Talked into the heads

[Gearbanger 101]

yea everyone on here convinced me to just DO IT RIGHT while the motor is apart

Don't be too concerned with a lot of internet opinion. Not saying that aftermarket heads aren't the way to go to make big power, but ported E7TE's work pretty well too. A lot of the "DO IT RIGHT" answers you got are likely from people who've never owned either head…and quite frankly I’ll bet have never been to the track! Many are just anxious to follow suite cause it seems the way to go. I had a lot of fun beating up on a quite a few people at the track who cast our ported stockers as "junk" and decided to "Do it Right" the first time.

Running 12.9's with a set of expensive Aluminum heads, Intake, cam, throttle body and MAF isn't that impressive. My speed density LX would run low-13’s with essentially nothing more than a set of ported stock heads/lower intake, stock cam, home made CAI, 1.7rr, pulleys, gears and street tires. And there are more than a handful of E7 cars running into the 12's.

I'm not saying that if you don't have the cash, you shouldn't go the aftermarket route, I'm only saying that despite a few naysayer comments, it's not the only way to go if you want a fast car!

 

[Foxfan88]

Yeah correctly matched parts will perform much better than just say an expensive set of head and stock intake and cam

Say you have 1500$
You could buy some AFRs or other aftermarket alum heads.
Slapping those on by themselve you would feel a difference.

But you could also get some thumpers or gt-40s with a cobra/explorer intake and a small off the shelf cam cam, oh man it will run hella better than the heads alone.

If you just buy high flow heads, you will need a highflow expensive intake to accomidate that. and then you need a cam to actually use that extra airflow you wouldnt have in stock form. And since you spent you might spend so much money on heads and intake you might as well get a custom cut cam for the setup.

True after getting that expensive setup it would run alot faster. But more power equals faster wearing of parts. a stock t5 or AOD just cant take the abuse of a big H/C/I setup. Then the rearend might start peglegging.

The milder combo would run extremely well on the street, i am pretty sure a t5 or AOD could take a mild combo like i listed above.

A low 14 or high 13 sec car on the street is FAST. While it may be slow to drag racers that have gutted and chassied cars. On the street, stock suspension and whatnot its pretty damn fast. With a good running low 14 sec car. You would take alot of cars in town, if not all of them. It may be just me but there arent many fast cars where i live soi dont know about bigger areas....

 

[2000xp8]

I got news for you guys, you DO NOT buy pushrods before the heads are on the car. You buy a pushrod length checker, you measure, then you buy. Yes, it costs time. But you don't end up with useless pushrods.

E cam does not need better springs.

 

[Paul Perreca]

yea i already have the cobra intake and the e cam.... So - do the GT-40 heads need different pushrods and roller rockers?? I just don't want my stock heads to bottle neck my power, and cost me time. I would like to run low 13's - that is what I am aiming for - I am not going to be racing it all the time, I just want to see if I can break well into the thirteens, cuz my car ran a 15.3 last time, and the car felt so much faster than that, and i am going to drive it every day - if you tell me i dont need pushrods or roller rockers or just one, w/ the GT40 (aluminum) heads, I will probably get those, first off they are cheaper, maybe not as good, but still better than stock, and I can bolt it right on myself.... I dont have the tool to measure the pushrod length, or even know how to
Paul Perreca

 

[2000xp8]

Regardless of what heads you use, you should check pushrod length.

Goto summit racing and buy the tool i think it's like $12.

 

[Paul Perreca]

so should i just get the stock heads ported and put them back on? Cuz thats all it seems i can afford right now lol Well, if I have 1500 dollars when we pull my motor out of my car, than i'll get the heads and pushrods and roller rockers. If not, i'll send my stock heads to my machine shop, and have him work w/ them - I'll be dissappointed though i think..
Paul Perreca

 

[Paul Perreca]

basically, if i get all this done, and still lose to a friggen NEON i dont know what I'll do. They are grand mom cars and they are grocerie getters and they are faster than my american muscle mustang?????? I can't live with that, my car will have to be faster than a stock neon, cuz they run 13.8 stock, gotta beat that. So i figured H/C/I would do the trick, well I got the C/I, and now the H is costing me more than I can fatham. I will be getting 1700 from the gov for school (books) so I'll use that and the money that i have now, (after buying books it'll be closer to 1300) and I'll buy the Heads, and pay off my car insurance w/ the money i've saved now. I hate school, but its gonna buy me heads for my car YEAA...
Paul Perreca

 

[2000xp8]

Look paul, save a little longer and get the parts once.
Keep your eye out for these heads.
Wedges
Afr 165's
edelbrock rpms
gt40x's

Your e cam should work, so should your cobra intake.

With gt40 iron, p, or ported stock heads. You may run well, you may not. Most times i see with these heads are mid to low 13's in a 5 speed.
But some cars run mid to low 13's with stock heads, so why bother?


Not sure if your 15.3 is with an auto or manual, and at what elevation?

And alot of stage II neons, run low 13's, and most have the II setup. So the races would be close.

