I hit fletch's carbed mustangs and looked at his flow numbers for iron and aluminum heads... those thumper heads and their 218/154 flows outdo a lot of the milder aftermarket and gt40 heads and do darn well for the $600 they cost. Plus everything will bolt right back up since they are, after all, stock heads.

Anyhow, after doing my own "porting" for a week or two, I say it is very much not beyond the abilities of the average joe. I've been using a drill and a rotary file on an extension and using the way too soft blue grindstones (at least it's hard to make a sudden mistake when you have to grind for 2-3 minutes to get an area smooth). Go for it. It will cost you a bunch of time but only $50 max in drill bits and maybe a burnt out drill. Have 2 drills and let one cool while you work with the other. Every once in a while, stop and switch to 80 gritting the runners and let both cool.

Most of all, it will be FUN and you'll feel like you're really taking the project in hand.

Good luck!

Josh, We love you man.

I had 700 bux in my E7's

I bought the Canfields for 600 bux

I couldnt get more than 200 bux for my E7's after all that freakin work went into them.

Last but not least do a google search on the thumper heads and look at the page after page of complaints;)

I would at least get some GT-40's.

I have been selling intakes to guys who used Thumper's heads for years and never heard a complaint, so I followed your advice. After 10 pages of Thumper hits with not one complaint on Thumper of Orange Park, FL, I quit. Lots of other "THumper" hits including a Mazda head guy, but not one on Mike Shultz (aka Thumper of Orange Park)

I think that the bare castings of the E7's I had were thumper heads. I belong to many sites. I dont remember wich site I was on when I was defending the Thumper heads and then someone posted a link to a massive complaint page. Basicly they were saying that the bare heads are good but the thumper valve train sucks.

I use to sing the praises of ported stock heads until I upgraded. Now I see I was just wasting my time and money.

BTW I seen the other day that you also post on DWFstangs.com....Seems to be a good site to buy and sell stuff on.

You are correct TMOSS I was wrong. I confused Thumper heads with Power heads.

:o

So here's a question:

Could an individual with oodles of time and common porting knowledge (and some fanaticism) end up with their own home made "thumpers" or are these CNC/computerized machined and out of reach for the home-porter to replicate functionalitywise?

And on that note:

Does the lower valveguide _ABSOLUTELY_ need to be there for 0-5000 rpm applications? I was thinking to just smooth the entire runner down and take all guides/bumps out altogether and have a smooth tube all the way in and out and then HOG out the intake and exhaust ports till it's glass smooth. Am I begging for disaster without guides or should I be ok?

I ported a set of stock heads for a buddy of mine. It's really not that hard. He made 365 ponies to the wheels with 8psi and the stock cam. I didn't think that was too bad (not to mention it was my first port job.) I would say if you're looking for more power on a budget...do it yourself. If you're willing to spend 600 bucks on stock ported heads then save a little longer for better heads.
-Ryan

thanks guys
 

you've all been helpful, i found a buddy with a set of e7's off a 94 gt that had new springs and a 3angle valve job, i'm not sure what else. for $200 bucks is it worth it? i really want to shove in my ecam(new in box still) without f'ing up my car. eventually i plan on afr 165's or 185's with an paxton. but right now this seems like the ticket. what do you guys think? BTW do you know anybody who wants to trade and aftermarket intake for a set of weld draglites. 15X8's in the rear, and 15x5's up front one of the skinnies is curbed pretty bad, i don't know if its repairable.
thanks josh and everybody else you guys are really giving me an edumucation