what heads do you guys recommend for my 93 gt?

J

JR4 Motorsports

Member Plus
#81
#81
stanginthe11s said:
I think everyone is taking what Im saying wrong, Im all for new and good parts but you really have to know when and where to spend the money. It makes no sense to spend 1500 on big heads that will never work with your combo just because you may someday want to do more work, there is no cam on this earth that will make wrong heads work correctly. It seems to be the popular thing these days to look to the cam to fix all problems, but its just not possible. everyone is under this big misconception that all kinds of work has to be done to a set of heads to make them good, the reality of it is iron heads require hardly any extra work at all and in fact its aluminum heads that really have to be gone over. you need to understand that iron heads dont have valve guides that wear like you think, theyre not bronze theyre cast and harder than bronze so 150k miles is not going to do anything to them, as far as milling them iron heads dont warp like aluminum so its not likely an issue but even if you wanted to its only about 60$ to mill heads. If you think you need a valve job then you must be expecting that theres a bad valve, not likely but hey if you go to pick up the heads just spray carb cleaner in the ports and if they dont leak the valve job is not needed. as long as guys expect the worse thing will be hard for them, each combo has an exact part that will make the most power without having to change anything and thats it, theres no such thing as one size fits all in engine building and that includes heads so that means you cant just throw afr 180 on every motor from a 289 to 408, itll never work right.
Click to expand...
The big head, small motor myth is false. The big (within reason) heads will work on a 289/302. See a post back on page 2 about a Canfield headed 289. Will killer5.0's current intake, throttle body hold him back? Yes, to some degree. Obviously building a combo, instead of piece meal is better.
Now why do you think the "Big" heads are too big?
I never said iron heads required more work, USED heads require work, weather they be iron or Aluminum. Where it make sense to recondition the AL heads, I do not think that stock OEM heads are cost effective to recondition, in a performance application. (Unless you are 100% happy at your current performance level). Yes the cam will make the 'Big' heads work, but that is not to say they are mismatched. As far as warping, either will warp if overheated enough, the iron will resist it a little more. There are more reasons to do a VJ then just a bad valve, just because it seals, doesn't make it 'good'. I never said 'one size fits all' An AFR 165 probably would not be a good choice for a 408W:bigno: :)And a head for a 500+ ci would not be a good pick for a 289.
 
dsblk93gt

dsblk93gt

5.0 Moderator
#82
#82
Killer5.0 said:
thanks all for the input...yes i do not know alot about motor work...mostly have spent my time on my other cars with custom stereo etc so the motor work is new to me...i plan on keeping this car for a while which is why i want to do it right with new stuff im not buying used stuff. thank you for trying to save me a few hundred dollars but its not worth it if i have a problem and have to have the whole thing torn down again or something. im not tracking or dragging the car this is simply a street car...i may take it a few times over the course of its life to the strip to see what it runs but thats not my main goal...i really do appreciate ALL the input ive been getting...thanks again
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No tracking and just a street car, get those Edelbrock heads or these.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...4fff16129&rvr_id=&ua=WXF?&itemid=370350860763

The nice thing with the GT40X is you are going to drop weight, can still run pedestal rockers, and will gain some nice horsepower. I have installed them before and they work well. These would be great with the cam you have now. ;)
 
stanginthe11s

stanginthe11s

Well-Known Member
#83
#83
OK, I'm starting to see the issues more clear now, it seems my posts are not being read for what they are and some are taking things to a different level or meaning. I'm in no way shape or form saying gt40 heads are the best or should be used for everything, if you go back to my original post you might read that I said for HIS combo the best head would be EITHER a gt40 head OR a windsor jr head, I am not saying that head is good for a max effort 289 or 302. you cant assume everyone wants to change the whole engine around just to make a tad bit more power and telling someone to buy heads that aren't needed then saying dont worry a cam will fix it is just bad business. I do this this stuff every day, its my job and I'm telling you theres alot less to it than you think, I make as much and sometimes more power with 600$ than most make with 6000$ and it never use to be that way, everyone is jumping on the bigger is better wagon and really thats fine because it just makes my job easier and I make more money lol. Its all about the parts and nothing else, it is absolutely impossible to compare any 2 motors even if they have identical parts they will be different. you cant say hey this guy put big heads on a 289 and made power because he spun rpm to get it, he had a different intake, different compression and best of all we dont know if that head really was the best choice, thats all part of engine building, trial and error. Look, some years ago about 15 or so we put a 306 into the low 9's with big high ports and a dominator setup so yes you can use big heads on a small motor but the key thing here is we were shooting for 9's not 12's so why is it today you need the same heads on a street car? If all someone is shooting for is a 350 hp street car why would you tell them to get heads for 500 hp? you can do that with stock heads.
All I'm saying is the guy who started this post told us what he has, what he wants and has a budget so doesn't it make more sense for him to buy something that will achieve all that for as little money as possible? And wouldn't it benefit all to understand or learn how cheap and easy it is to make hp? Keeping an open mind makes us better racers although its hard to do sometimes, if 1000 guys are using x head but 1 guy uses y head and makes as much power shouldnt we all try to find out how hes doing it? Im lucky enough to be able to test different combos and to have been around before all these parts became available so I speak from exp. and Im still willing to learn. you know what the funny thing is about all this, afr 165's arent much bigger than gt40 heads and afr 185's arent much bigger than windsor jr's but everyone will still say they arent good lol.
 
sbeachstang

sbeachstang

Well-Known Member
#84
#84
I can see what you are saying, in a budget build. I have built budget combo's and been in the 12.s. I have not seen with the original poster said he wanted 12.s. I don't think people have looked at my posts in depth, I have reccomended a TW head and given reasons why a TW is the best choice. I personally think if you're going to spend say $1100 on GT40x or Eddie RPMs, the TW for a couple hundred bucks more is money VERY well spent. I also recommended the custom cam/head package, this way he could... A. get matched valve springs to the cam (not generic one size fits all VS), B. the performance and driveability is built/suited to what the customer wants, C. The quality of valves,VJ,matching springs,cam w/cam doctor will be better than OTB parts, D. TWs and a custom cam will out run an F303 cam and GT40s (for the most part) I would expect low 12s high 11's if I where building a combo like this.I will not change my opinion and neither will you I see, which is fine, it's what makes the world go round, but I'm not reccomending a huge head as suggested. I also think the custom cam will help with driveability and idol surging with the FI. I personally would buy FAC 190cc for the combo for myself, yet I am reccomending 170cc to him, I also do not believe a small head small port=velocity=torque down low=streetability.
 
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