Been awhile since an update so here we go. Today I finally had the time to finish pulling the heads. Hopefully the machine shop I am using is open tomorrow and isnt taking an extended holiday weekend like myself. Been working crazy hours at work so this took alot longer than I was hoping.

While at the machine shop is there any thing other than being checked over for leaks, resurfacing and removing broken studs that I should have them do? A buddy of mine said he had his milled down to raise compression and increase hp. Is this something to look into??

Thanks and happy fourth of july.

 

Shaving your heads does raise your compression but I wouldn't plan on just shaving your heads a lot to gain HP. Only do that if your building from the bottom up. Get them shaved enough so the deck is flat and call it good.

 

Well looks like this is going to get expensive. Just got a call from the machine shop and they said the passenger side head(the one that this problem all originated from) would be better to replace than for them to work on. The surface for the exhaust manifold at the rear most bolt is corroded and not worth the money to fix. They pretty much said that it would cost more for me to fix that head than to go buy another jy head with a good surface. I know that surface was iffy from the get go since that is the bolt that rusted off causing the leak. Not real happy right now with ford. I took way too good of care for it to be this much of a pos at 81k miles.

 

Anybody have any option on aftermarket heads that may be a better way to go? At this point I would almost rather spend $700 for a pair of better heads than $250 for a stock had at higher mileage than the rest of the truck.

 

Trickflow is the only company that makes a true aftermarket heads for a modular engine. I've seen great results with them in mustangs and blown applications but I doubt they'll do what you want them to unless you're looking for peak power gains.

Just buy stock PI heads or a pair that have already been worked over. You wont get TF or ported PI heads anywhere close to $700 though.

 

I found a set of PI heads on craigslist for 200 bucks. Also found a set with work done (valve job, milled, etc) for 700. If your close to KC check the craigslist lol

 

Picked up a set of heads with 50k miles off an 01 mustang. They have no broken studs and are nice and clean inside and out. Paid $275 for them. Also picked up my other heads from the machine shop at the tune of $174. For them to work the one good head. That I'm going to try to sell to recoupe some the the $$$. Plan to go out durring the kids nap time and start swapping the cams over and give them a good look over. Also now need to track down some 11 bolt valve covers (romeo?) since mine are the 14 bolt ones (Windsor I believe).

 

any benefits to running 4.6 heads on a 5.4? or are they the same?

 

As far as my research shows they are exact same spec as long as they are pi heads in terms of valve size cam size etc. some were made at the Romeo plant and some at Windsor plant which from what I can see in the ones I have are only different in valve cover bolt design and slight visual casting differences. Should bolt in without issue with proper valve covers. I know there are a lot more knowledgeable people that may prove me wrong, but that's what I could figure out from searching and looking at these.

 

Long time with no update. So here we go.

This project has taken much longer than I had hoped or expected. Between working 6days a week, 70+ hours and having my third daughter time has been non existant. Finally work has slowed down and I had time to start on the truck again. Got the engine bay completely assembeled. Pacesetter quicktrip headers with ss bolts and copper gaskets are on. Everything went pretty well. Had some issues with the romeo heads and switching valve covers.

When swapping heads you need correct valve covers with the correct valve cover grommets. 96-00 valve covers are different from 01-04 valve covers in the grommet and gasket design. Also the bolt holes in the heads for the timing cover are a 8mm bolt instead of a 10mm bolt.

Things to do yet are.
Pull oil pan and install new gasket along with oil change.
Flush coolant system and fill
Install pacesetter catless ypipe(already test fit and removed to weld rear o2 sensor bungs in.
Install all 4 O2 sensors
weld small pipe to muffer to extend to new ypipe.
Bolt down abs pump which was unbolted for access to header.
fire it up
Reinstall inner fenders and flares once all is well. Which hopefully will be right away.

Hoping to get all this done by the weekend. Will update once its all finished.