head gasket? 2.9 v6

[adsm08]

You can take your chances with a set of JY heads. They might at least get you down the road while you save for the good ones.

 

[bronco2dude]

Alright, ill look into them. Now other than the heads anything else to look out for? Or that I should do while I have it taken apart? The cat is gutted so im thinking of just cutting it of and running homemade dual exhaust. Lol

 

[adsm08]

Make sure you pay close attention to where your push rods came from and put them back in the same place.

If you have the spare scratch, it wouldn't kill you to pop the front cover off and replace your cam bearings while you have it torn down. Might be a bit more difficult than you are up for though.

 

[Surrey]

According to what I can find in the tech section, in 1989 Ford redesigned the heads, adding extra metal to the prone locations...

http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/2_9_Page.html

Its under the section "North American 2.9 Reliability"

So If you are going to get junkyard heads, I guess look for 89+ heads.

 

[bronco2dude]

Ya, I will prolly leave that alone then. I kept the push rods put up and numbered, so I put them back correctly. Also my intake manifold on the inside is gunked up with black crap, my heads had alot of build up as well. I would post pic but I don't know how.

 

[adsm08]

Go to photobucket.com and sign up, it's free, upload your pics there, then grab the IMG code there and past it into the post box here.

Also, do you have an old race pot? The really really big one that you can stick your whole intake into? Boiling parts in engine coolant usually does a really good job of cleaning the carbon out when a proper solvent tank or parts washer isn't available.

 

[bronco2dude]

Ok sweet ill post some pics when im done with that.

 

[bronco2dude]

here is one side, notice all of the coolant ports are plugged? I also cleaned the heads after these pics were taken.

this is the driver side there was alot of crap in the back cylinder, u can see it, its on the right.

and this is the head gasket for the driver side, all coolant ports nearly plugged.

and finally here is my block I cleaned it all up, just thought id throught it in as well

 

[Psychopete]

If you can find a donor and hear it run, and want the heads, IMO, might as well take the whole engine and put it in the place of yours. That would probably be the cheapest route to go, but that's if you can find a good one cheap.

 

[heptofite]

replace all of your lifters while you've got the heads off, save yourself the trouble later.

 

[bronco2dude]

I just found out that my heads look ok, so I tapped the exhaust manifold bolts today. So I think ill just put her back together and run it till she blows. Then swap in fresh heads.

 

[adsm08]

replace all of your lifters while you've got the heads off, save yourself the trouble later.

Especially since they are only about $2 a piece.

 

[bronco2dude]

Alright ill get lifters while im at it. what the common problem with them?

 

[heptofite]

Alright ill get lifters while im at it. what the common problem with them?

they tend to wear out and the engine begins to tick, and since you need to pull the heads to replace them, you should ALWAYS replace them whenever you pull the head.

 

[bronco2dude]

O, I've done a number of head jobs and never replaced them. Lol but I guess I might as well do them. The engine would tick only some times when the head gasket was going out, think cause the oil was thinned out