We almost have the heads off, broke the harmonic balancer puller which set us back a little bit lol I think im going to order some cams and possibly get some long tubes or shortys. Other than that, this project is already expensive so ill probably just be doing those two things. Also putting in E-fans. The valve covers, intake, heads and timing cover are all getting painted Ford Blue/Red/Silver. While its all apart i might as well make it look bad ass and paint it.
Sounds like you are gonna have a real BA rig when this is all said and done. maybe you were supposed to blow this gasket to fix all the other things that might be goin wrong soon. look fwd to seein the pics after its painted and dressed up. ever think about a paxton?
Personally I wouldn't do long tubes for 3 reasons. 1.They are a PITA to put in especially in a 4x4. 2.You have to redo the exhaust from the headers back. 3. You lose torque and low end hp. But to each their own, either will give you a better sound and increase performance but long tubes are more for high rpm power and shorty headers lean towards low end hp and torque.
No to the supercharger lol im not wanting to do that much engine work, just want to get it running again and hopefully a little bit better than it was before. We are taking our time though so we can be sure to get everything back together correctly. Neither me or my friend have dug into single overhead cams but we both are very familiar with the 5.4s/4.6s. Should have heads off today or tomorrow.
We got one head off along with the exhaust manifolds. Still have to take the other head and exhaust manifold off and send them off to the machine shop. Ive decided not to do the cams too much money in the end and since i do not have much experience with them i do not want to get too big of a cam and run into problems with valve springs, valves, etc. But if anyone knows some cams that will give me some performance without too much power for my factory internals please tell me!! Ive moved from shortys to long tubes for my choice of headers.. OBX Exhaust Headers 99-03 Ford F150 Triton 5.4L V8 these are the ones i want to get. Opinions anyone? They dont say if they fit 4x4 or not so thats the only idea i have of them not fitting and rubbing the front driveshaft.. My spark plugs said Motorcraft Platinum and looked terrible, original plugs at 128k
Yeah a lot of people don't even do plugs, but i've found reguaging them atleast after 60K or so you will have a couple off just about everytime or find a slowly fouling out spark plug. Don't forget if you do plugs grab the wires too at that age they are probobly rusting inside some anyways. Headgaskets arn't really that big of a deal to do i have done several, hardest was a precision timing engine in my mothers acura the tensioner snapped and the timing chain bent ever valve in there. that part was the expensive part around 800$ or so to have them redone. But good luck with the rebuild and take your time we got to where we don't have to but we have on our first couple when you take nuts and bolts out get a roll of Red Solo cups and label them for the parts you take them off of. Oh and BTW as far as a fan clutch when mine went out on my older 97 model the check engine light came on so we had it tested, we never even heard or knew it was out. If you got questions ask a lot of these guys probly know more than i do on the 4.6 and 5.4 but ill help if i can. Again Good Luck man.
Time sert? What does that mean? Im not very familiar with engine and ive never heard of that either...
Yeah we've got everything in ziploc baggies labeled and set aside. All the rocker arms and stuff are aligned so they go back on the same spot. Ill keep you guys posted with progress after tonights work,
