Finally joining the AFR crew!! Killercanary will be proud. :o)

[Imyourzero]

Just bought a set of 58cc stud-mount AFR 165's with the upgraded valve springs and seals. They only have around 200 miles and still look new! Saved a bunch of money over brand spankin' new ones (thanks Jesse! ) and even got a set of free head gaskets. I'm excited!

Last summer when I got my Thumper heads, I took a lot of crap from a lot of people here for buying "hogged out crappy E7 heads." Well those crappy ported E7's made a huge difference in the way my car ran and I was very happy for the (relatively) small amount of money I spent. I've never ridden in a car with AFR's, so all I can say is when I take the E7's off I better feel a HUGE difference from the old tried and true irons. I know AFR's are better engineered and it will be nice to lose the weight on the nose, but I want the budget racers out there to know that a good set of ported E7's WILL make a considerable difference if you can't afford aluminum heads and still want to have a quick daily driver. GT-40p's are another excellent option for someone who wants to go fast cheaply. I guess all I'm saying is that yes, I know E7's were designed more for economy than performance, but they can be made into a respectable head as Thumper or any good head porter can prove.

I didn't get an FTI cam, which will be considered a sin by many of you I'm sure...but after reading about some of the headaches trying to get those cams running I just didn't want to run one at this point. I want more airflow without sacrificing drivability and heads will give me that while a different cam might not without some supporting mods. It seems like most of Ed's cams come with low LSA's, which our cars do not like, so that $325 custom cam would turn into a $1000 cam after I bought a TwEECer or custom chip to get the thing to idle right, plus paid extra for the cam install (I don't have my own tools, garage, or anything needed to disassemble an engine).

I know an FTI cam would maximize the combo, so I may order one later down the road but I'd have to have a guarantee that I'd pick up a ton of power under the curve over my current cam before I'd consider it worth it. I'm very happy with the powerband of my XE270HR so I'm hesitant to ditch it. The car should be firmly in the 12's by just adding the heads, assuming I can plant the power and drive, and that's enough to pull on those pesky LS1's that I'm currently running right beside of (thanks Thumper!).

I ordered some supporting mods...24# injectors, Pro-M 77mm, etc. I know I'll need hardened pushrods which I'll have my mechanic measure for, as well as stud mount roller rockers. Which roller rockers does everyone recommend? I'm considering Trickflow, Harland Sharp, and Scorpions although I had bad luck with my pedestal mount Scorpion 1.6's...my new Crane 1.72's have been fine.

Also, do stud mount rockers need taller valve covers? I'm not running the 94/95 stockers...I'm running a set of Fox VC's.

So...do you guys think I'm in for a treat once we slap on those AFR's? I read that adding just a set of AFR 165's on a stock 302 made 40hp over stock E7's!! That's awesome...and I've got a free flowing intake and exhaust so I can only imagine...just hope I'll be real happy with the difference.

 

[tistan2]

I just got done putting the same heads on my car about three weeks ago. I took it to the 1/8 mile track the week before I put them on and turned a 8.9 at 80mph on street tires. I turned a 8.75 at 83mph after the heads. I have played with fuel preassure or timing yet. I still had a tank of 89 octane in my car and was scared of detination from the raised compression. My buddy has a 99 gt with a saleen charger on it 6# of boost and we jumped on it from about 50mph and I walked away from him. I think once I bump timing a little it will go a bit faster at the track. I only had it on 10 degrees. Good luck with the project.

bbk cold air
pro-m 75 mm mas air
ford motorsport 65mm throttle body
cobra intake
ford 24# injectors
afr 165s
scorpion 1.6 rockers
aeromotive fuel pressure regulator
190 lph fuel pump
b303 camshaft
msd billet distributor
underdrive pulleys
mac headers
mac xpipe
mac catback
king cobra clutch
mclead adjustable clutch qaudrant and fire wall adjuster
pro 5.0 shifter
ford motorsport aluminum driveshaft
ford motorsport 3.73 gearset
eaton limited slip differential
moser 31 spline axles
Kyb shock and struts
steeda caster camber plates

 

[Imyourzero]

You walked away from your buddy's 6# supercharged 99GT? That's certainly encouraging!

 

[red94fiveo]

I think you're going to be very happy with your purchase! It took me about 3 months to get mine running well (my fault), but it was worth every penny the first time I stepped on the gas!

