Which heads are better????
 

Which heads do you all think would work better. The parts I have...E303 cam, 1.6 rr (thanks nosty347), 1 5/8 BBk shorty headers, o/r h-pipe, flowmasters, 3.55:1 fms gears, alum. rad. w/elec fan, c-4 trans. Also, in the very near future I should be putting a GT-40 intake up above. My question is this. With this GT-40 intake i'm getting, there are a set of GT-40 P heads. I am also getting a set of stock heads that have been highly ported and the valve sized increased a little. I don't have much info on the porting, just that it was extensive and a very good job. I was just wondering if a set of ported stock heads or if the GT-40 P heads would work better for me.

Thanks all,

GT-40P's for sure. This competition is a mis match the GT-40P's are far superior and a good macth for a GT-40 intake.

Whatever you do...don't just do one side, upgrade both sides. You know why? Because two heads are better than one, that's why!

hahaha

Sorry for the bad joke, it's getting late, I'm buzzed and I've wanted to say something corny on this board for a while....

I dont know. Untouched gt40p's vs extensively ported e7's. If he gets the gt40p's he'll also have to get new headers, right? Or is that the gt40's. I can never remember. I personally would go with the ported stock castings, but thats just me. I dont know the flow characteristics of the p heads, so I could be wrong.

Professionally ported E7s will very likely outflow stock GT40(P) heads and you don't need to buy new headers. Of course I see some guys get by without replacing the headers but it tends to burn up plug wire sets.

I ran some "professionaly ported" E7's that were angle milled with a 5 angle valve job and trick flow springs for 2 years. I dropped off 3-4 tenths of a second over stock.

But I never did get better than a 13.6. Lots of people are running low 12's with the GT-40P heads.

I am going to have to respectfully disagree with my very knowledgeable but wrong MW brothers

:D

As quoted from 88workcar's sig:
As I stated before, I dont know the flow characteristics of either set of heads, but I would probably go with the e7's. Stock for stock, gt40p's any day. But stock gt40p's against "extensively" ported e7's, I would go with the e7's for the port work and the fact that you wont have to buy new headers. But again, since I dont know the flow numbers of either, I could be wrong.

You cant go by that. He claims his heads are unported BTW.

I have never heard of or witnessed anyone running anywhere near his times with E7's all motor. His car weighs 2700 lbs and pulls a 1.5 60ft with 4.30 gears and slicks.. Thats why it is so fast I think even he will admit that E7's dont flow well at all.

Math302HO (50Tech.com) has an SD 87 notch 5spd 3:73 geared car that weighs 3100#. He has stock block, ported E7 heads, stock TB, stock upper intake, stock cam retarded 4°, my ported lower, long tubes, off-road H and STOCK 2 1/4"catbacks. With slicks, he clicks off 12.7@107.

The GT-40P's have more potential. But to tell you the truth I wouldnt go with either I would save up a couple more hundred dollars and get some aluminum heads used.

Aluminum heads sound great, but this is sort of a budget build to get me through about 2 more years before I can graduate. Then I'll get me a good set of aluminum heads, along with a new bottom end, top end and a full chassis....if only graduation could be tomorrow........I just want to go as fast as I can for as cheap as possible and I'm getting a great deal on both sets, I just want to know what set to keep for myself and what set to get rid of.


Thanks all, you've been helpful and entertaining, this is a good debate so far....


Chris


mustworks is the sh*t

I think the p heads would be good for what your wanting to do right now. Only thing is you will need different headers if you want it done right. And they usually arent cheap. You could use the gt40p shorty headers or get a set of Mac longtubes. But by the time you get a good set of p heads and headers your prolly looking at around 500-700 bucks. I think if i were gonna get a set of stock ported heads id go with the powerheads. www.powerheads.com

The stock heads I'm referring to are already done and i'm getting them VERY cheap. Like I said, this is a major budget build, just to get me down the track with better numbers than stock. I wasn't even going to change them at all but these two deals came up and i'm just not sure what heads to put on my car and what heads to sell.

Will my BBK 1 5/8 shorties not work with these heads. I was told that the difference with the heads is the exhaust ports are 1/4 inch higher on the head, so wouldn't it just pull my h-pipe up a little higher?

Thanks all.

your 1 5/8 headers will not work with the p heads. you will have to ding some of the collectors. Has nothing to do with the exhaust ports. The spark plug on a p head is more straight into the combustion chamber.

But the other end of the plug is the problem - they are angled such that they hit stock style header tubes. HArd to keep plug boots from burning up.

what he said.. :D

Check out 5.0 Magazine December 1999 where the swapped in a set of GT40p's. They replaced a set of midley ported ette's with the gt40p in a 12.63 @ 105.9 trophy stock car. It had an e-303 and 1.6's, with the gt40p's they ran a 12.46 @ 107.9, that's using the mac gt40p headers as well. It also says central coast has an 89 coupe that has run 11.98 with gt40ps.

Other possibilities is find a set of regular GT40's and save the price of headers, or hunt for a good deal on after market cast irons, I swapped from my stock 85 heads with an e cam and 1.6's, to windsor jr's and 1.7's and went from a 14.1 sec et, to 13.5's on a 190,000 mile short block.

If you want to read the whole article let me know.

Adam

Well Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have made my choice. I thank you all for your information that has been much helpful. You've actually saved me a lot of time and effort and money for that matter so I am greatly appreciative of all your help. So here is the decision. I am going to go ahead and use the ported stock heads while I'm saving for a set of better ones. The GTP's will go to the younger brother. My reasoning is because I would have to go through and also get a new set of headers and a new h-pipe(I WOULD get long tube headers this time). Instead I can put that cost to a new set of good heads. And my brother doesn't have exhaust yet so he could build around those. As for the GT-40 intake....well I'll keep that.

Thank you all, and thank you mustangworks.

Chris