89 5.0 heads and stuff

[Old Man]

Originally Posted by USMC302

Biggest problem.....hooking with street tires when you get a blower, lol. IMO I would go with the TF heads and X303 cam you mentioned, you will be ok with piston to valve clearance with that setup, but that is the max I would push without valve reliefs on teh pistons for those type of heads. The transmission will be fine as long as the street tires are spinning, once you start hooking hard with the right suspension, then you will start throwing trannies. I actually ran my stock T5 at 11.20's @ 125 and it's still a good tranny, no problems at all, I just pulled it because I'm going with a racing auto. You can still run the Trickflow heads and cam with a blower and be very streetable, but as you mentioned, you might want to step down on the gears with that setup. Good luck.

Thanks!

I've decided to change the intake system to TFS along with the heads and all. They claimed about 25 more HP with the TFS intake to go with the heads instead of the GT40 stuff on the car now. They said the combo would put the 302 solidly at about 400 crankshaft horsepower without a blower, which is about all the stock block and bottom end will handle.

That would also be a better match for the 4.10 gear in the car now.

I went through the driveline stuff on an 83 I had. I put a 351W with ported aluminum heads, single plane intake, and a big mechanical roller cam in it. I could run low 11's off the motor alone and mid-10's with a little NOx but neither the 8.8 28 spline rear end nor the trans would hold with slicks on the car. Once I start I can't stop, and I sank a fortune in that car and eventually put it where I can't drive it except at the track.

This is a very clean car and I don't want to start changing every part in it. I need to control myself this time. :-)

Tom