What would be a good set of heads and intake to bolt on what I think is a basically "stock" 302 and I could continue to use if I wanted to build the engine up or even stroke it in the future? Sorry I can't give any Specs on the internals of the block other than the pistons are flat top.
IMO a set of world Jrs with a good port/polish job. Stealth or RPM intake. I doubt i would go stroker with those heads if go stroker just ante of fr a set of pro toplines or AFR and then go for an RPM airgap or better depending on cam and gears.
In the latest issue of Mustang & Ford they bolted on a set of AFR185 and I forget the intake:confused: and got 50 hp out of the swap. The 185's would make a excellent head on a future stroker project.
riporter, You should keep in mind that the 271 hp 289 engine used stock ports and valves in stock heads. The 302 can have two different valve diameters depending o the years produced but anything that is in a stock Comet or Maverick should be 1.78 intake and 1.45 exhaust (before 1987). If you are using heads built after 1987 you have the large chamber 351 W heads with 1.87 intakes and 1.6 inch exhausts. The good news is that the engine will breathe better and the bad news is that you are losing almost a full point in compression and almost all your squish area. To make the stock heads a little better for up to 6200 RPM you can port the exhaust and intake openings to the gasket size and then blend the port back about 1/2 inch. Completely grind out the air tube port in the exhaust port and blend it with the roof line of the port. have a three angle valve grind done on the valves and seats and polish the chamber to remove sharp points and flashing. (do that with old valves in place so you don't hurt the new valves or the seats. Your best intake will depend on the RPM range that you will be turning your engine. The Performer for 0-5500 and Performer RPM for 1200- 6500 are good choices from Edelbrock and not too expensive. If you have and are keeping the stock exhaust manifolds then don't waste your time with porting, polishing or spinning the engine above 5500 RPM. it won't respond with those restrictive exhausts. PaulS
I concur with Paul. In his book about SB chevy motors, Lingenfelter makes the point to build a motor to match what you are going to be using it for. Damn few of us drive a street car in the horsepower range of RPMs, and the very vast majority stay in the torque peak range of 3500 to 4000. That being said, IMO it is counterproductive to chase the RPMs with hi lift cams, and expensive heads. Look at real torque/hp curves on someone dyno, and you will see that the big flow motors with hi lift cams, etc make less power at 3500 than the more humble arrangements. I have some bigass street cars, and I have wasted a lotta money making mistakes. I am preparing to re do my 73 Comet ( a 10,000 mile gem) and I am gonna pocket port and gasket match the heads, a cam, a 4bbl, and thats about it. No headers, no Aluminium heads, no big valves, no hi lift, no aluminium radiator, no electric fans, no roller rockers, and I am gonna use my 2bbl, air cleaner. I am putting the bucks into a likely,... ah,... limited slip some gers and a slightly looser TC. Of course, YMMV and thats just my opinion. I am gonna use this car to drive from bar to bar and never to the track.
Thx guys, maybe I shoulda provided more info, currently the intake is a Holley Contender dual plane intake, Edelbrock 600 CFM carb, Hooker headers and a mild cam. The heads are stock but could have had a valve job done on them. The car is strong off the line but tops out at 5500 rpm, maybe some Edelbrock Performer RPM heads or pull the heads and see if any valve work has been done...if its been done then new heads, if not, valve job. Just thinkin out loud...suggestions are welcome.
Do a search on my name, there was a great thread a while back about intakes. I went with the weiand stealth, most seemed to agree that the weiand and the airgap were the best. On a budget, you can find some ford explorer gt40, or gt40P heads from a 95-98 explorer, port and polish those and go with those. Keep in mind those are from a roller engine, and you may have to adapt them to work.
I will tend agree that big cams can be a waste. I only run a lowly E303 cam, However I disagree to a point that heads are pointless. Slap a set of aftermarket heads and keep your cam small and you will be amazed at the difference. The heads will just have the ability to utilize a bigger cam if needed. Mine pulls to about 6200 ish. I use Roush 200 heads with 10.5 comp ratio (CCed of course no mystery) Plenty of low end torque as is common with roller cam 302s. It is all in the combo
The Holley Contender is a 5500 RPM manifold. What is the sae duration on your cam? What size pipes are connected to the headers and what mufflers? I have a "mild cam" (214 SAE duration w/ .458 lift) in my 351W and it gets peak HP at 5000 with a strong pull to 5500 with a 600 CFM Holley. But then that is what I put it together for. I wanted 350 HP and close to 400 FT Lbs of torque. That's enough for a street Mustang that weighs 2600 pounds at the curb. It will give me the same power that I had in my old 65 mustang with a 6200 RPM 289 (+030) and some extra torque too. That 289 was ported and polished, cc'd, radius valve grind with stock valves and heads. On the engine dyno it went 348 HP at 6200 but not really what I would call streetable by todays standards. (just a hair under 11.5 compression) PaulS
