al02gt

Hey Guys,

I had the ticking noise coming from the passenger side head on my 02 GT. A guy came by and said by looking at the VIN I have a Romeo engine?

Did these come with PI heads? Or are they aftermarket?

The heads I pulled off look really good and don't show any wear, so I was thinking about decking them .015, port matching intake/exhaust, and maybe adding a slightly larger cam with new rockers, springs, girdles, etc.

But if I have NPI heads, sounds like It may be cheaper to do a PI swap. The car is a daily driver so I just want to add a little more performance and lopey sound.

Would also like to find a set of used or affordable shorty headers because the stock manifolds seem restrictive and would not be worth keeping after doing a little porting.

I would probably also add a 1" throttle body spacer and good tune. I'm guessing the stock throttle body and ignition will be ok for the little bit of mods I will be doing.

BraMas

Unless your car has an engine from a pre 99 Mustang you have PI heads. All Mustangs 99 up have PI heads

doughboy4.6

yes you have pi heads the spacer wont do a thing

mustangman281

You do have pi heads, the throttle body spacer works much better as a paper weight then a power mod, shorty headers are a waste of money, why would you want to deck them? it will cause slack in the timing chains, you don't have rockers in your engine you have cam followers and the only available ones the jesel double roller ones and cost $1600 for a 15hp increase(on blown engines).

al02gt

Thanks guys-

So my 02 GT has the PI heads and it's a Romeo engine that What I have been told.

I'm thinking the ticking may be an oiling problem because it's only audible at idle. It goes away when you rev it and come back 10 seconds later.

Unless it's a wrist pin problem, but there is no visible damage so any of the valvetrain, combustion chambers, or cam.

So now that I know a little more here is what I'm thinking about.

Having the heads decked .015
New Rockers, lifters, springs.
Not sure if I need to replace the stock cam girdle.
A slightly larger cam(s)
Port matching intake/ehaust
Blending bowls slightly
Removing/Smoothing the swirl dam above the intake valve
Adding headers
Having the car tuned
I don't want to increase valve size, just want it to flow better with less restriction.

Also need to read and see if the stock throttle body will be large enough. Same for the stock injectors.

The only mods now are K&N FIPK Cold air intake and Flowmaster 50 Series

It's a daily driver and it won't see any track time. Just want it to perform better and sound better while being reliable. Nothing fancy.

al02gt

Good point about the decking. I work on pushrod chevy engines mainly so I have a lot to learn about the Ford SOHC. My thoughts on decking was to bump the compression just a little. But it sounds like I just need to check them to make sure they are square.

Thanks for the terminology about the cam followers.
So it sounds like stock cam followers will be just fine. The stock one's don't have any wear other than bare metal surface where the follower comes in contact with the valve stem.

So your saying that shorty headers aren't any better than the stock exhaust manifolds? I was thinking that if I did any port matching/blending that it would want to add some headers. But for money reasons, I was going to buy a set of shorties.

The reason I have the engine tore down is because of the ticking. I don't see any damage visibly so I'm thinking about replacing valvetrain parts to rule out potential issues.

The loudest sound when I have a stethescope on the engine comes from the injectors so I may have them tested as well. Just not sure if they would only tick at idle.

I'm leaning towards an oiling problem, but as you can tell I have a lot to learn. But at least I made the first step and took the engine apart myself instead of taking it to the 5th different mechanic.

al02gt

Wouldn't the timing chain adjusters take out .015 decking on the heads? Doesn't seem like that much of a difference.

But I'm am here to learn

al02gt

Ok, I did some reading on here about cams, etc.

Sounds like the money is not worth the gain. So I may just
Port match and blend intake/exhaust on the heads
port match intake
have the heads checked for squareness and the seats checked
Probably go ahead and replace the stock cam followers, springs, retainers, and check the valve wear since the car has 120k on it.

I might as well pull the motor out and put in bearings and rings while I'm at it and the engine should be good as new.

Sxynerd

Your car has N-00-b13 heads. Luckily they are pretty limited so you're good.

al02gt

WOW, you really got me on that one. Luckily I have been doing computer security for about 15 years so I understand your l33t talk.

I don't need your N-00-b13 comments. I'm just trying to learn about SOHC ford engines.

I have always worked with pushrod engines so OHC style engines are new to me.

Hopefully you live around alabama and we can meet at the dragstrip sometime. I would love to embarass you in a 59 VW or my stock T/A.

OR even better, I have a little 302 in a 68 camaro. We can see who the n00b is my friend.