I have a 2003 F250, 5.4 Triton
I love my love truck.....but...
I have now experienced 2 blown plugs! Both were heli-coiled. Now the first one that was repaired blew again only a month after repair. So now this time I'm going to do the job right! No more ghetto fixes (heli's).
I'm replacing my heads. Question is exactly what kind of heads are on my engine? I am not putting Ford's junk stock heads back on. I'm going aftermarket. Any suggestions as to what kind of heads I have and what company I should buy them from?

 

I need to know if they are pi or non-pi heads, if they are non then I want to change to pi heads for better flow plus it adds almost 80 hp with the heads and a new pi intake...
Also will there be anything else I will need to do along with the head replacement to make truck run great again? I'm already planning on replacing exhaust manifold and Y since I have a leak there already. I currently have Magnaflow cat-back system bolted to my OEM exhaust manifold and Y pipe. Any suggestions on the replacement parts to increase performance but will bolt to my existing Magnaflow exhaust??.....
Feedback is greatly appreciated!!

 

I think the PI heads came out around 2001 but dont quote me on that.

You will also need new head bolts as they are a torque to yeild bolt and streatch pretty good and cannot be re-used. They are a real long bolt that goes deep into the block, I think almost all the way down towards the mains.

I had searched for some aftermarket heads on my 4.6L 2V a few years ago and I dont recall there being a whole lot of choice out there for those engines. Good luck on your search.

I would also hunt around ebay as you are going to need the tools to re-time the camshafts. There are some write-ups out there on how to do it with paint marks and such (with out tools), but the tools can be found on ebay pretty reasonable, I bought a set a few years ago for around 50 bucks (used) but in almost new shape. There are tons of factory Ford tools for sale on ebay. The tools hold the cam and crank in place and you just throw the chains on and go.

If you do a search online for Helm on the internet, its the publisher of factory Ford sevice manuals, you can get a 3 day subscription for 10 bucks and read/print from factory Ford manuals. I use their site all the time to get access to factory manuals for cheap. It will make your head swap a whole lot easier.

Jeff

 

I have good friend of mine actually do the wrenching. He's a mechanic and works on SD's all the time.
Thanks for some good feedback.

 

He's not sure if the heads are pi or not. But he said if they weren't he was gonna try and find a set that is. Plus they will be high-flow also.

 

The PI heads have a big "PI" cast into them alongside the PN near the exhaust ports. Just look up through the wheel wells and you should be able to see.

Whatever you do, make sure any future spark plug installations are torqued properly. Sounds like someone went gorilla on your truck... that sucks.

 

I have a book on the parts and pieces of the 4.6/5.4 engines and it shows that in 1999 Ford released them. I beleive this to be true with 5.4 in the F-150 becuase I think horse power went from 225ish to around 260ish. I dont think this change happend on the F-250/350 until 2002 or 2003. I know my 2003 F-250 had the 260 horse engine. The PI heads have different intake ports compared to the origonal and require a different intake manifold. I think when this change was done they switched from the alumimum manifold to a plastic composite one.

Jeff

 

Gonna look when I get home.
And yea, not sure if it was a thing of them being cranked down to hard, or just Fords bad design killing me.
That's why I've decided to locate an aftermarket heads, so I can completely eliminate the problem.
Just gotta find right heads.

 

I know that Ford's origonal factory heads had a very small amount of threads for the plugs, but I had a 5.4 in 2003 that never gave me any trouble and I put a 4.6 into my 65 F-100 (still own) and I perosanlly changed the plugs. I think factory torque on the plug is in inch pounds which is not a lot of torqure. Most people do not own a torque wrench let alone one that reads in inch pounds to do this job correctly and I think that causes a lot more problems.

Since you are going to go through the work to remove them you might as well go aftermarket if you can aford it and give a little performance up-grade to the ole girl.

Jeff

 

That's the plan Jeff. Just gotta find heads that will fit and also gonna give a performance boost.
, Vince

 

a company called patriot performance has heads to fit the 5.4 as well as ford racing and from what i understand the pi heads were on everything made after 1999 but i may be wrong

 

Thanks RKM, I'll check patriot out see what they got.

 

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