I want to pull the cylinder heads in order to change out the lifters (seems to me the only way). My question is do I need to remove the exhaust manifold or merely loosen the bolts for them? I'm hoping I just need to loosen the bolts because I can't remove a bolt on the other side of the exhaust manifold connected to the y-pipe flange. Thank you!

 

You need to either unbolt the exhaust manifolds from the heads, or unbolt the exhaust manifold flange from the downpipe in order to remove the heads. The second method lets you remove the heads with the manifolds still attached. Simply loosening the bolts won't allow the heads to come off and you need to get them clear off and out of the way so you can properly clean the deck and head surfaces for the new gaskets. And you know those are stretch bolts so they need to be replaced as well.

However, I presume you're doing this because you have the dreaded 2.9 lifter tick? If that's the case, new lifters almost never makes it go away.

 

Yes, I meant unbolt the exhaust manifold (but leaving it still bolted to the downpipe), is that enough to pull the head?

You mean the bolts between exhaust manifold and engine block are stretch bolts and need replacing?

Yes I have ticking noise, so how do I get rid of the noise if replacing lifters doesn't help? Thank you!!

 

Yes, with the manifolds still bolted to the downpipe you should have sufficient room to get the heads off.

No, the head bolts themselves are stretch bolts.

It's been a while since I messed with a 2.9 and haven't really kept up on them, but the lifter tick is from a poorly designed oiling system. These blocks were originally designed for the 2.6/2.8 engines which had solid lifters and when they morphed into the 2.9 there wasn't sufficient oiling for the hydraulic lifters they switched to. Some 2.9s seem to run well for years and years without ever developing lifter tick, and others suffer from it starting at a fairly low mileage. I've never seen a definitive fix for it, but do some research, perhaps someone has finally come up with something. I've recently read that staying with a 5W30 oil can help.
I yanked my own 2.9 years ago after getting so tired of the tick that I couldn't take it any more.

 

When you yanked your 2.9 did you replace it with another engine? What are recommended? I'm thinking I might need to consider that option one day..