are these heads worth getting, and will they fit?

Mar 31, 2005
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hey all, i have a chance to buy a set of gt-40 style heads casting # F3ZE-AA (90% sure) off of my friends 95 ford lightning it was a 351W. from what i have searched onthe web, i think they are the same heads stock on the 93 cobra. are they worth me picking them up with 50k on them? and what can i expect for HP increases if i do all the necessary improvements in the mean time... fuel pump, injectors, intake, tuner, t/b, maf, cam, blah blah blah... however i would intend to use the already assembled pedestal mount rockers and springs that came with it. if any of you all have some recommendations for a cam and intake combo to match that would ultimately go great with a set of twisted wedge heads in a year or two(upgrade baby!!!), i would very much appreciate some sound advice from experience. thanks, Kyle
 
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If youre dead set on the twisted wedge heads,qyou should look into their street heat or track heat combo packages. They come with the heads, the intake, a stage 1 cam, the pushrods, and allthe necessary compnents for the install for 2500. A pretty good package deal and that way youll know youre getting components that compliment each other. In the end though it depends on what your ultimate goal for the car is. Some people would say putting that much money into the top end of a stock block is a waste. But like I said, depends on where you want to go and what you want out of it.
 
there are a lotts things i dont like about the trick flow combo... one of which being the way it looks and the other being the power limit with the cam they give you... i would love to bump up to at least the track heat over the street heat and maybe get the eddie intake instead... plus im sure there is a better cam to make more power than the tfs1. i was hoping i could step things up in all these departments and just use the gt40 heads for the time being until i could graduate from college and buy a better flowing set of heads.. maybe the afr's would make me happier in the end. im wondering if maybe the cost would skyrocket though? plus it would take a lotta research making sure things are matched up well... research taking up time ... i currently dont have enough of. in this regard (no time) i like the trick flow kit
 
Here's a little trick on the Trickflow kit - when you order it from Summit, each piece comes separately - you can have them swap in a different cam. :nice:

Summit price matches if you find it lower elsewhere.

Wes

Edit: I was in your same position a few weeks ago looking at GT40s/GT40ps.

I ended up coming to the conclusion that I would rather spend around a thousand bucks on some new heads than sink a few hundred into some used ones + any machining. I found a killer deal on some Track Heat heads with roller rockers so I went with that.

The upside to the GT40s is that all the stuff from your E7s will swap over so that is money saved right there.

Edit 2: If you can get the heads for cheap enough and don't want them, flip 'em on eBay - those heads go for $300 + shipping all day long.
 
Hello Kyle

If they are indeed gt40 heads that have been used on a Windsor ......
The head bolt holes may have been enlarged

If so ... I think you can do those reducer washer thingies IIRC :shrug:

With 50K on them, the valves may need to be refreshed and the
springs very well could be a bit tired :(

Heck Fire ... OEM springs are barely adequate when new :rlaugh:

Just be careful you don't sink too much money in those old heads ;)

Now ... Lets talk about the TFS kit :)

From all the dyno pulls I've seen of the most popular after market
h/c/i combos, I'd say it you used the stage 1 cam and you did .......

TFS or AFR heads
TFS or Edel intake

IMHO ... It ain't gonna really make all that much of a difference

Here are three variations for your viewing :D

tmpvalue01.jpg


I would submit the biggest difference would be your choice
between long or mid length runner upper
and
Your choice between shorties or LT's

btw ... I'm a big believer in custom cams ... see sig ;)

I'm with you ... TFS uppers are not my favorite looking intake
but
They preform reasonably well and give pretty good value :)

About that research Kyle ... come on my friend ... piece of cake :D

All you gotta do is start saving combo info and their dyno pulls
as you run across them on the various sites ;)

Before you know it ... you got a valuable database :Word:
and
You an easily spot the trends of various combo parts used :nice:

