Getting new heads - engine apart

[imswheel]

Greetings,

I had tried to sell my car a few months ago and there was some debate as to if it truly had the tick or not - I had already replaced the head at 30k miles and most people felt that it was just typical injector/pcv noise.

Long story short - my friendly local Ford dealer agreed to replace the heads at 54K and we just got the old heads off today. We found that the rear most drivers side (#8) valves were loose and recessed into the head. One of the intakes appeared to be on the verge of cracking and one exhaust valve was starting to burn. The tech said that this was from the guides wearing and allowing the valves move around on the seats.

The new heads are much better - 8 thread spark plug holes instead of 4, better machining in the chamber, and it appears that the rear coolant passages have been opened up.

We cleaned up all of the sharp corners and gasket matched the intake runners. May not do much but it was fun!

The blower is now getting "Steig-matized" (got the port with the tune special)
Coolant mod going on.

I am happy it did not sell as I would have felt bad if the new owner had problems.

I am very happy with Ford for stepping up and taking care of me. So far even though this car has been a warranty pig I am happy with it and they have treated me fairly and fixed everything. (do a search, I posted my OASIS when I was selling it)

I truly feel that the car is now as solid as it should have been from the start. It only took 54k miles and a ton of warranty expense for Ford to get it that way (LOL).

Just though someone might find this helpful!

- Paul

 

[CharlieCobra03]

Nice to hear when it goes right.

 

[Crowley]

Glad to hear it ... good luck!!

Crowley

 

[rgraham]

How do I tell if I need the head replaced?

 

[V8Mustang]

How do I tell if I need the head replaced?

Everyone needs it, Ford has a bad design, came up with a replacement but they are hoping your warranty runs out before your valves or pistons get roasted beyone function.

 

[GodStang]

Yep my 3rd run heads come in in the next day or two.

 

[V8Mustang]

Yep my 3rd run heads come in in the next day or two.

Were you able to get a break from Ford on these and how much were they?

 

[GodStang]

Well the heads arrived today. They look great will ahve pics tomorrow. Ford did not help us one bit. $crew Ford!! I got them from Steve on this website. I can not remember the price off the top of my head even though I looked at the price before I left to come home tonite. I will check tomorrow and post up.

 

[InArmyWPride]

Yes Please Post It Up!
-cory

 

[69gt4speed]

Yes, that info and did they come with valves, springs, keepers and seals? I have a first run, it's doing ok but some strange problems, like stem seal failure #5 and #6 and tranny gear noise sometimes. Thanks, cause probably pull the motor and tranny.

 

[GodStang]

I was messing with the old heads today and did not get to the new ones to take any good pics. This is the only pic I have that I took late last nite trying out my new camera.

The came with valves as you can see from the pic. The also came with cams, springs and everything. They did not come with the sprokets. I think the price was around $1500 complete.

 

[GodStang]

They also have 9 threads instead of I think 4 line my first run did.

 

[Mrcobraguy]

I wonder if you can just get the heads bare and put your own little goodies inside :burnout:.

 

[GodStang]

From ford no. You can get the FR500 bare. All I am doing is taking the cams off replacing them with Crower Stage III and then selling my cams.

 

[03RedCobra]

Check out this little article about DOHC Heads:

http://forums.mightymustangs.net/lofiversion/index.php/t5405.html

 

[SlowSVT]

Godstang

Are these the "new" heads released on January 05? Sorry I don't have the p/n.

If they are, could you snap a close-up of the inside of the exhaust port. I wanna see if Ford Cast a boss around the exhaust valve guide like it's done in just about every other engine made. Without the boss the guide is directly exposed to the 1400 degree exhaust blast which will make the valve and guide run much hotter. The boss supports the guide better, shrouds the guide from the exhaust blast and conducts heat away from guide/valve.

$1500: is that "each" or per pair?

Thanks

 

[GodStang]

YA I will get the pic tomorrow. It is $1500 per pair and they are the third run heads
Here is some more pics:

I will get more of the exhaust ports.

 

[pj_rage]

Everyone needs it, Ford has a bad design, came up with a replacement but they are hoping your warranty runs out before your valves or pistons get roasted beyone function.

Will this be covered even after warranty expires, through a recall or something? That is BS. I am still under warranty for almost another 5k miles, but I don't think I have the tic. I don't want to be spending $1500 after my warranty runs out though...

 

[GodStang]

I have 21K miles left on factory warranty and 59K miles left on extended warranty and they still will would now cover it. I ended up going back and working on the engine some more so I took more pics:

Here are the exhast ports:

Here is the Spark plug count pic. The first is the old one with 4 threads and the 2nd is the new with 9 threads:

 

[SlowSVT]

Yea, still no boss.

Actually $1500 for a pair of heads with cams (I'm assuming it came with those) and valve gear ain't a bad price. Back in 86 that is what a bare set of Chrysler W2 ssmall block heads cost.

I hope Ford fired who was ever responsible for allowing only 4 spark plug threads. I wonder how much money and grief that caused both Ford and their customers.

Godstang, Thanks for posting the pics. L8R