Engine Upgrades..

[stangin]

I am pulling the engine to replace the head to the revised head to get rid of the "Tick". I doubt Ford would warentee it with the KB sitting on top and they would find a reason to void the warentee one way or another if I de-modded it. I figured since I have it out, might as well do some upgrades:

New CF clutch, w/26 spline input shaft, clutch quadrant
Headers
4 new Crower Cams/springs
New revised Ford head


My question is, since I have the engine out, should I add a windage tray and should I upgrade anything else.. I have heard something about the oiling system is weak, oil pump gears or something.. anyone have any good idea's I should do while it is out?

Thanks!

 

[ShelbyGuy]

canton road race oil pan
canton windage tray
shm billet oil pump gears
the magic apten cooling mod

how much money and downtime do you have?
i bet a decent valve job makes enough power to be worth the expense. and since you have all the valves out anyway, might as well have the heads ported.

 

[ModsAway]

I have no idea what else you can do but make sure you get that beast dyno'd after you modify the engine. I have yet to see a thread with this type of modification to these cars (after all its not real necessary since these cars are already beasts with some of the options out there, ie your KB)

 

[03gobluecobra]

i second the 4 upgrades given by shelbyguy. Also, our pistons are supposed to be crap.

 

[stangin]

Originally posted by ShelbyGuy
canton road race oil pan
canton windage tray
shm billet oil pump gears
the magic apten cooling mod

how much money and downtime do you have?
i bet a decent valve job makes enough power to be worth the expense. and since you have all the valves out anyway, might as well have the heads ported.

I can take my time.. miss driving it though! Is a road race oil pan that much of an advantage? Sorry, forgot to mention I have the cooling mod.. will go on with the upgrades!

 

[stangin]

Originally posted by ModsAway
I have no idea what else you can do but make sure you get that beast dyno'd after you modify the engine. I have yet to see a thread with this type of modification to these cars (after all its not real necessary since these cars are already beasts with some of the options out there, ie your KB)

True, but I heard the stock cam lift is all for low end, want the same low end more or less and just a smidge more at the top.. .475 lift vs stock .385 or so and it has just a little more duration, should really take advantage of all the flow capability of the heads. Just wondering what else I should do while I have the engine out.

 

[stangin]

TTT - anyone else?

 

[jimh]

Apten Cooling Mod

Apten Cooling Mod for the driver's side head. Helps keep temps consistant. 7 + 8 always run hotter than the rest of the cylinders. Cooling mod helps coolant flow at the back of the head. Similar to what Ford did on the passenger head. (Notice nobody gets a tick on the passenger head). Check it out, or call Brian at Apten and ask him about it. Keep in mind that some guys have had the tick come back even with the new head. While the cooling mod isn't widespread, I haven't heard of one car that has the cooling mod get the tick again. This is on cars that were on their 3rd head.

Personally I think it's the heat causing the tick. The water jacket is VERY close to the exhaust port on these heads.

There are some write ups on modularfords or modularmustangs from a couple of guys that installed the mod and ran actual tests and were able to measure the difference in temp in cyl. 7 + 8. Seems to have been a problem even before the 03s, just with the blowers and higher cylinder pressures (and temps) it has been causing problems.

jim

 

[stangin]

Re: Apten Cooling Mod

Originally posted by jimh
Apten Cooling Mod for the driver's side head. Helps keep temps consistant. 7 + 8 always run hotter than the rest of the cylinders. Cooling mod helps coolant flow at the back of the head. Similar to what Ford did on the passenger head. (Notice nobody gets a tick on the passenger head). Check it out, or call Brian at Apten and ask him about it. Keep in mind that some guys have had the tick come back even with the new head. While the cooling mod isn't widespread, I haven't heard of one car that has the cooling mod get the tick again. This is on cars that were on their 3rd head.

Personally I think it's the heat causing the tick. The water jacket is VERY close to the exhaust port on these heads.

There are some write ups on modularfords or modularmustangs from a couple of guys that installed the mod and ran actual tests and were able to measure the difference in temp in cyl. 7 + 8. Seems to have been a problem even before the 03s, just with the blowers and higher cylinder pressures (and temps) it has been causing problems.

jim

I agree, I think without the cooling mod the heat can contribute to the "tick", I had some detonation that detroyed three plug electrodes and the tick started right after.. I suspect it got hot and might have done something to cause the "tick". I am lucky I did not do damage to the engine.. going to do a leakdown on it before I pull the head off just to be sure.

 

[03RedCobra]

I would think that if you were going to replace the heads that the bare minimum you should do is the cooling MOD that is available thru APTEN. By not putting on the Cooling MOD, you will be right back where you started at with the heating problems, and the infamous "TICK" starts all over again !!

I absolutely agree with changing the CAMS to some more lift and duration to help with the air flow, and Man, PLEASE, do us all a favor and have those heads Ported !!! Believe me, I would LOVE to see what a difference that it makes !!! Heck, you could probably get people to donate 5 bucks a piece on the board here, to help with the head porting, JUST so that we could see what the improvment is !!!