Grady
 
alright a couple of things... could thoose heads be used in place of my e7's as my stock...ish combo stands without any fuel, injector, tune or cam upgrades? if so i might just buy them for 300-350 and throw them on this winter... until the other combo comes in.. if not, i will not buy them and wait for some funds to accumulate. and just throwin it out there grady.. i dont have time for ANYTHING grady... full time satudent, 40+ hours of work, and 20+ hours of unpaid internship around here at UMASS. honestly, I have no time, especially with all 300 to 500 level classes... the only time i will have to do research will be winter break. but thanks all for the replies and i will keep th8is in mind. BTW, who would i go thoeugh to get a custom cam? and would they have to just hear a list of my combo? or actually see my combo parts in person to take measurements/ test them for flow #'s... aka would it have to be a local shop? or is it pretty much a mail order deal? thanks, Kyle
 
alright a couple of things... could thoose heads be used in place of my e7's as my stock...ish combo stands without any fuel, injector, tune or cam upgrades? if so i might just buy them for 300-350 and throw them on this winter... until the other combo comes in.. if not, i will not buy them and wait for some funds to accumulate. and just throwin it out there grady.. i dont have time for ANYTHING grady... full time satudent, 40+ hours of work, and 20+ hours of unpaid internship around here at UMASS. honestly, I have no time, especially with all 300 to 500 level classes... the only time i will have to do research will be winter break. but thanks all for the replies and i will keep th8is in mind. BTW, who would i go thoeugh to get a custom cam? and would they have to just hear a list of my combo? or actually see my combo parts in person to take measurements/ test them for flow #'s... aka would it have to be a local shop? or is it pretty much a mail order deal? thanks, Kyle

I found a few GT 40 & 40p combos :D

Beware ... I have no idea about how these dyno results were rated :nono:

I'm sure you are seeing a mixture of STD and SAE ratings
Since STD usually yields higher ratings than SAE
Well ... I just wanted to point that out :)

gt40_04-27.jpg


You could bolt those heads on and use all the other stock parts
but
The Q you would need to ask yourself is .........

Does the gain justify all that work

Think about air flow ;)

It is choked up by the stock parts
It is then freed up by the better heads
It is once more choked up by the stock manifolds

Lets consider it like this :)

Look at the Cobra with its heads/intake/cam/1.7rr's,24's
I've seen them dyno around 230 to 240 rwhp SAE

You will have the heads only ... so ... you will crank out less rwhp

I see doing a heads only upgrade as too much work for so little gain :shrug:

Only you can know how much rwhp is gonna be acceptable

I hope that gives you some idea of what to expect :)

On the custom cam Q's
Lots of peeps have used Ed at FTI & Jay at Camshaft Innovations
No need to take them your stuff ... just contact them

Grady
 
Droptop ford, just out of curiosity, do you live in Mass? If so, what part. Just wondering as it seems that not a lot of Stangers from MA are on here. Back to the topic at hand.. if you plan on going with better parts, you might want to save the money you were going to spend on the GT40s and put it aside to save up for the other parts. It would seem like a lot of work for someone with not a lot of time to do a head swap, then down the road, swap them again with different heads. I was going to take the one piece at a time approach myself but theres no point doing things twice. Besides, then youd have to spend money on heads twice. I guess you could always sell the Gts down the road but I think youd be better off saving the money for your ultimate goal as opposed to a temporary fix that might not net you what you expect / hope. Im impatient and hate waiting but I guess it comes with the territory. In any case if you ever need any help on your car and are in this area, let me know. I work at a Lincoln dealership south of Worcester.
 
Zero chance... yes i live in mass, i go to school at umass amherst and am renting in the area year round.. my hometown is in western mass as well. its great to see another stanger on here from western mass. back to the topic... looking at the chart grady just posted... that seems pretty assuring to do the head swap... i could do the heads and intake for now, and my best friend has a set of 24# injectors from his 90 LX... then if i do the swap for better heads, cam etc later on that will be cool... ill just sell the gt 40's. the way i see it, i will do the work in january at my parents house when im onyl working and not going to school as well... then when i want to do even better heads, i will have graduated and ill have mroe time then. lots to think about. thanks guys, Kyle