[Tx_Cat]

My car is a 95 v-8 Cougar and I would like to start on the mods... But there's a guy that tell me that it will be usless unless i swap my PI Heads for the ones of a 99 GT or newer. He says that our heads are very restrictive and it will usless to put all of the mods that i want to.... I want to start with RichardM's intake(hey Richard, still waiting for your response), some 3.73's gears, Jerry's chip, LMAF, driveshaft... I already have flowmaster exhaust, and k&n filtercharger.
I've been looking for the PI heads, and they are very expensive.. I think it would be better to swap the whole motor.... But, when i bought my car, i bought it with 57k and now i have like 59k, so my engine is still new... So what do you guys advice.. Should i first swap the PI Heads for newer ones??? Or should i put the mods?? Now, if i put the mods, and i change my mind and swap the heads.... am i gonna still use the same mods, or i am gonna change everything.? Thanx.

 

[Robinson]

with your 95 it would be better to swap the whole engine. the pi heads will run you at least 500, plus about another 1500 in parts necessary for your 95. for that much you can get a complete 99+ gt engine with better internals

and the "guy" that told you that no heads prior to 99 were any good, was right

 

[WhiteBird101]

I don't agree with him, however, on him saying your currently planned mods are useless. The gears, chip, intake, etc along with the "the man" mod, and a better tc will make your car come alive. But if you want it to be more alive, then you have three options.
Option 1=Buy and install pi heads and pi intake man. (for a '95? No. Just too much of a hassle)
Option 2=Have stock heads ported by fox lake or similar, get pi cams, and get a svo or port stock intake. (This seems to be getting more and more popular, exp. in the '94-'95 crowd. MUCH cheaper then pi heads or pi engine, with around the same gain, if not more)
Option 3=Buy and install a '99+ stang gt engine. (A VERY popular route, and with good reason. Gets you a stronger and newer engine then what comes stock in our cars.)

 

[seabass]

You can't do much with the 94/95 4.6 heads Whitebird. You can buy 96/97 heads dirt cheap though....would still require other parts getting swapped.

 

[Johnny Langton]

and the "guy" that told you that no heads prior to 99 were any good, was right

I do not agree..the biggest thing that the PI heads have over the non-PI '96-'98's is the exhaust valve size.That is where the most gain is,along with the better cams.The non-PI '96-'98's can be ported to acheive better overall flow numbers than a set of Ported PI's....The '95-earlier heads are garbage though,and porting cannot even get much more out of them.
JL

 

[WhiteBird101]

You can't do much with the 94/95 4.6 heads Whitebird. You can buy 96/97 heads dirt cheap though....would still require other parts getting swapped.

Really? Hmm...new to me. Even so, it would probably still be at least slightly cheaper then pi's then, or no? Never heard anything about this. Well, i guess that changes option 2 a little, huh? Thanks for the correction.

 

[seabass]

94/95 heads I wouldn't bother with at all.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

HMMM im lost

I have a 94
Can i take 96 or 97 heads and put them on my block
What all has to be modded for them to fit?what intake
should i use?
cam gears?
will all the electronics plug up to a diff intake?
What about stock 96or7 heads with PI cams?

 

[Johnny Langton]

Re: HMMM im lost

I have a 94
Can i take 96 or 97 heads and put them on my block
What all has to be modded for them to fit?what intake
should i use?
cam gears?
will all the electronics plug up to a diff intake?
What about stock 96or7 heads with PI cams?

Yes,they'll drop right on,and no other changes are needed for the '96-'98 4.6L heads-they are achitecturally the same.You can even re-use the '94-'95 intake,and other things.The PI cams fit nicely in the '96-'98 heads,and work quite well.
JL
red is before the camswap..blue is after...

 

[GreenBird]

what about the porting of 96-97 heads...i thought I read somewhere that ported 96-97 heads can flow better than ported pi heads or did I misunderstand the post?

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Also.............

about the exaust manifolds in the pi set up?
Extrude honing the manifolds
what is the average cost of this??

 

[Robinson]

i thought I read somewhere that ported 96-97 heads can flow better than ported pi heads or did I misunderstand the post?

umm, yea you read wrong. ported 96-98 heads can flow better than stock PI heads, but not better than ported PI heads. not the last time i checked anyway.

 

[Robinson]

Re: Also.............

about the exaust manifolds in the pi set up?
Extrude honing the manifolds
what is the average cost of this??

i think thats going for around $500 for manifolds.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

so

You should spend a few extra $$$
and opt for the headers
do the bolt up to the pi heads
and do they bolt to stock exaust downpipes with no mods

 

[Robinson]

Re: so

You should spend a few extra $$$
and opt for the headers
do the bolt up to the pi heads
and do they bolt to stock exaust downpipes with no mods

thats my take on it, go for the JBA's especially if you can find them cheaper on ebay or something. there are a couple people that still opt for extrude honing, even on complete engine build up so there must be an advantage to it compared to the jba's somehow.

they should bolt up to all your stock parts too.

 

[Johnny Langton]

umm, yea you read wrong. ported 96-98 heads can flow better than stock PI heads, but not better than ported PI heads. not the last time i checked anyway.

No,he didn't...I posted that on MTC,and I've seen flow numbers...
JL

 

[Robinson]

No,he didn't...I posted that on MTC,and I've seen flow numbers...
JL

was that thread about volumetric effeciency or something of that sort? i vaguely remember a thread about that.

 

[Chlorine]

Just trying to get this straight..

.. The 96-97 heads will bolt right onto the 94-95 block with nothing else needing to be changed? The EGR setup doesn't need to be changed, and the original intake can be used? And PI cams can be used in the 96-97 heads (I know some out there are concerned about the valve springs binding)? I thought that doing a PI headswap onto a 94-95 block involved replacing the EGR setup, which is why it is not cost effective compared to a full engine swap. Is it the different intake manifolds that requires this change?

If this is all true, it sounds like putting a set of 96-97 heads with PI cams into a 94-95 car could produce some nice results. I do realize that the 94-95 intake manifold does not flow as well as the newer ones, and that Johnny's 212hp and 282rwtq numbers are from more than just the camswap.

Also would a custom chip be needed for this to run well, or would it work just fine without it?

If any of this is flawed let me know.

-Dan

 

[Johnny Langton]

Yes,the '96-'98 4.6L heads(whether fro a Mustnag,or a TBird are the same externally as the '94-'95's.All of the original '94-'95 parts bolt right up to them,its simply a headswap. The EGR is different between the years,but that is from the different upper intake plenum on the '96-up cars.I'd suggest that you have it dyno tuned later,or a chip from Dennis/Dom to make it work to it's maximum.
JL

 

[bbickers]

No,he didn't...I posted that on MTC,and I've seen flow numbers...
JL

Ok, so lemme understand this...

Ported 96-98 heads will flow better than ported PI heads? Who would you recommend to do the porting? I have been looking at getting PI heads, but if I can pick up some 96-98 Mustang or Tbird heads, strip them bare, then have them ported, that would be great. Shipping heads is ok as long as they are not assembled. I could reassemble here with the PI cams. Do I need new valve springs? Thanks!

Also, Johnny, I noticed in your sig that you are running a stock TC from a Mustang. Your dyno run shows you spinning to 6000 rpm. Are you running a different driveshaft, or just the TC? I really feel that my engine is still developing power when it shifts at 5300. Thanks again!