More bad luck with another set of PI heads

Wild Horses

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Well I picked my first entire Romeo PI motor with intake, heads/cams and block for 175. Hell yea right? Nope. Those cam journals were scorn and burnt up beyond repair. PI paperweights.

so I was at the local mustang yard today and saw a set of pi heads sitting there. Grabbed them for 150 buck. They are super clean like they were redone then never used. Well I didn't know prior to tonight's research that windsor heads have individual cam caps instead of the cage. Looked up the casting number and sure enought they're windsors and my valve covers won't line up. I have an extra front cover that fits the bolts that go into the front of the windsor heads just by chance. If it were a Romeo front cover they wouldn't fit through right? Well anyway my questions are: Should I just drill out my non pi 98 front cover or go through the trouble of the different acc drive setup? I have a set of Romeo cams with bolt on gears...can't I just drop them in to get rid of the press on style?
What vehicle do I get the correct valve covers from? 99-00 gt? And are there any other differences performance wise and their flow compared to Romeo? Also anything else I may need to know to make these work right...

ive vey got no luck with pi heads..
 
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I was just reading about this last night on mustang forums.I believe it was 1999 only year for the windsors.Also it stated that performance/flow was the same.
I can't say if that's accurate,but if you search " nine hole pi heads" you should come up with the same article.
 

D3VST8R96GT

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I was just reading about this last night on mustang forums.I believe it was 1999 only year for the windsors.Also it stated that performance/flow was the same.
I can't say if that's accurate,but if you search " nine hole pi heads" you should come up with the same article.
No.

Windsor heads came on all 5.4 2v

As for 4.6 99-01 there is a rare chance you got it in your mustang.

You can pull the valve covers off any f series truck with a 5.4 man..... the timing cover should be OK.

The only worry is if the cam caps get mixed up your screwed the can journals have a extremely tight clearance like .000X
 
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Wild Horses

Wild Horses

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No.

Windsor heads came on all 5.4 2v

As for 4.6 99-01 there is a rare chance you got it in your mustang.

You can pull the valve covers off any f series truck with a 5.4 man..... the timing cover should be OK.

The only worry is if the cam caps get mixed up your screwed the can journals have a extremely tight clearance like .000X

these cam caps are stamped with a corresponding # on each journal. I got them from a mustang specific salvage yard so that's what they came out of. Don't the 5.4s have cam phaser holes in each cover or is that just the newer ones?
 

96blak54

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There should be a 5.4l imbosed stamp inside the head somewhere. I know for a fact 4.6l npi heads are not the same as 5.4l npi heads. The main difference being the 5.4l exhaust port structure is bigger under the valve. Im sure there is a difference between the two in the pi castings as well, but im unsure of the differences. Just be 100% sure the spark plug threads are good. The 5.4l 2v are the most notorious for blowing plugs out.
 

DropTopPony

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You stock timing cover works with the Windsor heads you just need the correct size bolts to go into the heads.

Windsor valve covers should not be an issue to find.


Some info that may help you.


More Windsor Head Swap Information:

Windsor Heads/Valve Covers has 13 (driver side) and 14 bolts (passenger side), and Romeo has 11 bolts.

If using Windsor heads (99-00), you will need 99-00 Valve Covers and extra valve cover bolts, Four 10mm bolts and 4 10mm studs (Romeos need 8mm) that put the timing cover to the head for a total of 8 with 4 on each side. Drill out heater tube bracket at the back of the head and get bigger bolt (10mm x 1.5 and 20/25mm) to hold down the bracket.

If you want to piece together the extra timing cover bolts and studs, here are the sizes:

(A) 5 long double studs (10x1.5 [COLOR=#1B8EDE !important]thread[/COLOR] both studs, 18mm Hex) that go into the top 4 holes of the T.C. and 1 goes in the outside lower Driver side.

(B) 1 shorter double stud (10x1.5 / 6x1.00 thread, 18mm hex) that goes in the Pass. side outside lower hole.

(C) 2 Standard Timing Cover bolts (10x1.5 thread, 13mm hex) these go in the inside lower holes of both banks.

Windsor heads have separate cam journals and Romeo heads have two bridge style caps.

Windsor cam gears are press fit and not bolt-on like 96-98 and 01-04.

Chain guide differences in Romeo and Windsor:

The left bank chain guide has a minor difference. The early Romeo guides use two bolts in the [COLOR=#1B8EDE !important]cylinder head[/COLOR] for the upper mount and a dowel in the block for the lower locator. The Windsor engines use 1 bolt in the head and one bolt in the block. The right bank Windsor head will have two holes in the head so it's a direct bolt in on that side. The left side, however will only have one bolt hole in the head so you'll be using 1 bolt and 1 dowel on the left bank if you use the original Romeo guides.

In other words, it will work fine either way.

Timing Cover Bolt - N808142-S437 – M10 - (Comes in Pack of 4, washers included)
Timing Cover Stud - N808140-S309 - M10 - (Comes in Pack of 4, washers included)
Timing Cover Stud - N808529-S309 -M10X1 5X1 - (Comes in Pack of 4)

Complete Write Up here

http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/pi-headswap-write-up.717166/



This is an older write up so some part numbers may be out of date but I added this one because most of the original PI Swap How To's involved Windsor Heads.
 

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