What are a good pair of heads to look out for? I am looking for some good flowing heads for a big block ford. I’m not looking to be crazy hp, I just don’t want to buy junk heads. I don’t have enough money to buy a set of alum heads, but could afford some port work on some old cast iron heads. I might be able to nab a pair of thunderjet heads form the early 1970’s, would those flow pretty good? thanks!
I took a quick look at my data book and it shows that on the 429 engines the Thunderjet, etc. had certain size valves and oval ports.
The CJ heads had larger intake/exhaust valves and enlarged ports.
Here’s a kicker on this issue if you’re interested. The book states that while the following is not widely known, the 1972-1974 429 and 460 Police Interceptor engines both used the CJ cylinder heads.
With some digging you may be able to find these heads cheaper than what a porting and large valve installation job would cost.
And of course, if you scored a pair of those heads why leave them alone? Anything from the factory can always be helped along a bit.
What were good heads for the FE series?-Kevin
The book is a bit hazier on that one. It does state that all FE heads used the same valve sizes except for the 406, 427 Low Riser, and 428 CJ/SCJ.
Much of the differences were in the size of exhaust and intake ports and there was quite a bit of variation on the different FE engines. Even the book referred to “confusion” being common.
Thanks,that is a very helpful reply-Kevin