My 1998 PI cam swap.

[Casper98gt]

Well, i installed the PI cams in my NPI 98 Gt today.

Started out with: Cams, Cam bolts, 6 qts. Mobil 1 oil and Motorcraft filter, assembly lube, 180 degree thermostat.

Started off by yanking the CAI out of my way and nitrous silinoids. Took my IAC hose and PCV hose out of the way. Then started taking the bolts out of the valve cover on the right side. You will need a swivel 8mm, a deep 8 mm and a 13mm deep socket. There are all 8mm except the one at the back of the cover is a 13mm.

Once i got all the bolts out there is silicone at the front where the valve cover meets the front cover. So use a scraper or razor blade to get it off. Once everything is clear the cover can come off.

After the valve cover is off you can now see the cam exposed. First i use the Ford tool to jam in the timing chain so the timing doesnt jump on me. I dont remove the front cover when i do cams. But if you dont have the right tools then youre probably going to. Alot of garages will remove the front cover and re-time. But i dont. Then i used another Ford tool to remove the roller follwers.

After all 8 rollers are out of my way now i could remove the 10mm bolts holding down the girdles. Which in my thoughts are the biggest pieces of trash ever. They are cheap aluminum and they break....trust me. So after the number 3/4 girdle cracking i used my diegrinder and cut them up so they are now just cam caps like the PI motors use. So now all the bolts are out and girdles are off, now time to remove the cam gear. I used my impact gun with 18mm socket. Buzzed it off and slid the gear off. Put in the new cam and used assembly lube excessivly. Put the cam girdles back on and modified one in the rear. Then torqued down the cam girdles to 100 inch lbs. Then torqued down the cam gear to 95 ft. lbs.

If you notice in the picture the rear 3/4 girdles are modified. But thats only because they cracked.

Now i can put the rockers back in. Putting each cam lobe to the top and installing them one by one. Its now time to install the valve cover. I bought 2 brand new valve covers with gaskets in them from ebay shipping to my house for 12 dollars. So now i have new valve covers, clean!! Now its time for the other side.

So the other side was a bit more time consuming, but i took quick care of it. Start by removeing all the plug wires out of the way. Then i removed the coil pack out of my way, followed by the powersteering res. with 3 10mm bolts, 2 on top and one on the left side.

Now i can get to the multiple 13mm bolts and nuts on the bracket in front of the head. Once out of my way i cleaned it up. Removed the cam sensor and set aside. Remove the valve cover and cleaned up the head. Removed the girdles, and rockers. Removed the cam and put more lube on it before assembly.

Now you can reassemble. Put back together the same as the other side. Put my oil in and drained the coolant real quick and threw in the 180 stat.

Now i was ready to fire it up.

Started good and sounds very nice.

Just a few things i have noticed.

First off it runs better, i dunno why but it does. The motor doesnt shake NEARLY as much now.

Sounds much louder. Not so much the CAM sound, but alot differerent sound.

Much more powerful above 2700rpms. I only pulled up to 5k rpms, but much better. Stronger and along with the PI intake i have it feels alot stronger then a stock 99+ car.

When i take the car up to 3-4k rpms and let off....it comes down alot better and is much more responsive.

Next to dyno it. :banana: O0

 

[jfor441]

Nice write up man! O0 Let us know your dyno numbers when you get them.

 

[Willis_98GT]

i want to do this so bad, but it just worries the shit out of me b/c i don't want to mess anything up... and god knows what a shop would charge for this. i mean it looks easy... but i don't know.

 

[Casper98gt]

It is very easy. With the tools i have i have done many of these. This was my first write up i took my time and used my camera. I have done 2 96's and now my 98. Have done 4 PI intake swaps now. I can see why youre weary though. If youre not sure then i wouldnt say do it. but youre right, i have charged 100.00 to do this swap when you provide the cams. But i have also heard the area of 450-550 for labor in a shop. Im all set.

 

[Willis_98GT]

your no where near texas are you?

 

[MustangMatt96GT]

He is in New Jersey! Casper its good to see you on this site too! And I have a question! How hard is it to replace the valve springs with the heads on the car? Couldnt I rig up a thing that I could screw into the sparkplug hole and connect to my compressor? That way I could compress enough air to keep the valves from dropping into my cylinders!

 

[Olstangguy]

Glad to see you posting here Casper98. I have used your stuff from other boards. Welcome here.

