Thinking of 99 head swap? BEWARE...
 

If you’re thinking of doing the 99 or up head swap you might want to read this.
I recently put a 2000 MOTOR & INTAKE in my 97 GT.
I have not one bad word to say about the installation, motor or the power I received with the new engine, but what I have a ***** about is the company’s that promote the sale of the 99 heads & intake for around $1500.00.
Don’t get me wrong but I have to let you know this.
If you look at the 97 or 98 intakes they have 2 (TWO) Temp sensor locations right.
Take a look at the 2000 & up intakes… “Only one”.
If you decide to get an intake for your Tang get the one with the aluminum front intake runner.
If you buy the 99 or up “head, intake combo” you will be left with one extra sensor to plug in & no-where to put it.
Call them if you want I did in order to bring you this info.
They will tell you to do what I had to do.
On the left of where the radiator hose goes into the intake is a “FLAT SMOOTH” surface.
Take your intake to a machine shop; let them tap into the “flat” area for the other temp gauge.
If you don’t do this, be prepared for a motor that runs like garbage.
The check engine light will be on, so will the fan all the time, the motor will rev high when started & all kinds of other stupid stuff.
This is just my experience in this matter. I have had lots of conversations with a lot of people in this matter.
I did it to mine.
It may not be the only way to do it but it’s by far the easiest way.
One hour of labor (about $60 plus or minus $10 or $15 dollars) plus the head intake combo $1500.00 that’s about $1560 or so.
Not bad for a big difference in horsepower.
I can say I REALLY notice the difference.
You can contact me at Scottie_contant@yahoo.com if you have ANY questions.
Good luck.
I hope this is of some use to you guys.
I have to find this out the hard way.
E-mail me with the results of your project if you want.
Scottie

Ummm....just a question Scottie. If you swapped in a 2000 or newer motor....where did you put the other sensor ??? Because if I'm not mistaken the 2000 intake should have only had a place for one sensor.Wouldn't it be easier to just pop it in one of the frost plugs after you extend the wires ?????? One in the front of the block and the other under the driver side header.:o

That just may be right FrankenStang I didn't say that MY way was the only way, I just said "for me" it was the way I did it. If I didn't say it & I think I did I said that on the 99 & up intake there is only "one" sensor" location.
However, if you have a better way please let the people in this forum know what to do.
It seems you have quite a lot of knowledge in this matter.
I just wanted to post my experience to help the group.
I have found NOTHING to do with what I have posted ANYWHERE on the net.
I just wanted to help.
Thanks for your input.
Scottie

Scottie
 

I wasn't trying to bash you or anything...it's just that I was curious to know if you had swapped the engine yourself or had someone do it for you? If you had done it yourself I can see that breaking new ground like that you could run into some problems,but if you had someone else do it I would expect them to have a better knowledge of what they are doing. Especially if you're paying for the work.

I had Kimnack Ford here in Virginia Beach do the engine install & took the car to Abacus Racing to have them install the temp sensor in the intake.
I found out about the few good spots to put the sensor only after calling people like Sean Highland, Steeda & the like.
I just thought I would post some info on the whole thing so that other Tang owners would be better informed about the pros & cons of doing this.
I didn't mean to come across harsh in my reply the last time.
No offense taken. Sorry about that FrankenStang.
Scottie

I drilled/tapped into the thermostat housing for the 2nd temp sensor. Took me about 20 minutes...................:p

97ScottieGT.... Damn dude. It sounds like you have a beast on your hands. You should check out The Hampton Roads Racing Board

Introduce your self in the lounge. There are a lot of people in the area on there. You may already know some of them.

Damn.....why the hell didn't you ask? Before I started offering the headswap kit I used to tell each one of my porting customers exactly where to relocate the sensor and how to do it. Now that I have the Ported PI Headswap Package on the market it's not necessary. I drill and tap the aluminum coolant crossover passage so all the customer has to do is apply teflon paste to the threads of the sensor and screw it in.

If you EVER have any questions about these engines don't hesitate to ask. I'll be glad to help.