97 gt engine into a 99 gt

Hey guys, I need your help big time. I have a 99 gt and the engine let go at 46k (rod bearing). I purchased a 97 gt dirt cheap with a low milage (40k) non pi engine. The motor was tight with no sounds what so ever. I swapped them out (sorry no pi intake and head swap) and on inital start up everything sounded great. As I took it off the lift and took it for its first test drive, it started ticking real bad from the passenger side head in the front. It also smells like its running a little rich and may have just a little miss at idle as well. Car still pulls real good (on test drive, havent drove it since). Everything is still stock on the car. The only things I changed was kept the accessories on the engine from the 99, also kept the cop's, and changed the clutch. My questions are: #1. Can I run the 97gt engine with a 99gt computer? #2. Has something Ive changed caused my issue?

Come on guys, I know someone out there has the answer for this. Ive looked everywhere for a answer and seems no one has done this before (go all non pi in a pi body). It wasnt by choice just was to good a deal to pass up at the time but now of course dont think it was such a good deal..

wmburns said:

The timing profiles for the non-PI and PI motors are different. The PI head flows more at a given power level and I belive the PI motor likes more timing than Non-PI. This make account for the motor running rich.

It does not however account for the ticking. Suggest a compression test and a visual inspection under the valve covers.

A hand held tuner may allow you to pull a few degrees of timing to see what happens.

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Ok, thank you very much! I have a diablo tuner for the car but pulled the tune out of it for the time being because I wasnt for sure on how everything was gonna work out. Do you think this could be a timing chain issue that just decided to show up all a suden (guide or tensioner?) or maybe a lash adjuster?

BradleyMustang3 said:

dude! do the pi swap youre losing like 50hp going npi and if you dont want your pi engine i would be more than happy to take it off your hands and pay the shipping or just come and get it pm me if you want to sell!

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Man Ive done sold the heads and intake. The block is trash cause it has a 2 inch hole in the side of it. I bought the parts car cheap and traded it for the engine swap I had done (what was left minus the engine). Ive had this car for 5 years and have only put 20k miles on it (had 26k when I bought it) because it has had problems every since I bought it. It was bought wrecked and I believe the previous owner rode it real hard and put it up wet. Just wanting to get it to run right and then sell it (got my eye on a 84 coupe car)

Twista said:

Make sure you let the new owner know it has a 97GT engine in it. Could cause problems down the line if you dont.

Good luck with it though!

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Thanks!! I need all the luck I can get lately!!...LOL. Yes I will for sure let them know that the year of the engine is different. I'm still on the fence as whether to fix it (and take a chance for something else to go wrong..lol) or just go ahead and trade for my pi stuff, get it back and put it on..