finally think i found my problem

ceracer33 · #1 02-28-2010, 07:51 PM

well the wife and i were out in the stang today for a little cruise to her parents house. driving along normally at around 30mph or so and the car blew a spark plug out of the head. i guess maybe it had already started blowing out a little or something, i dont know. either way it trashed the head, so its down for a while.

turbo tecnica · #2 02-28-2010, 08:17 PM

Damn that sucks. Time for some high flow heads?

hotrod16105 · #3 02-28-2010, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo tecnica

Damn that sucks. Time for some high flow heads?

X2.

Orr89RocZ · #4 03-01-2010, 06:10 PM

yep time to mod

ceracer33 · #5 03-01-2010, 07:28 PM

haha, im looking into picking up a 5.4l. hopefully this one actually works out for me.

Hurstmeister · #6 03-02-2010, 08:01 AM

You can helicoil it to get it back on the road. A temp solution at best.. doubt it would hold up to any nitrous blasts but should work for a little while.

Sucks for sure.
Nothing like that sick in the stomach feeling when you know your baby is hurt.

Keep us updated on any progress and which direction you take.

Hurst

ceracer33 · #7 03-02-2010, 08:38 PM

i'll keep ya'll updated on what i decide to do. i can get a 5.4l that runs fine with 99k miles on it for absolutely free besides the work of pulling the engine out of the truck. i would have to swap my cams over into it and buy the hps hardball'r intake which is around $700-$800. would also need to upgrade the fuel injectors, and fuel pump which would get a little costly as well. it would cost me in the neighborhood of $1100-1200 to do the swap. i would lose the ability to have the long tube headers, so i would have to sell those and get some stock manifolds and mid pipe. i could probably find someone to swap me and give me a little cash for their stuff i would imagine. but if i do all that i still will have an engine with 100k miles on it in the car. what i would really like to do is go ahead and rebuild the 5.4l before i drop it in, but thats another $500 or so dollars. i guess it all comes down to how much i get to spend to get it back on the road. i'm driving the company truck so there is no real big rush to get it done. i just have to weigh out all my options and see whats up.

Hurstmeister · #8 03-03-2010, 10:47 PM

Keep in mind that the trucks didnt get PI heads until 2000 or 2001. The 5.4 got it a year before the 4.6 did. But I know that by 2001 they both had PI heads.

A little heat and you can make the 4.6 LT's work on the 5.4. I saw a guy do it with nothing but a torch and a pry bar with the pipes in a vice. Then continuously trial fit until he got the angle right. Then once the angle was right he put a level on the flanges and reheated them to make sure they were all flat and the same. He did a pair of rusty Mac's IIRC. Beats paying $400 for new headers.

Hurst

ceracer33 · #9 03-04-2010, 08:53 PM

the 5.4's got pi heads in 99, i checked on that already so im good there. and thats awesome about the headers. are u for sure about that? i've heard there is no way to make them work but i dont really see why they wouldnt. its the same heads just a little taller block. 5.4l swap long tubes are like $1200.

Hurstmeister · #10 03-04-2010, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ceracer33

the 5.4's got pi heads in 99, i checked on that already so im good there. and thats awesome about the headers. are u for sure about that? i've heard there is no way to make them work but i dont really see why they wouldnt. its the same heads just a little taller block. 5.4l swap long tubes are like $1200.

Absolutely positive. He was finished in 2 hours. I was drinking beer and watching.

4.6/5.4 heads are the same. The problem comes in with the taller deck. Its like trying to make 302 headers work on a 351. Some headers dont need any tweaking,.. while others wont work at all and would need to be modifed.

What I watched him do was heat up the tubes by the big flange where they bolt to the head. Get the tubes glowing read hot and then used the pry bar to bend them out a little bit. The wider block angles the exhaust ports down a little bit and the bottom of the headers will want to hug (or hit) the oil pan and on the passenger side will bang on the starter ball and the collectors come too close together and there would be no room for the transmission. Angling the top tube sets them at the correct angle. They just need to be angled up a little bit. Not much at all to make them fit. That makes the bottom of the tubes come out wider.

He said he had done a couple headers already so it wasnt his first time. I mean you got those headers from me for cheap,.. so you really wont be out much if you mess up. But you'd have to be an idiot to really screw it up. The hardest part will be trial fitting the angle so the mid pipe lines up. If you have the 5.4,.. have the engine on the stand and work the pipes and then trial fit them on the stand.

You can do it,.. I have faith in you.
My father inlaw put me in charge of doing the floor pans in his 49 Chevy coupe. He's had this car since 1966. But as I was cutting out the old floor pans I found that the body mounts were rusted bad and found some other rust that need attention. I had never done any of this before. My first tiem ever doing metal fabbing on this kind of scale. But I fabbed up new body mounts, made new reinforcements inside and then put new pans in. I'm almost done. So if I can do this with out screwing it up I know you can do the headers with out screwing it up. Else I would gladly trade you,.. you come do these floor pans and I'll come do your headers.

If you do decide to tweak them yourself be sure to make some progress pics. And then final installed pics. Because this is not a common mod that a lot of people do. But you could become a trend setter and show people how easy it really is.

Hurst