 

[Killercanary]

That's good to hear Jordan! I know you'll be happy. I don't know if I'd be looking for a REAL SOTP improvement right away, it may take some tuning and what-not to get it dialed in. I will admit I was not very impressed when I first put my car together as it didn't feel any faster, I went to thr track and before any tuning I knocked of 2 tenths and gained 5mph. (Went from 13.8 at 98.5 to 13.6 at 103mph) then I started adding fuel and timing, adjusting shiftpoints etc and before I knew it I was in the 12's at 106. More tuning and tweaking has continuesd to knock away at my ET's. It DEFINITELY feels faster now!!! As for the FTI cam, Ed will grind it anyway you want, if you tell him you have to have something that will idle and want a LSA above 114, he can do that... it might not be "optimized" but he can. As for rockers, you might want to check on clearance issues with the scorpions and fox VC's, I'm not sure if there are issues there like on our VC's.

Did Jesse (yellow50cobra) sell his???

 

[Imyourzero]

That's good to hear Jordan! I know you'll be happy. I don't know if I'd be looking for a REAL SOTP improvement right away, it may take some tuning and what-not to get it dialed in. I will admit I was not very impressed when I first put my car together as it didn't feel any faster, I went to thr track and before any tuning I knocked of 2 tenths and gained 5mph. (Went from 13.8 at 98.5 to 13.6 at 103mph) then I started adding fuel and timing, adjusting shiftpoints etc and before I knew it I was in the 12's at 106. More tuning and tweaking has continuesd to knock away at my ET's. It DEFINITELY feels faster now!!! As for the FTI cam, Ed will grind it anyway you want, if you tell him you have to have something that will idle and want a LSA above 114, he can do that... it might not be "optimized" but he can. As for rockers, you might want to check on clearance issues with the scorpions and fox VC's, I'm not sure if there are issues there like on our VC's.

Did Jesse (yellow50cobra) sell his???

Yep I bought them from Jesse...he said he's planning on going with a stroked 351 setup so it should be a real beast!

As for the cam issue, isn't it kind of a general rule that a cams with lower LSA's tend to make more power? I've NEVER seen a cam with a 114/115 LSA have a real high lift...they just don't seem to be real agressive. Jesse was selling his FTI cam which was around .550 lift with a 113* LSA, and I bet that sucker would have idled OK for me, but he had Ed grind it with an S-Trim in mind so I felt like I'd be giving up some power as opposed to a strictly N/A cam.

As for not feeling an improvement, I'm almost positive I will. I'm sure I'll need to tune some for optimal results, just like you did though. I remember when everyone was dogging the Thumper guys for not having very impressive dyno charts...basically saying the ported heads made no real HP gain and then there was that one thread where people claimed that stock E7 headed cars went faster than cars with ported E7's. I don't want to get started on that again...but I do remember a thread in this forum where a guy ONLY added the heads first, just to see what the difference was, and he said there was a pretty massive improvement. I guess it varies from car to car depending on mods and tune. I'm positive my exhaust and intake have a lot left in them and can flow more air than the E7's are pushing thru them, and the AFR's should be just what I need to get that additional airflow. I agree with the fact that there is only so far E7's can take you, even when ported. They just weren't made with the intent of outstanding performance, unlike AFR's.

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

Im sure you wil love the heads Jordan..

Paul - Yea im done with boost I dont have the patience for blown HG's and chasing the 100 possible causes down.

So yea theres a 420w shortblock on the way, from moneypit94 actually. Hes having some new forged pistons put in, H beams, and rebalncing it.. I should have it in a couple weeks. Waiting on ED's recomendation on heads.. Ill just hope for 1.2-1.3 hp per cube and keep it n/a. Or maybe a 100 shot just incase, who knows

 

[Killercanary]

Do you have other stuff for sale? If so just email me at [email protected]

That is one of the main reasons I didn't go with a power adder on my car, especially now that I have it running so well and the main reason I bought a 90GT. The 90 WILL BE TURBO'd... someday. I have to get it running first.

 

[Imyourzero]

So RIO5.0, when are you joining me bud?

 

[RIO5.0]

Dude your lucky Jesse didnt give me a heads-up on those..This would be my post....

Actually i have some more tweaking to do to "wring out" the Thumpers...After that Im gonna do a straight swap to AFRs, nothing else...Then we'll see the numbers...

Jesse...I know a guy at work who has a "brand new" 351 FRPP crate motor for sale..Its still in the plastic....Smokin price...I almost jumped on it...Sounds like you wanna be top dog on the SN95 forum....Damn, you got some deep pockets boy... You are truly addicted for sure...

