[Angler1979]

You may also want to take a look at your exhaust manifold. A leak where the manifold meets the head will also make a ticking sound.

BUMP!! the exaust manifolds are famous for cracking, the only thing good about yours is if its a new head the nuts wont be rusted on the studs so it will be an easy swap to put in a header!

 

[Angler1979]

by putting a header on your jeep it will allow it to move exaust gasses out of the cylinder head faster which will result in more horsepower, and tourqe the 4 banger needs all it can can get expecially when running larger tires.

 

[Angler1979]

pull the oil pan and check the conecting rods, is there any fluctioation in oil pressure during all rpm ranges?

 

[Angler1979]

it is normal for oil pressure to rise during acceleration because the more RPMs you have the faster the Oil pump pumps creating more pressure, when you rev up the motor and the pressure gage stutters or even drops you have a bad oil pump, and the end is near unless you take action.

 

[Angler1979]

that sounds fair thats problibly just the long block, your going to have to change over all the external stuff like exaaust manifold, intake manifold, alt, Ext... when you do the motor swap its an exelent opertuinty to install a header!!!