if u have the money, go with AFR's.... but if ur on a budget (like most of us) you cant beat a set of used Trick Flow's for the money
Well let me add a little to the AFR camp, Back in the summer one of the motors we built in 1995 developed a tick. He drove the car a little while longer, but got worried he might be doing damage. So this past week he tore the engine down. To make a long story short the cam had lost a lobe. He decided to pull the heads due to some exhaust valve tips not looking the best. Well he brought me the heads and upon tear down we found the heads were not hardly even worn. There was a little slack in the guides, The seats were still pretty well perfect and all were still sealing. The springs still measured within 10 psi of what they did new. So in my opinion, There is no substitute for quality. This was one of the first set of AFR i put into service and has been on a blown motor since day one. OH almost forgot, They have around 200000 miles on them. We know they have 150000, But speedo was broken for about a year. And this was a daily driver. Hope this helps with the decision as to which heads to buy when the time comes.
I would like afr's but there more than I can afford. I might be able to get them but I am not sure. I remember seeing your car down at bama about 2 years ago and it was very impressive. I know you are running a blower but are you also running nitrous
I do run N20 as a Detonation suppressor, I physically don't "spray" my car, the computer adds the spray as it sees fit. I just tell it how Fast i want to go on that particular pass. You know i understand about not affording something, But do buy the Best you can afford. The AFRs are the best head i have seen out of the box. We have true flow data on many small Ford heads and the AFRs take a back seat to none. So if you or any one just wants to bolt on a set and go, I recommend the AFRs all the way.
Well, you did ask about "street and strip". That tells me you want something that breathes at a higher rpm. The E Streets are a step up from stock but I wouldn't consider them for strip duty. Their valve train pieces are where they cheapened them in order to compete with Chinese heads. And the AFR story about making 400 hp on a stock short block with 165s, just about everyone agrees that that particular dyno must have been very generous since no one else has been able to duplicate the results.
There might have been a Nitrous tank leaking into the dyno room, Or they had the fans running backward and producing postive pressure in the dyno cell. Dynos are no better than the info that was plugged into them at the start. There are a lot of ways to "fudge" dyno numbers, just take your pick.
on the edelbrock e street motor they tested it made peak torque at roughly 5500 rpm and torque at 4500rpm. I was planning on shifting at 5500-6000rpm so they seem about right for me. It seems like it would be a real strong street engine and do pretty good at the strip. If I got high 7's it would be great but low 8's would be just fine for me
I looked up the flow numbers for the e street and afr 165's and 185's at .500 lift e street 242 intake 162 exhaust afr 165 232 intake 184 exhaust afr 185 249 intake 189 exhaust e7 at .400 lift 160 intake 112 exhaust I got all these numbers from edelbrock and afr to me it seems like the e streets are as good as afr on intake but lacking a little on exhaust and far better than e7's
the 89 mustang i had ran 8.70s in the 1/8th at 88 mph with a 200000 mile engine with bowl ported and exhaust ported e-7 heads bone stock no rockers just headers and 3.73 gears weighing 3440 lb with me in it so for the money dont count out the thumper heads j.m.o homer mav has the heads now nice and fresh with a three angle valve job brad
the exhast is the restrictive part of the air flow in ford winsor heads. due to the shock towers in the cars when the motors were desgined they compromised on the exhast ports so the motor can stay narrow. now with the e-street heads barely flowing more than the stock e7 heads on the exhast there isnt much to be gained. probly knocking out the bump in the e7 exhast port will allow them to flow more. put some biger valves in them and would get about the same performance that you will get out of the e-street. the only advantage of the e-streets is that they are lighter. my motor makes 321 hp at the motor. the best ive ran in the 1/8th is 8.5. the problem with my car is the conveter stall speed (2500-2800rpm) doesnt let it get off the line that fast. i would recomend geting some e-7s ported and larger valves put in to them or save for a few more months and get the afrs.
to the OP, if you have patience and save up the funds to buy once.... buy a good head/cam/intake and supporting hardware.... also check and read at the sbftech.com forum and you will learn a good deal on info/advise.... best of luck....-mel-
A lot of what I read says that the 185's might be a bit big for the 306, geared more toward the 331 and up market. Big heads don't help if they're too big.
what are the specs on your engine. I might end up going with gt40's since I can get a set redone for $400 and I have the roller rockers for them already.
my motor makes its power from high compression. i have around 11.0 to 1 compression. the heads i use are stock heads that have been ported and have had large valves put in. i use fords f-303 cam, a wyand stealth intake and holley 600 dp. puting the money into the gt-40s will probly give you more power than the e-street heads will. the only gain that the e-street heads will have is that they are aluminum. when you get your heads done, use the valve springs that your cam manifacture recomends.
Speaking from personal experience, not reading, they are not too big. The original target of the AFR185s was for use on 351s but it's been found that they run really well on 302s if the pistons can accomodate the 2.02 intake valve. Something to remember, the "185" refers to intake port volume which has very little to do with quality of port flow. Port cross sectional area is a more valid criteria, but that's not how head companies choose to advertise.
