Fox The aged old question "trickflow 170/58 or afr165/58"

[Blucifer99]

Heres the setup im doing
Cobra intake/lower 3/8s spacer
Trick flow stage one cam
New 1.6 RR "studs" upgraded springs
19lbskinnies 4holes might bump up to 24lb skinnies. But heres my pickle. Its either trick flow 170s or afr165s. 58cc chambers on both.. The cam has a low duration so my hopes for that is zero ptv problems on either set of heads. Might bump the cam depending on the clay test when i decide on what head to use.. Trick flows gonna have to flycut the slugs for more relief if i wanna go over the .550 lift and 230duration mark..
So anyone running a similar setup? Hows the port matching between lower intakes and heads? Any troubles and any suggestions on making safe power?

 

[RangerJoe]

I like AFR's, but either head is good. There is a member on here with AFR 165, ported cobra and custom cam who makes around 330rwhp, but I can't recall his user name.
I don't usually jump on the have to have custom cam band wagon, but considering you may be limited by the ptv clearance, I would go straight custom on your setup and would also have the cobra ported.

Joe

 

[Dan02gt]

I run the AFR 165s with a small Comp XE264 with a Cobra intake. The port matching is not the greatest. The heads have much larger ports than the intake, but it works fine. I did port my lower a little to help with that and plan to send another lower to Tmoss for a professional port job.

I don't think you need that much lift. Both the AFR and TFS heads flow about the same at .500" as they do at .600 lift (about 255 CFM for both heads). So I don't think there is much to gain by going far over .500".

My cam has .512" lift and had no issues clearing the stock pistons.

 

[Mustang5L5]

What motor is this going on? AN 87+ with valve reliefs?

You shouldn't need to cut the pistons with that cam/TFS' heads. I'm planning a similar combo with TFS170's/TFS1/and ported GT40 and everyone I've spoken to has told me PTV will be perfectly fine in that case. I haven't decided fully yet if I will end up running this cam or go custom.

I had TMOSS port my gt40 lower intake to match the TFS170's.

 

[Hoytster]

No need to cut the valve relief piston's with the TW170's and stage 1 cam. I had the trick flow top end kit (and installed a couple buddies) on my 95' cobra with the 58cc TW170's with the Stage 2 cam (more lift than the stage 1) and had plenty of PTV clearance. Both the AFR 165 and TW 170 are a good head. Back in the day, they were both the head to have and put out about the same power.

IIRC, the stock cobra intake I took off my 95' matched pretty well with the TW 170 heads, but still needed some port matching to line up to my liking (mainly the roof and floor). I ended up using a TFS track heat intake and port matched that to my heads and made good power. 333rwhp and 342wrtq with the whole combo.

 

[Blucifer99]

I run the AFR 165s with a small Comp XE264 with a Cobra intake. The port matching is not the greatest. The heads have much larger ports than the intake, but it works fine. I did port my lower a little to help with that and plan to send another lower to Tmoss for a professional port job.

I don't think you need that much lift. Both the AFR and TFS heads flow about the same at .500" as they do at .600 lift (about 255 CFM for both heads). So I don't think there is much to gain by going far over .500".

My cam has .512" lift and had no issues clearing the stock pistons.

The stage one cam is .410-.510. And ive read alot of flow data showing both heads flow the same around .500 lift. Im just stuck on what head to pick.

 

[Blucifer99]

Im guessing that with the trickflow heads id need longer pushrods too? Heard they are thicker then the afrs and cant use a hardened stock size pushrods

 

[Mustang5L5]

You definitely will need pushrods.

Honestly...I'd pick whichever head you can get a good deal on. Neither head is a bad choice.

 

[96pushrod]

I gotta ask, how dead set are you on a 165/170cc Head?
IMO if you’re gonna dish out $1500+ for a pair of heads you should step up to 185/190 range.

Just a thought.

 

[Blucifer99]

I gotta ask, how dead set are you on a 165/170cc Head?
IMO if you’re gonna dish out $1500+ for a pair of heads you should step up to 185/190 range.

Just a thought.

Yea see i was thinkin about that too. Cause a procharger is in my cars near future. But then the 2.02 valves will need room so that all ends up with me flycuttin pistons lol. Plus im tryin to keep the thermactor air tube usable so i dont have to remove or block off the solenoid and vac lines

 

[96pushrod]

Yea see i was thinkin about that too. Cause a procharger is in my cars near future. But then the 2.02 valves will need room so that all ends up with me flycuttin pistons lol. Plus im tryin to keep the thermactor air tube usable so i dont have to remove or block off the solenoid and vac lines

The 190s have like a 2.055 valve or something like that.

If you search “11r 190 stock bottom end” on google you can find people running good combos making great power using stock flat top pistons. Don’t like the larger valve scare you away. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make much of a difference

 

[Blucifer99]

The 190s have like a 2.055 valve or something like that.

If you search “11r 190 stock bottom end” on google you can find people running good combos making great power using stock flat top pistons. Don’t like the larger valve scare you away. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make much of a difference

Well im not running flat tops.. Im not building a 85-86. Motors a 92 302 with reliefs. I always figured 185s would be overkill for my setup. But then again it always allows room to grow..

 

[Jersey Joe]

I run the 170's along with the rest of the trick flow kit so I can't comment about the intake, but it's been a good head for me with no clearance issues with 1.6 rocker and stage 1 cam.

 

[Dan02gt]

The stage one cam is .410-.510. And ive read alot of flow data showing both heads flow the same around .500 lift. Im just stuck on what head to pick.

Gotcha. I miss read your post and thought you wanted to run 230 duration and over .550 lift. Makes sense now.

 

[Dan02gt]

Well im not running flat tops.. Im not building a 85-86. Motors a 92 302 with reliefs. I always figured 185s would be overkill for my setup. But then again it always allows room to grow..

I didn't buy the 185s because I was scared that if I went with that big of a head with a intake and cam to match it my little 302 would become a dog below 3000 RPMs. Plus the 170s TFS or 165 AFRs will probably make enough power on boost to take a stock block to its safe limit.

 

[Hoytster]

I didn't buy the 185s because I was scared that if I went with that big of a head with a intake and cam to match it my little 302 would become a dog below 3000 RPMs. Plus the 170s TFS or 165 AFRs will probably make enough power on boost to take a stock block to its safe limit.

Exactly, and you can find a set lightly used 170s or 165s for under a grand (at least around here). Now if I were building an all out na combo or had an aftermarket block, I'd look at the 11r 190. They are a great head and the flow characteristics don't effect bottom end torque even being a "bigger" head.