cntchds

Too late now. I pulled the chains off and after I released the tensioners the cams moved. I had pictures before, and when I put the chains back on and make the tension right so the guides fit it goes back to exactly the same place, so I am not worried about it. now I just need to figure out how to get these heads off. The passenger side is a bear because of that huge AC line that's running along the side of the engine bay, and the driver's side has all of that steering/braking stuff in the way. The write up I read said to leave the exhaust on and pull the heads out with it attached, but I don't know if it's going to be possible.

Onesickstang01

Ive done it several times. Its a pain but do able. Leave exhaust on the heads. Disconnect at collectors. Obviously pull intake ect. Mark timing. Loosen up all head bolts. You will need new head gaskets and head bolts. Buy the ford racing kit. It comes with rubber tubes that slide over head bolts to hold them up in the head since they are 10 inches. Pull the bolts out the can be removes without hitting the strut towers Install the tubes to hold bolts up and pick head right up. When going back on with the head make sure you have the bolts/tubes back in the holes that arent accessable because of the strut towers, you dont want to lift the head back off of the head gasket after seting it back down. Before putting the heads back on blow out the holes for the head bolts to make sure no coolant in there. If you dont do this you can crack your block. You might want help putting the head back on, its not that heavy but bad angle and awkward. You dont want to knick the new head gasket

cntchds

I really wish I had posted up before I started the teardown, because if I had known that there was a Ford kit for replacing the heads I would have bought that instead. I appreciate your input, but I am on the home stretch.

A big part of the problem I'm seeing is that I had a lot of people help me with the tear down, and now that I'm putting it back together myself it makes it a lot harder to know which bolts go where. I did label baggies for each set of bolts, but knowing which of those bolts went into which part of that section is a little tricky.

I tried to make a list of things I need to do, and what order I want to do them in so that I would have a goal rather than just diving in blindly hoping that I'll magically know what to do next.

Lastly, I ordered the Lokar dipstick/tube. I wish I would have taken a picture of the old dipstick tube for you guys. It was more twisted than a pretzel.

For my own reference, and I guess in case you guys are interested, I'm going to post my list here so I can easily find it.

1. Oil camshafts
2. Tighten camshaft bolts
3. Torque down heads
4. Bolt coolant tube to back of driver's side head
5. Install timing chain cover
6. Bolt on all pullies/tensioner
7. Install harmonic balancer
8. Install power steering pump (bolt down bracket)
9. Bolt on water pump pulley (finger tight)
10. Put on serpentine belt
11. Tighten water pump pulley bolts
12. Install radiator (plug in fan)
13. Install coolant overflow tank
14. Attach lower radiator hose
15. Install dipstick*
16. Install valve covers*
17. Install intake manifold
18. Install fuel rail
19. Put on COP's
20. Attach harness (bolt on bracket to underside of motor)
21. Bolt on alternator bracket
22. Install EGR tube
23. Install intake plenum/throttle body/intake tube (as a unit)
24. Install air filter/air box
25. Plug in all electrical/tubing to intake system
26. Install throttle cable/cruise control bracket
27. Attach EGR hoses to vacuum thing (back of tc/cc bracket)
28. Attach EGR to plenum
29. Attach hoses to the tops of the heads
30. Attach vacuum lines
31. Attach fuel line to fuel rail
32. Install H-Pipe
33. Fill coolant (make sure drain plug on rad is tight first)
34. Screw on an oil filter (check drain plug)
35. Fill oil
36. Start the car
37. Burp the coolant system
38. Drive into the sunset

*If dipstick isn't delivered yet, skip straight to installing the intake(17). Do not install upper plenum(22) before installing valve covers.

Wish me luck.
If you want to check out some pictures check out my Facebook!

