Frantz

From my reading, the early sn95s are prone to head gasket leaks above later ones in part because the threads for the cylinder head come clear up to the deck surface. How much thread is in the factory block and what is the danger of say drilling out the top quarter inch to relieve some stress on the deck surface?

jthorn9

They're prone to gasket failure due to poor gasket design. The threads won't matter much if proper thread sealant is used. All 94-04 V6s have intermitant head gasket issues, but the 94-early 96s were the worse till Ford redesigned the head gaskets.

mustangman02232

Head gaskets are very uncommon 99-04, if you need to do them on a 94-96.5 make sure you get the heads checked then use 99-04 mls gaskets and arp studs

jthorn9

I wouldn't go as far as to say "uncommon" I know of two 99-04 V6s that blew head gaskets, and one of them was mine, the other was a buddy of mine on here.