saving for fox lake head swap!

[ADRENLN]

hey guys i was hoping for some info from you guys on a head swap. i have a 02 GT that has been ticking form the engine for a year and a half. ford says its "normal" and with the tsb out i dont know if theres somthin wrong or not.

so i decided to do a headswap and if it still ticks i guess its normal, but at least i gain some power.

i am going to do this around spring next year and im thinking fox lake stage 2.

i assume that this is pi heads that are ported and polished, based on that will this be a direct replacement?

will i need to order all kinds of other stuff, or will the heads come with what i need. i am not doing cams at this time and would like to use my stock cams.

is this possible or will i have to order new stock cams as well.

anyone that has done a head swap on this engine please let me know about your expriance.

do i need this professionally installed or can say a friend of mine that is a good bmw tech do the job?

about how much power from the fox lake stage 2 (stock cams)?

thank you guys

 

[ADRENLN]

come on guys, i know some of you serious guys have swaped your heads!

one more thing. will my engine be ok if i later add a blower on top of p&p heads? i really dont want to blow up my car?

 

[madmatt]

I believe Mogs01GT has swapped heads. I think thats how you spell his name.

 

[bigDogs02GT]

Although I dont have any problems with my heads, i'm going to swap mine out this winter. Gonna send them to TEA (Total Engine Airflow) and have them do a stage 2 ($1,700) and also buy some new cams. I want to stay N/A and with the heads and cams plus all the other bolt ons I should see well over 325rwhp (should be closer to 350 if I get L/T's or Bassani Midlength headers). MM&FF did an article on them and they got 100hp out of the heads. You might also want to look into Patriot they are a bit cheaper but use truck heads which require new valve covers. Just my 02.

 

[ADRENLN]

i actually did look at the patriot performance heads a while back. i didnt know that they used truck heads, but what would be the difference?

fast fords got 100 hp out of what? the heads and cam you are getting?

since you are doing a head swap let me ask you; if i get the fox lake heads, will i just be able to take out my heads, put the stock cam where ever it has to go in in the fox lake heads then put the new ones in?

 

[bigDogs02GT]

You should be able to use your cams, but I would ask Fox Lake, however to take the most advantage out of the better flowing heads I would buy new cams. As for MM&FF they reported 100hp gain, did not specify whether it was rwhp or not, but they also had the bullit intake, with L/T's, X-pipe, CB and a SCT chip tune. With your mods I would go ahead and buy new cams which should take you well over 300rwhp.

 

[ADRENLN]

i would love to go ahead and get cams with the heads, but im being reserved due to emissions. i would already have long tubes if it werent for this. anyway i believe there are cams that will pass emission tests, but i dont know if they will produce as much power.

also after cam swap i believe we will need dyno tunes, with just a head swap i think we will be ok. i could be wrong, do you know anything about this?

 

[bigDogs02GT]

Yes, it is strongly recommended to have a tune after the install. As per my sig, I also have a laser red 02. I am personally going with the Bassani Mid lengths instead of L/T's. Bassani says they are 50 state legal and I already have a catted X so I dont think emissions will be a problem and the sound is incredible. If you send all your mods to SCT and purchase their super tuner they will send you 3 programs for your car which is what i will do until I can get to a dyno and have it tweeked properly. Just my 02. Everyone is raving about the KB but for 6k and the fact that eventually the bottom end will go on our cars I am staying N/A with hopefully will turn out to be 325-350rwhp and N/A = safe, reliable and FUN!

 

[bigDogs02GT]

Anyone else care to chime in that has maybe done this and the net result?

