drop the motor slow and make sure you take the steering shaft out before you attempt to drop it in :P