What heads?

You could just tell us what you have as far as a car/engine and someone might be able to tell you

fathead351 said:

stock short block, b cam, performer intake, long tubes,

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What year is the motor/car? The '86 motors were the only ones with flat top pistons that really cause trouble.

If you have valve reliefs (87+), go with 1.90"/1.60" valves.

For example, AFR 165 or some of the Edelbrock heads.

I loved my AFR 165cc heads.

AFR 165s get my vote as well. Can't go wrong with a TFS or edelbrock head though, all are nice pieces.

AFAIK, any inline valve head will clear on 87+ pistons up to 1.9/1.6.

an inline head with 2.02 the chances of issue are much higher. the twisted wedges with 2.02s will clear though.

its always a wise idea to check regardless.

You can go wrong with Edelbrock heads. The valve train parts Edelbrock uses are JUNK! I have done 2 sets recently.

PJC racing, Can you please elaborate on what is bad with the Edelbrock valve train and what you did to fix it. This is not the first time I heard bad comments on their stuff. I also heard about early (5500 RPM) valve float. I plan to run their 5.0 performer heads with an E-cam and 1.72's. Looking to spin it to 6000 RPM. Thanks Dan

I bought a set of Performer 5.0's from a friend for a biuld I am doing now. I know for a fact these heads had no more that 500 street miles and less than 10 passes. Oil was changed after his break in and twice in between. Long story short, after I bought them from him he had a family member help him remove the heads and family member rounded the hex on the head bolt adjacent to the booster. I had to go over and cut the head off the bolt to get the cylinder head off. Lucky for me, I knicked a valve spring with the die grinder. I wasn't planing on disassembling the heads because I knew their history, but after hitting that spring I needed to replace the springs. As I disassembled the springs I found the valve stem tips were deteriorating (pitting and burring). So now I needed to replace the valves too. I had a custom cam grinder helping me get the parts I needed(not crap), he contacted Edelbrock and found out who had manufactured thier vavles and springs. He found out Edelbrock uses the cheapest valve and springs they could find. I also found the spring install height varied drasticly (not shimmed properly). To replace everything I needed it would be a couple hundered dollars. I replaced the springs and got my money back from my friend.

Now I have a set of RPM's that I ran on my bracket car that I installed out of the box a couple of years ago. Took them off and disassembled them to inspect them for some of the issues I found in the 5.0's. The valves were better not great, lower line of Manely. The springs, Junk again, shimmed improperly again, and there was no spring cup at all, just a hardened shim. Ohh. the seals from both pairs were junk (Advanced Auto parts store crap) and the locks from both pairs were very soft and were distorted where the retainers were.

I am stuck with the RPM's so I had to have the spring pockets machined for cups and bought new valves, springs, cups, retainers, locks and seals for the tune of $500 (good parts).

Now think about that, $1100 for box stock RPM's and another $500 for good parts, that's $1600 for a set of RPM's (not including machining). Thats for a set of heads that have not been updated in years.

I could have gone to Camshaft Innovations and gotten a set of Trick Flows or Canfields with all the same good parts for just a couple bucks more and no heads aches.

mach1dan said:

PJC racing, Can you please elaborate on what is bad with the Edelbrock valve train and what you did to fix it. This is not the first time I heard bad comments on their stuff. I also heard about early (5500 RPM) valve float. I plan to run their 5.0 performer heads with an E-cam and 1.72's. Looking to spin it to 6000 RPM. Thanks Dan

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The valve float you speak of is due to the crap springs. You can't go by what max lift they say the springs are good for either. In my opinion the springs are too weak, even for the "E" cam.

Dan, for your combo I would talk to Thumper for a great set of ported E7's or GT40's. He installs the right parts and does a hell of a job on porting. It would save you some money and you would have better power potential than the Performers.
Here's his link:
http://www.thumperoforangepark.com/

Hope this helps not only you but others as well.

Get the best.

AFR165s.

91notchbk said:

Get the best.

AFR165s.

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Can you qualify your recommendation, other than that is what you have.

if you want cheap...I sell you a set of gt40 heads if you feel like driving for 2 days just to get here lol

afr 165's get my vote as well. second best would be tfs.
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2003/02/afr/index.php
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2003/06/afrinstall/

PJC Racing said:

Can you qualify your recommendation, other than that is what you have.

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You are starting to sound awfully familiar. I have a good idea...

mach1dan said:

PJC racing, Can you please elaborate on what is bad with the Edelbrock valve train and what you did to fix it. This is not the first time I heard bad comments on their stuff. I also heard about early (5500 RPM) valve float. I plan to run their 5.0 performer heads with an E-cam and 1.72's. Looking to spin it to 6000 RPM. Thanks Dan

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Anytime you have valvesprings that aren't matched to a cam, you can run into problems. I've never heard a bad thing about them. I did however have to swap to some heavier valvesprings to run the cam I have currently.

5spd GT said:

You are starting to sound awfully familiar. I have a good idea...

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Maybe, but I have never run AFR and I would like to know why these heads would be the best choice, concidering what the other parts are in the combo.

The guy is not running anything that is going to lead into big power. I stand by recommendation of Thumper E7's or GT40's. And if the guy is going to step up in the future the 165's are kinda limiting, don't you think.