 

[bigDogs02GT]

Here is the link to the article on the Patriot Heads. You can read about the Part one in the same tech area. Of course their test car is SC'd and the latest tech article using the TEA heads is in the September issue. Hope this helps you decide.


http://www.musclemustangfastfords.com/tech/0405mm_pats/

 

[mogs01gt]

ohh yes, Fox Lake. Those guys know what they are doing. There are a few options you have. If you want to assemble your heads then Fox Lake will send you the ported heads bare with the valves I think. I would recommend having them assemble them for you. It may cost extra but if you get after market cams, they can check the base circles.Now about the stock cams. I wouldn't put stock cams into those stage II heads. That wont be worth it. You wont gain much power because you wont be seeing as much flow. The heads are rated at .550 lift, if you use the stock cam which doesn't go to .550, you wont be using all the flow the heads are capable off.
Now for cam choices, you have a lot. If you are going all motor, I would get VT. Now after I changed my mind on what I want do to with my motor, I wish I would have gone with VT cams. Awesome cams and the best customer service out there.A lot of threads have come up about the Patriot heads. I know I have read a few. The thing that I noticed is that they were rating their heads at .600 lift. That is more lift than most other head builders yet they arent offering more CFM.

Now for the extra parts, you will need new gaskets. Head gaskets, intake gaskets, exhaust manifold/header gaskets, Cam cover gaskets and you may need a new dip stick tube if mess up the stock one. For Ford factory replacement parts, I only deal with Randy Stinchcomb from MD. He is on vacation but if you need his number, PM me.

Nick

 

[bigDogs02GT]

So what kind of #'s do think your running with those heads and cams? I havent looked into the VT cams because being a previous Chevy 5.7 guy and have used the comp cams I didn't even bother looking at any other manufacturers. Do you think that with a catted X and midlength headers that it will pass emissions?

 

[bigDogs02GT]

The Fox Lake heads flow nice but TEA has them by a bit with the flow numbers and the price is about the same. Dont think you could go wrong with either now to choose a cam package. I'm leaning to cams that pull from about 1800/2000 all the way to 6k. Dont know much about the VT's but definitely going to look into them//thanx!

 

[mogs01gt]

So what kind of #'s do think your running with those heads and cams? I havent looked into the VT cams because being a previous Chevy 5.7 guy and have used the comp cams I didn't even bother looking at any other manufacturers. Do you think that with a catted X and midlength headers that it will pass emissions?

If I went with the VT all motor cams, I probably would have seen another 10 rwhp. Mine(Comp 262ah) are a mild blower cams since last year I wanted to get a blower but I am saving for a house. This is the first tune. I noticed some issues with the first one and had it redone. It seemed to make more power the second tune. Ran much better.

 

[bigDogs02GT]

Nice #'s. Definitely going to seriously look at the VT's. Where can you get em' Only if there was a decent intake that didn't cost as much as the bullit. But at least most of the work will be done and when one is made for under $700 I think it should be good for at least 15-25rwhp what you think?

 

[mogs01gt]

Nice #'s. Definitely going to seriously look at the VT's. Where can you get em' Only if there was a decent intake that didn't cost as much as the bullit. But at least most of the work will be done and when one is made for under $700 I think it should be good for at least 15-25rwhp what you think?

well not to hi-jack Adrenlin's thread, a good intake on these cars will see those numbers and maybe more(depending on setup). I also wanted to mention, I picked these cams out because of the mid-range power. It has great mid-range, as you can tell from the graph and pulls hard to redline.

 

[ADRENLN]

hey guys what kind of cam can i get , and have no problems with inspection? i will be going blower in the far future. i just wanted to use the stock cam because i was going to get a blower anyway, and then i would nt have issues with inspection. however mogs you say that stock cam cant handel the flow of the stage two heads? would stage one be better for my set up, do u think? anyone know what power increase im looking at with stage 1 heads?

 

[mogs01gt]

hey guys what kind of cam can i get , and have no problems with inspection? i will be going blower in the far future. i just wanted to use the stock cam because i was going to get a blower anyway, and then i would nt have issues with inspection. however mogs you say that stock cam cant handel the flow of the stage two heads? would stage one be better for my set up, do u think? anyone know what power increase im looking at with stage 1 heads?

I never said they "cant handle it" I was saying you will not see the gains that you would get form after market cams. Its not worth it to spend that much on heads and not get cams. You wont be able to use the gains in CFM the heads get with the stock cams.

If I were you, I would just get cams. You probably will see better gains with the aftermarkets cams and stock heads than ported heads and stock cams.