RAGNAROK

I am saving my money up so that I can buy some new heads soon. How hard is it to change heads? I am not very experienced in working on car engines yet , I am getting fairly good and learning a HELL of alot wrestling with my engine swap so far though. This thing is beginning to **** me off. Anyways back to the question , I have pretty much decided on the AFR 165 heads eveyone has been talking about so much. I saw the articles in MM&amp;FF about the perfect heads and it looks like they did the best. Anyway here are my questions. How hard is it to swap heads? and Do new heads come with everything I need to install them and go or are there more parts I need? I hope that isn't a stupid question .Also my final question is , what kind of gains will I most likley see with the AFR heads over the stock 1988 Cougar heads I have? Here is what the combo would look like with the AFR heads.</P>


Holley 600cfm Carb , Pro. Products Power Plus Intake , MSD Pro Billet Distributor, Heddman long Tubes , H-Pipe, no cats , no A/C , Electric fans , and of course the AFR 165 heads (as opposed to stock 1988 5.0 Cougar heads)</P>


Any answers to any of the questions are appriciated</P>

RAGNAROK

Sorry i mean to mention I was going to get a cam also . I was wondering if the new heads would allow me to put a better cam in , since I am not able now to because of my pistons. I was told I might be able to put a better cam in when I put the new heads on. I know I wouldn't be able to go drastically bigger on the cam but hopefully better than a stock H.O. cam (which is , I'm told , the biggest I can get with my non H.O. 88 cougar heads)

84stang

You'll see and feel huge gains. I know i did when i bought my AFR's. To do the swap all you will need is gaskets, an oil change and antifreeze. You might want to go ahead and get ARP head bolts while you are at it. As for your cam question, I was told the same thing about 86 302's but a good friend of mine put an E-cam in and it ran fine, actually with performer heads it went 12.50's wit 4.30 gears. If you do buy a cam just check valve clearance before you start it.

RAGNAROK

Awsome. yeah I planned on the ARP bolts to. thats cool about the cam because the E-303 is the one I want. But everyone says I can't use it because of the clearance. As soon as I get my cash i'm going to buy the heads followed by the cam and gears. Hopefully I can get it painted before I die of old age<IMG src=smileys/smiley6.gif border="0">

vfast

well you can notch the pistons when you pull the heads off...listening to you it would seen a job not for yourself..maybe you have a friend who could do it...the 165 are a great choice....you could just put a bigger rocker to get a lil more out of the stock cam...don't reuse the bolts with these heads..
good luck

RAGNAROK

I plan on either getting new pistons eventually or actually building a seperate short block on the side whenever I get some extra cash. I'de rather leave my bottm end stock for now since I dont feel like pulling the engine and I wouldn't really know enough about what I'm doing to not screw something up. So I think I'll pull the 302 from my uncles junked up maverick and tear it down , maybe build it on the side. Hmm thats not a bad Idea. I could get it tanked and everything cleaned up , get it bored , get one of those complete rebuild kits from P.A.W. , then put the AFR 165's on it. It wouldn't take to long really and my dad has rebuilt engines before so I know we could do it. I think the Maverick is a early 70's one. Someone told me it might have a 9 inch rear end in it but i haven't looked into it yet.My unclesaid it was an auto too , wonder what kind it has in it ? Like am FMX or C4 or something? Anyway I am positive I want the AFR's now , just have to save about $800 more dollars. Vfast , as far as putting the heads on goes I'm sure I could handle it , as far as notching the pistons I didn't even know you could do that, much less know how to, is this a service I could get at a mechanics shop or something that can be done by someone with the right tools (Knowing what they are doing of course)?</P>

horatio102

A decent machine shop should be able to notch the pistons.

If you're going to build a second 302 I probably wouldn't worry about it. Just run the stock cam with the AFRs and put your energy into the other one. Or pick up a used HO cam. Heh. I should be getting all of my stock HO parts back from the shop (hopefully they've still got them). So I'd have stock HO heads (needing a valve job), cam, upper/lower intake manifold, etc.

RAGNAROK

Yeah I think thats the best plan. I'm just gonna put the heads on my carn then run it for a while as I build the other shortblock. As soon as i finish this engine and get the car painted I am going to start on a 460 build. I see them pretty cheap in the papers around here. i figure that I can just work on it over the next few years with my dad as just kind of a fun project and drop in in later. I am going to call this school in Knoxville tomorrow and look into some coarses there. they teach Automotive technology and Body shop coarses. It would be nice to have an engine and car to work on while taking the classes . hopefully this school will turn out to be a decent place because I really want to take the body shop coarse.