 

[Imyourzero]

Dude your lucky Jesse didnt give me a heads-up on those..This would be my post....

Actually i have some more tweaking to do to "wring out" the Thumpers...After that Im gonna do a straight swap to AFRs, nothing else...Then we'll see the numbers...

Jesse...I know a guy at work who has a "brand new" 351 FRPP crate motor for sale..Its still in the plastic....Smokin price...I almost jumped on it...Sounds like you wanna be top dog on the SN95 forum....Damn, you got some deep pockets boy... You are truly addicted for sure...

I hear ya about the tweaking...I haven't even been to the dyno since I did my heads/cam/longtubes. I'm DYING to though, because I want to get max power and tweak my A/F ratio to where it needs to be. I'm definitely gonna plan on a dyno day after the AFR's are in. I'd hate to have such killer heads and not be running optimally.

And yeah, he must have some deep pockets to do all he's done...but hey, if you have the means and the will, go for it! I've thought about the whole 351 thing, and probably would go that route if I just wanted balls to the wall brute power, but I'd say when my lil' 302 dies I'll just go with another one, or possibly a 331.

Does anybody know how AFR 165's do on a 331? I don't think they'd be TOO small, because it's not until a 347 that I see people going with AFR 185's. I guess I could always have the 165's ported to better match the 331, or just swap to some TrickFlows. I think their bigger valve sizes might be better suited to a 331/347 than AFR 165's, but I could be wrong. I just doubt that a 302 has enough cubes to fully take advantage of AFR 165's. Now when you slap a blower on that 302, the story changes.

 

[Imyourzero]

Does anyone have a suggestion for some good stud mount rocker arms that won't break the bank? I'll be looking for 1.7's...need a good set that won't cost a fortune and will fit under Fox valve covers.

 

[Killercanary]

I think some are using the comp pro magnum rockers with a good deal of luck, they are small and seem to have far less clearance issues than scorpions and such. I don't know about pricing though.

JFYI- I'd reconcider going with the 1.7's, if you plan to stay with OTS cams, you will have a lot more to choose from if you stay with a 1.6RR.

 

[Imyourzero]

I think some are using the comp pro magnum rockers with a good deal of luck, they are small and seem to have far less clearance issues than scorpions and such. I don't know about pricing though.

JFYI- I'd reconcider going with the 1.7's, if you plan to stay with OTS cams, you will have a lot more to choose from if you stay with a 1.6RR.

Thanks, I'll look around for those Comp Pro Magnums.

Unless something drastic happens, I plan on staying with my XE270HR. It works great with my 1.72 pedestals so I'd like to keep that same lift when I go to stud mounts. The only reason I'd change to 1.6's is if I thought an EDC cam might be in the car's future.

 

[GTJake]

I think some are using the comp pro magnum rockers with a good deal of luck, they are small and seem to have far less clearance issues than scorpions and such.

You *need* to use longer ARP rocker studs when using pro mags though. Forgot the exact reason, but AFR told me I needed to run longer ARP studs rather than stock AFR studs if I wanted to run pro-mags. The 7/16 and 3/8 are the same price ($266) so I just bought the 7/16 studs and rockers.....that'll work better with a 347 down the road.

Jake

 

[HtownGT]

You walked away from your buddy's 6# supercharged 99GT? That's certainly encouraging!

yea i raced one liek 2 years ago with the same setup and he barely beat me, he was so pissed that i wa sbasically stock and still had the factory tranny. haha

 

[95snoozer]

I will desemate all, after 800 dollars in over night parts form japan

 

[BlackVert]

I'm sure you'll love them.

I'm at your first stage. I just got some thumper heads and a trick flow intake. I'm hoping that plus the TwEECer will keep me happy for a few years while I'm saving for the chp 347 stroker.

 

[go-stang5.0]

I hear the pro mags are good too. There close to 300 bux but they are balanced well, stronger than aluminum ones and since most aluminum ones fit under the fox VC's these should fit too. But yea like Killercanary said your gonna have to make the car fast with your driving. Like me, I know theres a lot more in my car than a 13.7 @109. With that trap speed I should be easily in the 12's but with the amount of wheelspin I got on that run I expect 111-112mph in the traps with good driving. Time for some nitto DR's. 315/35/17's baby, coming this summer.

 

[GTJake]

I hear the pro mags are good too. There close to 300 bux ...

$266 from Summit

Jake