Need help with head selection(for a friends ford)
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Le Mans Master
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From: DrunkDefender
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St. Jude Donor '07-'10
Need help with head selection(for a friends ford)
OK guys, heres the deal. Fellow forum member and cruise in veteran 'TennLee' as some of you may know has (take pity upon him) a ford. Its a factory five shelby cobra replica. Engine is a 302 .030 over, perf rpm manifold, 600cfm edelbrock carb, fairly large cam (1500-6500 rpm), bottom end has good parts including a set of forged slugs. Nos comes later but the problem now is the crappy iron heads with 1.7intake 1.5 exhaust valves. We've narrowed it down to a set of aftermarket alum edlebrocks but we need to know which valve size to go with. 2.02 intakes or the smaller 1.90s
Is there any reason why he/we shouldnt go for the 2.02s? I'm not particularly well versed in the finer (if there are any) points of blue oval performance and was hoping that perhaps someone here could shed some light on this. TIA.
Is there any reason why he/we shouldnt go for the 2.02s? I'm not particularly well versed in the finer (if there are any) points of blue oval performance and was hoping that perhaps someone here could shed some light on this. TIA.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Prineville Oregon
Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (red90sixspeed)
I've run a lot of Fords over the years and I'd say if your friend is using his car mainly on the street he should stick with the 1.90 intakes. They'll give him better responce and more torque...which is want you want for everday use. A 2.02 valve is BIG for a small cubed 302, now if he's building a race car and he wants to continually spin 7,500-8,000 RPM then a bigger valve would make sence. Ford made the mistake of releasing too big of valves and ports the first year of the Boss 302 (they found it wasn't "street" responsive) the very next year they downsized the valves and port size. Deen
Melting Slicks
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From: Andersonville TN
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Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (DeenHylton)
Thanks Deen and Russ,
As Russ mentioned, I'm about to buy new heads from Edelbrock, and I've been pondering why they make the two different sizes. Of course the same heads fit a 351W, so I guess it would prefer the larger valves. My cobra is a street car, and I occasionally dragrace/autocross it. I don't envision ever spinning it past 6500 RPM.
Thanks
Lee
[Modified by TennLee, 8:04 AM 1/24/2002]
As Russ mentioned, I'm about to buy new heads from Edelbrock, and I've been pondering why they make the two different sizes. Of course the same heads fit a 351W, so I guess it would prefer the larger valves. My cobra is a street car, and I occasionally dragrace/autocross it. I don't envision ever spinning it past 6500 RPM.
Thanks
Lee
[Modified by TennLee, 8:04 AM 1/24/2002]
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
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From: DrunkDefender
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St. Jude Donor '07-'10
Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (TennLee)
Deen, those were my thoughts on the two sizes but I wasnt sure. We kinda thought that since the car in question only weighs in at just under 2000lbs he wouldnt "need" ;) alot of torque.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Prineville Oregon
Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (red90sixspeed)
If he was building a 351W I would have recommended the 2.02's...but since he's not go with the 1.94's he WILL run faster. It's been said many times in many different places: the most common mistake of engine modifications is going TOO BIG...too big of carb, too big of cam/ports/valves, too much timing, too high of octane (slower flame speed), etc.,etc.,etc. Deen
Melting Slicks
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From: Peoria IL
Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (DeenHylton)
Well if I was to ever get any sort of ford that would deffinately be it. Depending on what your rear gear is I would say that the 2.02s won't kill you in such light car.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 1999
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From: Schaumburg, Il, USA IL
Re: Need help with head selection(for a friends ford) (red90sixspeed)
I agree with all the above posts about the 1.90's being sufficient.
Not to throw anything into the fray, but take a look at AFR's offerings
for the SBF. They flow like gangbusters and retain good velocity (the
smaller version).
Not to throw anything into the fray, but take a look at AFR's offerings
for the SBF. They flow like gangbusters and retain good velocity (the
smaller version).
