Holley SMII Users

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
9,516
4
79
Arkansas
I am getting ready to mock up the Holley SMII on the AFR 185 Comps and wanted some feedback from those who have installed one in their fox. I am getting prepared to minimize trouble spots.

Are there valve cover clearance issues? Here are the ones I have:

m6000c302.jpg


Fuel rail clearance issues?

Vacuum tree issues?

Hood Clearance issues?

Thanks for any feedback/pictures for the set-up.
 

Attachments

  • m6000c302.jpg
    m6000c302.jpg
    23.3 KB · Views: 161
  • Sponsors (?)


Shouldn't be a problem with those covers. You shouldn't have any problems at all. I see Fox's, SN95's with 347, Systemax Intake, AFR 185's all the time. I ran AFM $50 steel stamped valve covers on mine, used the stock sloping hood of a SN95 with that intake, FOX hood even better. Stock fuel rails on mine with 30lb injectors. Moved most of the vacuum lines in the fender.

Motor12-29-05.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Motor12-29-05.jpg
    Motor12-29-05.jpg
    65 KB · Views: 383
David, the intake might contact those covers, Id look at the throttle bracket too. Ive slotted the throttle bracket to gain clearance in the past on various set-ups.

Use a 1262 gasket, you may need to mill the lower to acheive perfect port alignment, the Holley vac tree comes out the back, depending how many lines you need you may not use it.
 
Thanks for the info so far guys. I am using a 1262 gasket as the SMII has been ported. Will a 3/8" spacer clear the stock hood? I am not going to replace the hood, but I am willing to shave some material from the valve covers/intake if needed, assuming the 3/8" spacer does not work. Thanks for the heads-up on the TB bracket.
 
I know that's BS cause you've done more work on this site with head swap pictures and articles than just about any other user.

I'm sure Ed is happier than anyone that you're back in the game too. I like the direction you're headed in. I've actually thought through your exact combo before (AFR 185 comps, Systemax II, and an FTI cam with about 10-10.5:1 compression on a 347 would be a bad MFer.

Chris
 
Well mocked it up today and I am quite pleased. The SMII clears the valve covers with probably .100" of an inch and the lower sits a little low on the AFR 185's, but the ports match quite well.

The 347 will come some day (I hope). Atleast now I have the top-end to support one - I am all about perfecting a combination and want to get this one right. This current 306 cam should run well (23X*/23X* @ .050" and .6XX"/.5XX" lift figures).

Rick - Your studs helped align everything nicely. :)
 
Chris,

Here are some of the pictures I took when I was putting it back together after a couple years. A couple of the buildup and a couple of the port alignment between the AFR 185 Comps and Holley SMII and the seal point between the lower and the block.
 

Attachments

  • P1010646.jpg
    P1010646.jpg
    199.3 KB · Views: 196
  • P1010648.jpg
    P1010648.jpg
    203.4 KB · Views: 249
  • P1010650.jpg
    P1010650.jpg
    164.1 KB · Views: 437
  • P1010651.jpg
    P1010651.jpg
    196.7 KB · Views: 222
  • P1010652.jpg
    P1010652.jpg
    187.2 KB · Views: 233
Nice combination! :nice: What happened with the old stuff you had?

Hey Mike,

The car sat for a couple years due to other priorities and I decided it was time for a change, rather than sell the car. The old parts were sold and the new parts started coming in from Ed. I knew since I had the room to play with (larger pistons from the rebuild 5 years ago), that I wanted to go more aggressive. I told Ed I wanted another 3-5 MPH out of my 1/8 mile time from the same 306. It was already running 87.33 MPH @ 3400 lbs before.

So he recommended:

AFR 185 Competition Heads with titanium retainers
Ported Holley SMII by FTI
Billet Camshaft by FTI
Roller Thrust Bearing
Morel Link Bar Lifters

He also wants it to have 1 3/4" Accufab Longtubes and 3" mid-pipe, but it will be a while before I splurge on those.

I am ironing out the details as I have a leak at the waterpump (fixing tomorrow) and a leaking heater coolant tube (Tom is sending me a good used one). I got it to run and it sounds great, I'm just really anxious to drive it. :)

I really just wanted to see what a true street (could be a DD if need be) 306 could do. :nice:
 
Well good luck with it. I am sure those parts cost a pretty penny but will work really good. Are you going to have that lower port matched?

My wife reminds me of that everyday. As for the port match, Ed said it looked good. He did a good job porting it to match, considering he didn't have the block/heads/intake with them at one time. It matches up quite well actually.
 
I put my new combo together this summer, including the AFR185 comp heads and Holley Systemax intake. I radiused the intake ports on the heads to give a little smoother flow into the heads from the intake. I used the stock fuel rails, factory valve covers (I was shocked they cleared, though it did take a little grinding around the baffle area), and used Fel Pro 1262R gaskets, because they have larger port sizes, eliminating interference in the ports. It went together well, and works well.