I put in a set of JE pistons 30 over, full length headers, ported and polished blower, spec stage 3 clutch, 2.8 pully w/ chip, cold air intake, billet flow throttle body, Kenne Bell boost-a-pump, sub-frame conn., drive shaft loop, and a few other odds and ins. My question is since it's an EARLY '03 what do I watch for with the "bad heads?" I've about got it up and runnig again. There was no tick when I pulled the motor and from what I understand if it's going to tick it will do it right off the bat. My car has 6k miles.
The best test for the "Tick" is to drive the car right up next to a solid concrete or brick wall (The Drive-Thru at your favorite fast food place works well for this). Keep the drivers side of the vehicle as close to the wall as you can. Now roll down the drivers window and listen to the engine at idle. If you have the "tick" it will bounce off the wall and echo right into the drivers seat. Very easy to tell if you have it or not! If you have to strain to hear it, then you don't have it! Here is a link for an MP3 recording of the "tick". Mine sounded just like this both times! Right-Click/Save-As P.S. Is the motor and tranny back in the car? Did you happen to install the Apten Cooling Mod while the motor or tranny was out? U.M.
I had to do something the motor was burning itself up. The Apten upgrade can be done without pulling the motor, infact I pulled it off before pulling the motor. Don't get me wrong its tight but it do-able. It will cost you 600 bucks plus the shipping costs which isn't to bad, and they do an exelent job.