1999Pony

Good luck dude. That's a hell of a list but hopefully it all goes off without a hitch.

cntchds

1. Oil camshafts
2. Tighten camshaft bolts
3. Torque down heads
4. Bolt coolant tube to back of driver's side head
5. Install timing chain cover
7. Install harmonic balancer
8. Install power steering pump (bolt down bracket)
15. Install dipstick*
16. Install valve covers*
17. Install intake manifold
34. Screw on an oil filter (check drain plug)

6. Bolt on all pullies/tensioner
+ Install alternator
--21. Install alternator upper bracket
9. Bolt on water pump pulley (finger tight)
10. Put on serpentine belt
11. Tighten water pump pulley bolts
12. Install radiator (plug in fan)
13. Install coolant overflow tank
14. Attach lower radiator hose
18. Install fuel rail
--31. Attach fuel line to fuel rail
19. Put on COP's
20. Attach harness (bolt on bracket to underside of motor)
22. Install EGR tube
--32. Install H-Pipe
23. Install intake plenum/throttle body/intake tube (as a unit)
24. Install air filter/air box
25. Plug in all electrical/tubing to intake system
26. Install throttle cable/cruise control bracket
27. Attach EGR hoses to vacuum thing (back of tc/cc bracket)
28. Attach EGR to plenum
29. Attach hoses to the tops of the heads
30. Attach vacuum lines
33. Fill coolant (make sure drain plug on rad is tight first)
35. Fill oil
36. Start the car
37. Burp the coolant system
38. Drive into the sunset

As you can see there is a ton of stuff left to do. I thought I would get a lot more done today. Hopefully I will have an extra pair of hands or two tomorrow to help me out. I did do a lot of things today that were good for my motor, though, and I'm glad that I did them, but I wish I could get this done a little faster. I'm planning on kind of revising the order of what I need to do.

cntchds

I am finally done with assembly. Now I'm in trouble with either my injector on cylinder 5 or the harness itself. I guess I'll just have to buy a new injector and find out, but needless to say I'm not super stoked.

cntchds

So now that I have it all back together, I brought it to a shop to have it checked out since I was getting a check engine light P0355. Apparently I have a bad PCM, so I'm getting a new one hopefully sometime next week. Then I guess I need to have it reflashed, and I need to replace the COP that blew the computer to begin with. This is turning out to be an extremely expensive head gasket swap.

future9er24

****.. how much is the pcm going to run you?

StangMahn

I just had one replaced myself, used PCM and reflash for $250

future9er24

i must repeat

****..

cntchds

You got a steal, then. Ford said that there was no more of the computer I needed in the entire country. I had to buy one on eBay, and it was 200 bucks. Ford said that they will flash it for another 150. And I need to figure out which COP blew it out to begin with.

StangMahn

not that it matters now, but did you check junkyards?

cntchds

When I called Ford they told me that I need to have one with the exact same numbers on the back of it, and that mine was "extremely rare", so no. I'm hoping that my tax return will help with my supercharger plans... did I say that out loud?

StangMahn

http://www.mpsautosalvage.com/sunsho..._detail&p=3017

that's where I got mine, as far as my research told me, as long as it was a 99-04 PCM coded for a 5spd, you should be good, as they have to reprogram it anyway.

Which supercharger route you going?

cntchds

I am planning on using the Tork Tech kit. I am wondering about whether or not I should go inter cooled. I know it can push more power, but I don't know how happy my motor would be with me pushing that much power, or what supporting mods I would need.

1999Pony

You can always add an intercooler. If your somewhat skeptical, just skip the intercooler for now and then if you feel like you want it then get it later. I personally think the motor would be fine intercooled, especially since you've basically done a rebuild on it lol. But I would vote to get the SC and see if you think you need or want the intercooler later on down the road.

cntchds

I'm curious if you can even use the intercooled kit without hooking it up. I think you are right, though. I should just buy the intercooled kit and use it rather than having to worry about it down the line if I do want more power.

I have changed my priority to wheels/tires since my tires are close to shot. Can you say FR500?

future9er24

only if you give me those black bullitts

benjyc32

Which fr500's do you want? Personally I looooove the black chrome finish!

cntchds

I want just black with the polished lip. Satin would be fine too... Really anything would be fine since I could paint them. :-p