any idea whats a good set of inexpensive heads and intake for a 1993 302 truck motor. i am trading vehicles with my dad. the truck has headers and 2.5 inch full exhaust. i want some more power and the stock heads/intake must be very restrictive. the motor has 66k miles stock.

thanks

 

A good cast iron head is the rousch 200.

Aluminum heads are always more, but the trick Flow and AFR 185's are good.


Either way you look at it your going to drop a grand if not more on heads.

 

Look for a set of iron "3-line" GT-40s at the swap meets. There's a bunch of them out there from Mustangs that have changed to aluminum. Last set I sold went for $600/pair. Aluminum heads are nice, but a truck isn't really going to gain anything significant from the weight reduction. Stick with iron.

 

Heres a link to a pair of GT-40s.

They are probally off a lightning.
http://www.nloc.info/forum/showthrea...threadid=61303

 

GT-40 irons from a 1 gen L need to be milled to get compression back. Good if the price is right. I've seen GT-40 irons for $425 and under locally too.

Stock 302 intake manifold flows very well...too much for the stock heads infact. The 2.5" duals are also causing you to low some low end power too, but with a head upgrade that will be nothing to worry about then.

You could also get a set of ported E7s. Only if they are under $300 is as much as I'd spend. Keeping the small valves and just cleaning them up makes for high velocity and decent flow numbers. Hands down the best $/hp is the AFR-165 for the SBF (302-331).

 

Theres no need to mill a Lightning GT 40 head.. they have a 64cc combustion chamber.... The 8.8:1 compression comes from the dished piston in there.

 

How much can I gain in terms of power & torque?

 

I could have sworn stock E7 heads were of a 60cc chamber. Guess not.

In any event, pretty much any head available is better than that stock junk. GT-40 irons box stock would probably be good for 20rwhp...more if you had them cleaned up. It's tough to say exactly how much power you'd gain as so many variables determine that... cam profile, headers, intake manifold, etc.

 

Here's a great link with some flow numbers.

Ford Head Flow Data

As for cost, you somewhat get what you pay for. Though they require a header change the GT-40P heads only list for $270 complete from Ford. Some time on the 'net should get you some heads well below that price.

Here's another one specific to the P heads.

GT-40P

 

Well actually you don't need to have those P specific headers, they just make spark plug changes much, much easier. A few people on the local Ford boards have P heads with reg 5.0 shorty headers...their cars also run high 7s in the 1/8th mi and the Ps are box stock too. I've seen complete and sometimes ported GT-40 irons for $450 and lower. Just depends on where you look.

 

Hit Man X,

Thanks for the scoop. I was under the impression that only the regular 40s would work with the stock manifold or headers. I saw one with Ps and regular shorties, but he had to dent the header fairly well to allow plug changes.

I've been considering a head swap, and this will most likely be my path. I'm just figuring out the details of the best time to do it.... might just rebuild a new block and sell my old engine in current condition...

 

Remember the mustang has e7 heads on it stock, though lot of us to swap to gt40s (I did on my 94) the only mustangs to have gt40 heads stock were 93-95 mustang cobra's.

FWIW if you are looking for a cheap route check out stangnet and do a search under "thumper" he ports stock e7 and people seem to like what power they gain from his work and he offers diff. levels of perf. that go up to custom cams that match.

 

Nearly everyone around here who plays with their Mustangs is on their second set of aftermarket heads. They all bought 3 line GT40s back prior to 95 when they were the most bang for the buck then since have upgraded to newer higher flowing aluminum heads. GT40s are a glut on the market at swap meets. This is a good thing for anyone looking to upgrade a truck where high RPM performance and weight are less likely to matter