Rocker arms, Cam, Lifters?

oannamarie · May 13, 2009

I have a stock 4.6 engine. I overhauled the trans with a HD Converter and a shift kit. I put in 4.10 gears, H pip and Flows. I also have installed a cold air intake and hotter wires and plugs. My car now needs new rocker arms. I heard I have to replace the rocker arms, cams and lifters, that I cant just replace the rocker arms.

Is this correct? I also thought about upgrading the cams, lifters and rocker arms. What should I use. Any suggestions?

trinity_gt · May 13, 2009

oannamarie said:
I have a stock 4.6 engine. I overhauled the trans with a HD Converter and a shift kit. I put in 4.10 gears, H pip and Flows. I also have installed a cold air intake and hotter wires and plugs. My car now needs new rocker arms.

Who told you this? Rocker arms are perhaps the most reliable part in the modular engine. What's the engine doing that makes you think it needs rockers?

Is this correct? I also thought about upgrading the cams, lifters and rocker arms. What should I use. Any suggestions?

What are your goals? Stay N/A or blower in the future? Since you're running stock valve springs and the bottom end is stock, you don't need or want an aggressive cam that'll come to life after 6000RPM. If the car is a daily-driver, I'd recommend a "stage 1" cam like a Comp XE262AH, which preserves all the low-RPM torque and gives ~30HP at redline along with a bit of an idle.

When I had my cams installed they reused the rockers and lash adjusters. On the front of the engine I replaced the timing chains, sprockets, guides and tensioner arms with new parts but reused the OE tensioner mechanisms.

R.J. · May 14, 2009

Replace it all with brand new, for really cheap. PM sent.

squeak93 · May 14, 2009

rocker arms=cam followers on a mod motor. Very reliable, no need to replace unless your made of money or you have one bad. You don't have "lifters" since the motor is an ohc design.

And +1 on who the f told you that you need all the parts, some your motor doesn't even have.....

oannamarie · May 14, 2009

My car is making a ticking noise when you push on the gas. It not very loud but I notice it and it doesnt do it all the time. My neighbor who works on drag cars took a look at it and said it needed new rocker arms. He didnt tell me I needed the cams and lifters, my brother in law who is a mechanic told me that. I plan on putting a supercharger on in the future. I also want to add heads.

I was just trying to get an insight as to if I should just buy the stock parts now to fix it or put something better in. I dont want to replace them with stock to find out I will have to put something better in later.

oannamarie · May 14, 2009

Oh. I forgot. I am not mechanically inclined. I bought the car used so I am not sure if the motor has any mods done to it. I was under the impression that the 98 gt had dual overhead cams in it. I could be wrong about that.

squeak93 · May 14, 2009

You are wrong about the dohc. Gt's have sohc.

There is no need to buy an expensive replacement, the factory ones are very effiecent and reasonably priced. If you want to upgrade for piece of mind, you can do the followers, cams, chaings, guides, tensioners and all that at they same time.

Going to need more info as to what you mean by a tick though. It could be a 100 different things. The injectors on these cars are very loud and can sound like an engine tick.

Does you car suffer in the performance area (other than being a non pi car).

2000GTdriver · May 14, 2009

The GT engine is a single overhead cam design with one cam in the top of each cylinder head. So even though there are two cams in the engine it is called SOHC. The Cobra has the dual overhead cam design with two cams in the top of each cylinder head, for a total of four cams in the engine. Cobra has 4 valves per cylinder, GT has two. The 2005 and newer GT has a single overhead cam but has 3 valves per cylinder. I would recomend that you get a Ford mechanic to check out your car as your neighbor and brother do not seem to be familiar with the Ford overhead cam engine.

oannamarie · May 14, 2009

The ticking isnt very loud. I am not sure who to describe it. It is quite faint. I change the oil on a regular basis so I am sure it has nothing to do with that. My brother in law is a mechanic. He has not looked at the car yet. I am working with him tis weekend to replace the radiator and he will look at it then. I just wanted an opinion as to if I should change out all the parts or just the rockers and what PI upgrades I should do. Any recommendations to a brand I should use and where to get the parts?

oannamarie · May 14, 2009

Car runs fine in the peformance area. Is there a kit I can get to change out the cams that wil linclude teh rocker arms?

squeak93 · May 14, 2009

Check out trick flow packages from Summitt. Cams, chains, followers. All brand new parts. I know there is a set of pi heads in the for sale section (been there a while, so they may have sold). but stock pi heads, new cams and componets..... Your car will be a million times more fun.

BUT..... I still say your prob just hearing injector tick.... Does the car smoke or use oil at all?

Shanesstang · May 14, 2009

You stated your interest in supercharging your stang in an earlier post. Make sure you don't waste your money on cams now, and need to change them later on. (I have done that WWAAYYY too many times in the past )

trinity_gt · May 14, 2009

oannamarie said:
My car is making a ticking noise when you push on the gas. It not very loud but I notice it and it doesnt do it all the time. My neighbor who works on drag cars took a look at it and said it needed new rocker arms.

He's wrong.

What you should check right now, before putting another mile on the car, is whether all eight spark plugs are tight. Some 2V mod motors have a history of ejecting spark plugs (they loosen on their own over time and when not enough thread remains, the force of combustion pressures tears it out of the head, taking the threads with it...) A ticking you hear under acceleration may be the combustion and/or compression pressure leaking past the loose plug.

He didnt tell me I needed the cams and lifters, my brother in law who is a mechanic told me that. I plan on putting a supercharger on in the future. I also want to add heads.

These folks sound "old school." In the older pushrod motors, flat-tappet "lifters" rode directly on the cam in the block 'V'. When replacing a cam on these cars, new lifters were a must. In the mod motor, the "lifters" are not in contact with the cam lobes and a roller on the rocker rides the lobe. Neither the "lifters" nor the rockers need replacing on these engines when doing a cam change.

Honestly, get some new help and advice from people with experience with these engines.

squeak93 · May 15, 2009

Npi cars didn't blow out spark plugs to my knowledge......

oannamarie · May 15, 2009

The car isnt smoking and doesnt use much oil. I dont think it is the sparg plugs. It is not running bad or missing or anything.

squeak93 · May 15, 2009

If its not broke.... Don't fix it.

bdcardinal · May 15, 2009

squeak93 said:
Npi cars didn't blow out spark plugs to my knowledge......

my mom has a 2000 grand marquis which is an NPI motor and it has launched 4 plugs.

squeak93 · May 15, 2009

Really, always thought it was a pi issue.... Learn something new everyday...

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