 

[jrichker]

Looks easy on the screen..but Jrichker you forgot to mention methods to talk yourself down from the roof when you get tired and realize you forgot the one thing that will take 2hours of backtracking to do..not that I've ever done anything like that

Like not watching where one of the ground wires was going and find that you bolted the head down with it sandwiched between the head and the block ?

 

[Paul Perreca]

Manual car, and no idea about elevation....


Nobody mentioned the Edelbrock heads, and whether they need to use bigger pushrods or not (longer) - I thought i read that they did not need them, and if they don't, than i will most likely get them, cuz you can get them at pepboys, and i gotta friend that will give me his employee discount on them... so i'll prob get them for maybe 50 dollars cheaper - than maybe i'll get the roller rockers later, cuz edels are cheaper tahn TW's
Paul perreca

 

[2000xp8]

As i said above paul, Count on about $125 for pushrods, if you don't need them, cool. If you do, you've budgeted for them.
For quite a while on ebay, there was companies selling the edelbrocks or wedges for $999. (different sellers)

Also keep in mind there are a couple different sets, some for emmissions, some not.

I'd really look around for a set of gt40x heads used.
They don't get the respect they deserve so people sell them cheaper.

EDIT:
In fact there is a guy selling gt40x heads NIB on ebay right now $999.

 

[Paul Perreca]

nib means new in box right

 

[2000xp8]

nib means new in box right

ebay link

Check with the sellers to Make sure they are NOT Y303 heads, because the 800 something set is extroadinarily cheap.

According to the Ford racing catalog they are indeed x heads. Makes me want to buy them for my explorer.

Yes NIB=New In Box

$850, with free shipping, and head bolts is an awesome deal.

 

[DMAN302]

Like not watching where one of the ground wires was going and find that you bolted the head down with it sandwiched between the head and the block ?

EXACTLY...don't get me started on my screw ups..I could write a book.

 

[Paul Perreca]

how bout the edelbrock ones, my friend said they accept the stock pushrods and will also accept the stock rockers, but its a good idea to upgrade rockers
Is this true??
Paul Perreca

 

[2000xp8]

how bout the edelbrock ones, my friend said they accept the stock pushrods and will also accept the stock rockers, but its a good idea to upgrade rockers
Is this true??
Paul Perreca

Paul, understand anyone can tell you anything you want to hear, Stock pushrods may work, but they may not, if you switch a head, you cannot bank on them working. If you are so worried about saving $100 this may not be the best time for you to get into a head swap. You can easily land up spending an extra $500 on misc. crap.
I went about $1200 over budget.
Used pedestal roller rockers are only like a hundred bucks, so why bother putting old ones back on.

Anything pedestal will likely accept stock rockers, that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

 

[DMAN302]

Manual car, and no idea about elevation....


Nobody mentioned the Edelbrock heads, and whether they need to use bigger pushrods or not (longer) - I thought i read that they did not need them, and if they don't, than i will most likely get them, cuz you can get them at pepboys, and i gotta friend that will give me his employee discount on them... so i'll prob get them for maybe 50 dollars cheaper - than maybe i'll get the roller rockers later, cuz edels are cheaper tahn TW's
Paul perreca

No offence my boy, but you flip flop ideas more than a bass layin on the floor of a boat just after being caught. You need to take a breath...building an engine to beat another car is just damn silly. I wold recomend you either go stock ported, or set of GT40's so the price won't break you, and I guarantee the performance will surprise you. When ever...and by that I mean ALWAYS..you put in a new motor you spend significantly more than you originally budgeted. If you over extend your budget, then you may find yourself in trouble soon after..always play safe.
Just some input from someone who's been there...
D.

 

[Paul Perreca]

I really appreciate your help, everyone, and your right dman, I really do flip flop ideas, i have a problem, its called ADD lol Attention defecit disorder, and I can't like focus right. So when I have a problem with something I love, and cant figure it out right away, i get frustrated, and think about it non stop until its solved, me n my girl got in a huge fight last night but she was right, i got problems, i just cant take my mind off of it long enough to have a conversation until its solved. And you guys gave me 3 pages of **** for me to think about, and i really appreciate your detailed advice, and I ponder many things, and the only way i'll be able to pay attn is figuring it out, and I'm pretty sure i'll go w/ either the GT 40's, or the Edelbrock - and I will have peace tonight... Thanks again, for all of your help -
If I didn't have ADD i wouldn't ask so many damn questions probably - just have somebody do my motor for me lol THANKS AGAIN!!
Paul Perreca

 

[vikingpower]

Overbudget?... Yeah thats the truth, I bought my TW's over a month ago and they've been sitting in my room ever since. Its gonna cost around $500 in other stuff just to put them on:

Comp Pro Magnum RR's
Head Gaskets
Intake gaskets
ARP head bolts
TFS pushrods
Valve cover gaskets
miscellaneous parts store items

Bottom Line: a project of this magnitude is not for the faint of heart!