cylinder heads for daily driver - kinda long -sorry

Hello

I'm interested in a good set of heads for my daily driver. She used to have a set of E6SE heads but they've since been sold. (they replaced my 67 thermactor heads)

Some info on the car.

67 289 block .040 over with 302 internals, so roughly 306 i guess.

cam is Crower #15206 .246/250 @ .050, lobe seperation 112, cam was recommended to me by Crower (local here in San Diego) because i was looking for smooth idle and torque

AOD tranny with stock 8" with 2.76 final ratio. Stock stall converter 1800 i believe.

Power disc front brakes and a/c

JBA short headers, 2 1/4" exhaust

Car is be used as a daily driver, will rarely ever see over 4000rpm and probably 90% freeway travel. Most interested in fuel economy and keeping the engine in its torque band for freeway cruising, i was turning 1650 rpm @ approx 70 mph but i felt like i was giving it an awful lot of gas to keep it there.

I was looking at the Ford Racing x307's but i'm concerned about the larger high flow ports, the Twisted wedge 170's looked ok but i'm thinking the large 2.02 valves aren't good for my application. I'm leaning towards the AFR 165's (#1472 so i can re-use my roller rockers) plus i plan to have them milled down 4cc to 56cc.

Ive also looked at RHS heads, Thumper, Powerheads, just not really sure what i should be looking for to achieve my goals.

The intake i have right know is an 83 gt 4brrl with 4 hole spacer ( to give the AOD linkage clearance) but I'll be putting on a projection III fuel injection system same time i do the heads, would the weiand Xcelerator with the 4 hole spacer be better for the fuel injection on a daily driver?

I normally post after i run into problems so this time i thought i would post and get all the great advice you guys dish out before spend my hard earned cash.

so any advice would be appreciated, i did search on "daily driver" "best heads" etc, but those goals were more for horsepower applications.

If there are better heads out there that require a switch to stud rocker arms thats ok, ditto if a better final gear ratio helps. Would like to work with the cam i already have, i ran a comp cams xe250h through camquest and it was close to my cam in dynotune.

Thank you.

dont go too big on the heads with a mild 289. you want something that will give you good port velocity, and still allow for good breathing at the higher rpm ranges. a good head for your engine is going to be something like the world products windsor jr heads. they have better ports than stock, and have 1.94in/1.60ex valves. if you want an aluminum head then the edelbrock performer rpm heads, or the afr185 heads are also good on your combination. too big a port or valve and the engine will fall on it face.

What you need to change here is that cam. The reason you're having to give it too much pedal at 70 mph is the engine's rpm isn't in the power band of the cam. (which will be found at a much higher rpm with that cam) The lobe separation is right but the duration is way off for what you're looking for. Something like a stock HO cam or the F4TE cam from a 94-97 turck or van is what you need at 1650 rpms.

Agree with this up until the AFR 185 part. 165s would be more than enough, and given the prices of AFRs, I am not sure I would recommend them for this application. Performers or the smaller valve performer RPms would work great for reasonable money, so would World Products.

I have a very similar engine. I am very happy with the 289 heads. I have a bit more agressive cam and Tri-Y headers. I would have the 289 heads worked on and spend the extra $1000 on something else.

BTW did you put 302 internals in a 289 block? If so you should be careful as the piston skirts are shorter in the 289. You may consider a main girdle. Im not sure about anything, my book just gives a little warning.

That is way, way too much cam for a motor that is staying south of 4000 rpm and has 2.76 gears behind it. Way too much. Way.

I have a 347 with a 3.89 rear and T5 with a 2.95 first gear. Originally it had a 240/249 cam (108 LSA) which did not smooth out until 2500 rpm and had zero low end power. Horrible combo for gas mileage or driving on the street.

Since you want a basic torque motor that won't be revved IMO you could put a decent set of ported stock heads on with the HO cam recommended above. Dual plane intake with a 600 VS carb. Torque peak around 3000 is what you want. High flowing heads with a big buck valve train are a waste of time and money as you will NEVER take advantage of them.

