Is it worth porting stock heads?

I think it is soo worth it. I mean, you can buy a set of used aluminum heads for 7-900 on ebay but they are usually used and beat on so you have to take them ( I would take them anyways) to a machine shop and that is going to add to the cost as well.

I will say that I am very interested in the aluminum heads from PAW. Anyone have anymore information on them??? decent amount of flow out of the box and I wonder what they will do once ported.
 
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tbadair said:
I think it is soo worth it. I mean, you can buy a set of used aluminum heads for 7-900 on ebay but they are usually used and beat on so you have to take them ( I would take them anyways) to a machine shop and that is going to add to the cost as well.

I will say that I am very interested in the aluminum heads from PAW. Anyone have anymore information on them??? decent amount of flow out of the box and I wonder what they will do once ported.
Go to Ford Racing's website for specs on the heads. I am sure if you take decent heads and port them, they become great heads. Then you get into that issue of is the cost of porting making it more ideal to just buy AFRs, etc.

EDIT: to order from PAW, https://secure.pawengineparts.com/partsorderform.htm
Any book I have picked up on engine building or general mustang power has good things to say about PAW - they sell so much that they can have really low prices.
 
I built a motor for a friend of mine back in 1993 with stock ported E7's that made it on the cover of MM&FF in October of 95.

It consisted of stock rebuilt .030 over block with stock crank and stock rods with 10:1 pistons.

Stock ported E7's with 1.94-1.60 valves, E-303 cam, 1.6 Motorsport rockers, ported GT-40 intake, 65mm TB, stock ported mass air! , stock injectors and 1 5/8 MAC LT's w/ 2 1/2" h-pipe and tails with 2 chamber flows.

The car still had all ascessories, full interior, and a large speaker box with 2 12's in the hatch. The car weighed 3550 with driver. Best time with this combo was 12.42 @ 109.56. Switched the cam for a Comp grind and went 12.20 @ 110.81.

We never dyno'ed the car because back in the early 90's no one had dyno's.
But with that weight and still running stock stuff like the mass air and injectors, I feel it did well. It could have even gone much faster if it had a better suspension, bigger mass air, better tune and pulled some weight out. 11's would have been no problem.

Did he spend a lot of money on the heads? Yes. But back then there were not an abundance of choices so you did what you had to do.

Can E7's make good power? My answer is yes.
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tbadair said:
I think it is soo worth it. I mean, you can buy a set of used aluminum heads for 7-900 on ebay but they are usually used and beat on so you have to take them ( I would take them anyways) to a machine shop and that is going to add to the cost as well.

I will say that I am very interested in the aluminum heads from PAW. Anyone have anymore information on them??? decent amount of flow out of the box and I wonder what they will do once ported.
The y303 price seems to good to be true.If true, it's a no brainer vs.porting stock heads. My y303's were new (takeoff's) for $680.They flowed something like 205/125 out of the box and 224/150 after porting just the bowls($300).They're a very nice street head because of their smaller ports compared to some aftermarket heads(including the x303's) which usually have more raw power but aren't always as street friendly.I have absolutely no regrets about my head decision compared to porting the stock heads.Of course, if you have the cash,I think 165's would be the best choice.