No Problem

Yea , just keep in mind if the EGR leaks it will screw with yuh. It can cause other issues , but this one didn't make allot of sense to me. My pipe leaked at one time - very little . I kept getting re-occurring faults 420 and 430 - converter/efficiency faults.

Anyway, I didn't think a small leak would cause this at the time, specially their, so I looked for leaks elsewhere. I had new cats !! Well,Phil (another member here) sent me a new EGR tube. I installed it and those codes have not come back. WTF?!

I must have been pretty close to margins- outside of factory parameters and that little leak pushed it past boundaries.. Go figure..

 

Good point, are the OEM parts that screw into the manifold brass or steel?

 

Steel - Mine was rusted so bad , it broke in two(the nipple) and all I had handy was a 4six pipe. That's what started the problems for me. Pipes are different on 4six - shoot !! -even the damn valve is different

 

I found part numbers for the 5.4 & 4.6 factory nipples, but they are $26 a piece so I'm going to wing it. I hope mine's not rusted to hell.

Any idea if I'll run into fitment issues with the starter & frame clearances? Am I the first to try OBX's on a 4.6?

 

Bad news, Dynatech said several attempts have been made to get them to work on the 4.6's without success. I'd think you could cut the difference in deck height out of the headers to get them to work, but who knows. I emailed Flats man to see if he ever got his Dynatechs on the 4.6.

 

i got pacesetter LT's for a 97 5.4L 4X4 on my 97 4.6L 2WD no prob other than the EGR witch i just blocked off. other than that they bolted right up.

 

I was just under my truck last night and happened to look at the drivers side for clearance, but wasn't under the passenger side. The drivers side looks like it should fit easily. The 4.6 head sits .8" lower and .8" towards center. The drivers side looks like plenty of room, maybe someone else with OBX will get a chance to check out the passenger side.

 

Dude, you are awesome, thanks so much for taking the time. My shat should be here today, but I'm sure I won't be able to tell anything at this point. I did find an awesome TIG welder / metal fabricator with header experience near me though in case I need to get creative.

 

Actually I was under the truck for something else....

If I had seen this thread first I would have checked out both sides....sorry...

 

Alright, got the package today and I'm impressed with the quality, but there are issues.

First of all they didn't weld an O2 bung in on the driver's side before the resonator. They are suppose to call me right back, so we'll see what they say. Did you guys get collector gaskets or hardware? All I got were the cheapo gaskets with studs, and 3 clamps.

Since they welded in the 5.4 EGR nipple, not sure how I'm going to tackle that one yet.

What are you guys using to plug the unused O2 bungs?

 

I got a box with band clamps, and I got the donut style gaskets for between the resonators and collectors. All the hardware to go with as well. 01Roush swapped his resonators for high flow cats and only had one of the O2 bungs welded in to each one, in front of the cat. I am following suit. I was wondering about that myself at first though. I was told you could just break the ceramic part of a spark plug off and jsut thread the remaining in. I don't know how great of an idea that is but its an idea none the less.

 

My mistake, I somehow missed the supplied collector gaskets. DOAH!!!

OBX had the guy I bought them (off ebay) from call me, and he said to send pics and he would take care of me...will keep you updated. Weird thing is, OBX asked if I was installing on a 5.4 or 4.6, so it must not be all that uncommon.

I guess I will have the middle O2 bungs cutout so I don't have to worry about plugging. OBX welded the 5.4 EGR nipple straight to the header, rather than leaving the threaded hole. Nice, now I don't have to build an adapter. I'm just going to cut it off and weld the 4.6 nipple in place. Here are the Ford parts #'s if interested. They list for 03-06, but TeamFordParts assured me they fit the 97-03's as well.

4.6 EGR nipple: f65z9f485aa

5.4 EGR nipple: xl3z9f485aa

 

Took some pics. The flash made things appear somewhat "dark", but without they were blurry. :o I have MUCH larger ones if interested.

Like I said, I'm very impressed other than the missing O2 bungs. Everything was also packaged very nicely.

I would like your input on the driver's side header flange though. Take a look at the one on "bottom" in the circled area. They are rough indentations in the surface that EASILY catch a nail. Will new OEM MLS gaskets have any problems sealing off?



Note the missing O2 bungs:


Sexy:

 

the factory gaskets are about the best out there!

 

Yep...mine are on their third use and no problems..



Its too bad they missed an O2 bung, maybe they'll replace it or do something for you, otherwise just weld one in when you are modifying for cats. For the extra O2 bungs any exhaust shop should have plugs that will thread right in, then you've got extras in case you want to hook up a wideband.