cylinder heads for daily driver - kinda long -sorry

All this work you are describing on the E7s will cost you near $1000 bucks unless you have a buddy in the business. Get budget aftermarket, bolt em on and go. E7s are doorstops.

all this work is going to cost you, as indicated, about $1000. and in the end you wont gain as much performance as just bolting on a good set of aftermarket heads like the world products windsor jr heads that run about $900 ready to bolt on with 1.94in/1.60ex valves made from stainless steel, and include new valve springs and are set up for screw in rocker arm studs. by the way, my advice for street heads, DO NOT POLISH the ports. leave them as cast for better performance.

Thats a bit of a contradiction in my opinion...

I still think the gt40P heads are the best bet. Small chambers, small ports, small valves, cheap, readily available, yet flow much better than E7s.

Not sure i can use the GT40p's with my JBA shorty headers, if i can let me know because i saw a pair at the junkyard last Friday.

Thanks.

Well i just did a quick Google on GT40p and shorty headers, looks like all i would need to do is just change the spark plug wires to 90 degree boots because of the different plug angle or is there something else?

Thanks.

Ooohhh, you didnt mention the shorty headers. I sort of assumed you had stock manifolds. Not real sure what to tell you there. Ive heard of people using shorty spark plugs and 90* plug wires, but I think you would need to just try it and see if it works or not.

Most of the time you have to get special headers for the gt40p heads ($$$). You can run 1.6 or 1.7 rockers on gt40 heads, but why would you want to run 1.6? 1.7 ratio will give you more power and have less friction since they are roller rockers. You shouldn't have any piston to valve clearance problems with your cam, but it would still be a good idea to check if you did use 1.7 ratio rockers.

Just like everyone else said, by the time you do what you want to with those E7s you're going to be more money than just buying some better flowing heads and bolting them on. GT40 or 40p heads are a 30+ hp bolt on.

Another thing about E7s, regardless of your opinion of them: They have no resale value.

If you spend a grand on em, it's down a hole. I put some Performers RPMs on my car, knowing full well that if I upgrade later, I could get 75% of the money back for em on ebay. Stock heads go for dirt.

Good post. I agree with the AFR185. AFR has a study posted on their web site where an otherwise stock 302 made more power with 185s than with 165s EVERYWHERE from idle all the way to red line.

I would buy a set of GT40s IF you can find them in great condition, not worn out. If you buy them worn out, by the time you pay to get everything fixed you're getting close to the price of aluminum heads. Beware of cash for clunker refugees - a lot of V8 Explorers went down that way.

Buy once, buy something good. Give yourself room to grow. You'll thank me later. I always tend to try to get away cheap and it's not uncommon that I end up nickel and diming myself too much and I don't get as much as I could have for the money. I have GT40s on my Fox Mustang, but they were low mileage and already had port work done. If you can find something like that, then it could be a good deal.

But at the same time, you can pick em up(E7's) for nearly nothing. Which is what I did with a couple sets. The first I paid $50 for, spent an afternoon porting and polishing, sent them off to the machineshop for a valve job and new springs ($100 for the job done with a Serdi machine for the seats and another $80 for new springs) That was nearly 10 years ago and they're still doing the job on a third short block. The other set I got for free and so far have just the porting job I did on em. They got shelved afterwards.

Lots of good choices for a street motor . I would stick with a 1.94 head and stay away from the 2.02's if you want to keep the low end power.
I have the windsor jr's and JBA shorties i like the combo but the plug wires are very close to the headers and the spark plugs choices(shorties) are limited due to header clearance.

This is true. If you can find a set where someone else already did all the work, they can be a reasonable deal. I doubt the OP has the equipment or knowledge to do his own porting.

I have the equipment but the not the knowledge, best i could safely do would be a gasket match. I've decided to go with either the GT40P's with hi-po manifolds (I will check my JBA shorties for fit and will grind on them if necessary) or Edelbrock E-streets, which seem like a warmed over stock head in aluminum that will fit the needs of my mild engine.

I'm not looking for any future improvements, no interest in horsepower. this is to be a daily driver and once i get my 55 Pontiac/LS1 conversion done it will be my Wife's driver. ( being from China she actually surprised me that it "would be cool" to drive the Stang).
http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/images/smilies/jaw.gif


Thanks again for the replies.

You may want to send your 289 heads to this guy.
http://www.hunterstyle.com/thumper/

He knows what he is doing. I had a stock 94 mustang commuter and didn't want to hassle with CA smog laws. I used some thumper E7s and a ported intake. Seat of the pants improvement was substantial. The reason I thought this might work for you is because everything you have fits now. Pull your heads and have Mike go through them, port them and put them back on w/o geometry issues or header issues, etc. No surprises, no hassles is good. You don't seem to need large heads or aluminum.

Stay away from Power heads. They did some heads for me in the 90's and they sucked. Poor QC.

If you are going to use Pro-jection 3, you may also want to check out the new Holley Avenger TBI (minutes away from being released). It is self learning and set to compete with the Projection and FAST EZ TBI kits.

No, don't use a single plane intake with a TBI, but possibly a dual plane with an open spacer.

Last thought. Think about swapping some 3.25 gears into your rear end. You are pushing an aerodynamic brick through 70 mph wind. You probably use more throttle than you should making your 289 work. It won't hurt to bump your rpms to 17-1800 rpms.