Those numbers are not .050". The cam only has around .380/.400 lift and 170/174 @ .050". With a cam that small I would use home ported stock heads. Remove the valves and take all the ridges off and imperfections.

all the heads i recommended have similar port volumes, the afr 165's are closer to a stock head.

Thanks for the replies so far, yes, my goof on the cam spec's i read the card wrong .246/.250 is the lobe lift. .180/.184 is duration at .050, so is it still a good cam to use? Or would the F4TE still be better? I don't mind doing the roller conversion if it will help achieve my goals.

Guess I'll stick with the stock heads for now, maybe just have hardened seats installed and screw in studs.

Thanks again.

Now that that's clarified, yes, your cam should be fine. (although I'd of picked the F4TE over it) What heads DO you have now ? You said you sold the E6SE's (which were completely adequate for what you're doing) Just a ported set of E7's would do fine. (just opening the exhaust sides and bowl blending the area under the valves)

yes that cam is basically like a stocker.

I just have my original set of 67 289 Thermactor heads, i sold the E6SE's because i thought i was losing too much in compression with the 69cc chambers. I'm thinking a 58 - 60cc chamber will be around 9.5 to 9.2 compression.

Also I'm thinking the cost of getting the stock heads worked on will probably approach the cost of a good set of aftermarket heads. I will look into the Windor Jr and the small valve Edelbrocks mentioned earlier, are the E - street heads good for my application?

Thanks.

Your best bang for the buck is going to be a reworked set of E7's. Mill em .040 to get the chambers down to around 58 ccs. Installing screw in studs in your 67 heads is going to be a waste of money with that cam.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the gt40 heads? These are a great bolt on mod. I'm using a stock H.O. cam with cobra roller rockers (1.6 ratio) and gt40 heads. These heads really aren't that expensive and will outflow ported 289 heads.

Fuel economy

What about a set of 260 heads. If I read the post correctly, the numbers are 1650 and 4000 rpm's. We're not talking about max hp and max performance are we?. Small ports = higher port velocity at 1650 rpms. Open up the exhaust ports some to improve exhaust flow. Otherwise, leave the heads stock. 260's had 8 to 1 C/R. The same heads with 306 would equal about 9.4 to 1.

My $.02

The Cobra roller rockers are 1.7 ratio only. For what he's doing, he doens't need higher flowing heads. And E7's are far more plentiful than the pre GT40P heads.

When's the last time you saw a set of 260 heads for sale ?

Sorry about the typo, I meant 1.7 ratio. E7 heads are way more plentiful, but that's because they were on a lot of applications. Since aluminum heads are pretty cheap, that has brought the price down on gt40 heads. I just bought a set that were ready to run for under $250 shipped.

The OP stated he wanted a set of GOOD heads. By the time you waste your money on porting E7s, you'd be far better off with buying some stock gt40s. If he wanted to go even better, then he could add some cobra roller rockers for $200 from summit.

The Edelbrock E-street (or whatever theyre called) would be fine since as far as I know theyre just performer heads with cheaper valve springs. However, even those might be a bit overkill for your intentions. What kind of exhaust do you have- stock manifolds or headers? If you have stock manifolds, you could probably get away with a set of gt40P heads. Theyre available all day long for $250 or less on ebay or craigslist, flow much better than e7's, and even have a reasonably sized chamber, and you could even get away with the stock springs I think.

OK, so from my understanding a warmed over set of milled E7's will be best for my application.Keep the intake valve small -for velocity and throttle response- and increase the exhaust slightly for better scavenging?

So I'm thinking i might attempt a basic port and polish of a set of E7's, I'm sure i can find some from the local pick-n-pull. I understand the chamber is 62cc is this correct? And is it .006" per 1cc when milling? And anything over .020 would require the manifold to be milled as well?

Gasket match intake/exhaust ports and intake manifold.

Blend intake walls, finishing with 80 grit to retain some texture.

Remove thermactor hump and blend and polish exhaust walls, is it worth increasing valve to 1.55 from the stock 1.45?

Polish combustion chambers.

Will be referencing the standard abrasives article and diyporting.com

And GT40's are not good because of the 1.7 rocker ratio, right? Or can they be used with 1.6 rocker arms?

Thanks.