 

[Willis_98GT]

damn, well i guess i'll do some more research, and when the day comes it comes.

 

[Casper98gt]

No im not near texas. im in New Hampshire. ( NOT New Jersey ) But im soon moving to Conroe, TX. You can always call me if you decide to try it and have problems. I have been called by nearly 20 different people from forums. haha.

MustangMatt, whats happening :dancing6: I have resigned as moderator at modded. :thumb: Anyways. I actually had one of my keepers come off my valve. So its actually very easy to install new springs with the head still on the car. Only thing you would need the head off for is the valve. What you will need is a compression checker and you just put air from a airline on the fitting and it compresses the cylinder to keep the valve from falling into the cylinder. Good stuff.

Im glad to be here as well...lots of good tech info. Nice place so far, i havent run into any :aresehole: 's yet. But there are always some everywhere.

 

[DropTopPony]

Nice addition to the forum O0

You won't run into that many of the jackass's that are on the other forums most of us frequent...so far we have been lucky.
Keep posting we can always use more tech members.

 

[Willis_98GT]

No im not near texas. im in New Hampshire. ( NOT New Jersey ) But im soon moving to Conroe, TX. You can always call me if you decide to try it and have problems. I have been called by nearly 20 different people from forums. haha.

MustangMatt, whats happening :dancing6: I have resigned as moderator at modded. :thumb: Anyways. I actually had one of my keepers come off my valve. So its actually very easy to install new springs with the head still on the car. Only thing you would need the head off for is the valve. What you will need is a compression checker and you just put air from a airline on the fitting and it compresses the cylinder to keep the valve from falling into the cylinder. Good stuff.

Im glad to be here as well...lots of good tech info. Nice place so far, i havent run into any :aresehole: 's yet. But there are always some everywhere.


well lol when are you moving?

 

[dutman98]

Thanks for the write up. Good info.

 

[Casper98gt]

No problem. Im a Ford tech and i have done pretty much everything you can imagin to a Mustang. So if you have any questions just ask. I dont really see me moving there in the very near future but within the next year.

Droptop....i cat stop watching that short clip in youre sig. ;D

 

[ripper]

So you didnt have to pull the timing gears off to install the cams?

 

[Casper98gt]

You need to remove the cam gears. But as far as front cover, and crank gear. No.

 

[jEEd]

well first off welcome to the forums casper :] nice to see you have joined us! so you've resigned on modded? thats cool, i think that was the first forum i was on then i moved over to MF & SN95Forums. woots! oh btw casper i just got my full pi swap and heads back from the shop from valve jobs/recondition/resurfaced etc... :] so im stoked to install it soon.

let me know how the dyno turns out :] any tips for me when i do my full pi swap in like 2weeks? (im doing it with my dad whos a mechanic) thanks!

 

[Casper98gt]

Hey man! Havent talked to you in a little while huh. Thats good news that youre going full PI. Did you spend any money going into the heads at all. Or did you just do new valves and seals ? either way you will be happy.

Any tips ? Just good luck and if you have questions you know what to do. Its all pretty much remove and assemble from here on out. O0

 

[jEEd]

gosh i wished i had more money to port them :'( but basically just new valves seals etc... everything is done to the heads except a port job. ='[

and the owner of the mustang shop (GRC in Mission Viejo, CA) recommended that i shouldn't upgrade my cams because its not worth the money for how much hp you get (stage 2 cams + new valve springs + tune to get so much hp when a nos kit would do better for less than half the price) :-\

i got my full PI Swap kit for $700 out the door 04 PI Intake w/ aluminum xover and 03 heads / cams w/ 15-20k miles and the heads came with a valve job done to it so that saved me a buncha money since my dad told me valvejobs are normally 300$ a head. :

just waiting to install it :] hehe i look like a noob on this forum but i just dont post very much and i havent gotten around to putting up my sig / avatar.

 

[drifts14x]

Hey man, welcome aboard. I really like your writeup, if only I had a 4.6, lol. Anyways I think we should make this a sticky, it's really informative and well-written.

 

[ripper]

You make this sound too easy LOL. So if i want to go from stage1 cams to stage2 I can do it without pullin my cover or chains? I have a PI motor. Sorry if im missing somthing im old and senile Casper but I get along with everyone .

And the motors new (900 miles) so I dont need to check anything under there i know its all good.