Purpose of Steam Holes?

[Edster]

Wow I I've got an old school build a 72 302 block w/ D0OE 351W heads that did not have the steam holes. The block had the holes though. I had no overheating problems. But when I put the same engine in the 'Stang I had a bit of trouble. The radiator was the same 3 core out of the Falcon so I was wondering if it was the smaller grill opening in the 'Stang. I was in Virginia when I had the Falcon and in Texas w/ the same engine and radiator in the 'Stang. The climate in Texas is warmer. I'm wondering if I need to drill the heads. the Ford Performance book by Pat Ganahl mention a set of head gaskets w/ a hole that is elongated to remedy this. Has anyone seen this gasket?

 

[PUNISHER RACING]

You only need to drill the heads if the block has the holes too!

 

[65fastbackresto]

I dont know about these other guys

but in my case the block has to be drilled to match the water port on the head, and yes you can use the gasket as a template. And my block is a 1975 model.

This is a big geuss, but I think anyone that has a 2 peice rear main is gonna have this problem with several aftermarket heads.

 

[Helmantel]

I drilled holes in the 69 351W heads I have on my 65 289. I don't know if it's really necessary. Since Ford deleted them sometime during production, I guess not.

 

[EP429]

I'm fixing to do a head swap, but what I found confusing was when I checked out my head gaskets they have the steam passage openings on the side marked "FRONT" but nothing on the back.
I'd assume this would be fine if I dont have the holes in the back of my block, but with the current situation I'll have the the drivers side back holes closed, and the pass. will be open. If so, can I just flip the head gasket over to keep the "Front" annotation correct? Or just open up the gasket to make it all fit?

 

[65fastbackresto]

I`m about to drill mine out

Its in the 90 degree range daily now, and I cant drive my car around much cause it overheats too much. Gonna teardown this weekend and drill some holes.

For you guys wanting more info on this, go to edelbrocks website.

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_new/misc/tech_center/install/6000/60299.pdf

According to this, 351W dont need the holes.

 

[84convertablegt]

do you only need to drill one hole on each side of the engine or a hole for each piston? The edelbrock instructions are not very clear. it only show #1 and #5, then over on the TFS heads website it talks about drilling out all of the holes. Anyone actually done this?

 

[65fastbackresto]

Its just the front 2 pistons.

Yall will love this, I pulled my heads off and the holes were already there. So my overheating issue is not solved yet.

I`ve come to some conclusions about this issue which may be wrong or right. I think if you have a 65 or 66 stang with the small radiator opening that if you bore the motor out you are going to have issues with heat especially if your motor is pushing more hp then it was designed to. With the larger radiators in the later cars I dont think those guys have the issues the early cars do.