Patriot heads installed and running.

jivepepper

Founding Member
Jun 19, 2002
776
5
18
Under a Sombrero. in WV.
I'm happy with the heads and overall quality of the work done. But I had and or having a few problems.

Well, I picked the car after having the heads installed along with a mondo bypass and a 3" exhaust. As soon as I pull out there's a big cloud of smoke and the smell of oil. I'm thinking all great the patriot curse.

I turn around and catch Tim before he leaves work. After he investigates he noticed that every oil galley plug in the back of the drivers heads was lose and leaking. So after some wrestling around he manages to get them tight. Plus every thread had to chased on the heads as he was installing them..

I not sure if I like the sound of the exhaust. It's Mac lt's, a custom x, and dynamax bullets dumped. Kinda dump truck sounding at low rpms but screams as you get closer to 5k. I think I might also hear a slight header leak.

It stalls at every light and stop sign. It really has a hard time finding it's idle and there's a slight miss at partial throttle. But as soon as you start applying more throttle it goes away. I can tell it really wants to haul when I start opening it up.

I also went from Autolite 103's to AR94's

I really hope the tune clears up the few bugs I have.
 
Well I replaced the Iac and it idles alot better. But is running rich. The fumes burn my eyes in the garage, and yes I have the door open lol.

I'm going to replace the plugs and see if it cures the little hiccup I get once in a while at low rpm with a slight bit of peddle. Other than that, so far so good. Can't wait until I tune Tuesday.

heard too many bad things about Patriot heads not being worth a darn for me to waste my money on a pair..

Patriots heads make good power. They just had some guide and valve height problems in the past. There is a guy over a modded mustangs making 348 NA with a set of stage 2's. They sell about ten times the heads as anyone else so they well probably have ten times the complaints. Also in every case I have read about the replaced or repaired any problems and even paid for labor and expenses in some cases.

The only issue I have had was the lose galley plugs and it not wanting to idle well. The little miss at low rpm and at slight pedal I contribute to the colder AR94's which are not know for low rpm and idle quality and the lack of a tune. When I start opening it up it feels great.

People told me 2 years ago to stay away from MMR, Professional Products TB/plenums, Ebay intercoolers and rusty old Mac headers. But yet my car trapped 130.89 with stock heads and intake with a V1 strim. I even dropped my cams in with the dreaded Afm cam retention tool running 6500 rpms on stock valve springs.

I'm not saying that these heads won't cause or give me problems. But they haven't yet. I actually saved 1000 dollars compared to other heads with the same parts and specs.

I 've been modding this car over 8 years and I have had to save money where I can to be able to afford it. Until recently I have done all my own work. But I'm disabled with a arthritic condition and my son has went off to college. So it's getting to difficult to do heavy work myself.

Plus My mother has recently just had a liver transplant because of a cancerous tumor. I have been driving back and forth to Johns Hopkins hospistal which is 4 hours away several times a month and taking care of her.

I wish I could afford the best but it's just not possible, so sometimes I roll the dice. So far everything sounds good mechanically and I pray for the best.