im building a budget minded 5.0 HO. its a stock but fresh bottom end with flattop pistons, stock cam, but I need a set of heads. I was thinking of going with the gt40 heads, but theyre kinda hard to find. the gt40p heads will NOT work because of the relocated spark plug hole, which I think pretty much rules out aftermarket heads too. so what can I use? i guess I could get a set of e7s, but theyre kinda chokey. How about a set of 351 heads? Like I said, its a budget build so Im not going to buy a set of new aftermarket heads, and Im not trying to get every last hp out of it so im sure the p heads would be fine in terms of flow if it werent for the plug angle. what are my options and does anyone have a set?

 

Just port some E7s. For just a nice street engine, ported heads are fine. Ported migh give you an extra 40hp. Or get some aftermarket Iron heads.

 

gt40 heads arent all that hard to find you just have to keep an eye out. you can use gt40p headsbut you have to get the specific headers, which you probably wont want to do being ona budget. you could get e7s and port them so they flow a little better though.

 

If your just going with a stock cam, port some E7's. Lol, yea but GT40 heads just take a little searching for. I used to have all the flow numbers on those heads and most aftermarket heads. Ill have to look for them....

 

ok this is what i would suggest.....its what people around here do. I am assuming you have a set of stock heads or can get a set somewhere. Take those to autozone and tell em you need a set of heads off of a 1996 explorer with the 5.0. Those are the cast iron gt40 heads and they sell em for $300 + core. 99.999% of the time the guys at autozone dont know the difference and will accept your heads as a care. LOTS of people do that around here and get a nice flowing set of heads for $300.....MAKE SURE THEY ARE 1996 Explorer heads, the 1997 Explorer heads are the gt40p heads. I hope this helps.

 

it wont matter what heads you give them for a core, as long as you give em some. we used to take heads off engines that dropped valves or threw rods and use em for cores. we gave some 318 heads that dropped a valve and chewed up the combustion chamber as a core for some small block chevy heads. i dont really think people at parts stores like that care.

 

I found my set of GT-40 heads in a junk yard. They are a set of heads that came off of a 93 Lightning. I was just walking down the isle and almost tripped on them. I looked down and noticed the three bars on the side and knew what they were. Believe it or not I paid only 160.00 for the pair. They are out there, just have to know what to look for.

For a budget? I would go for the GT-40 heads. If that is not an option, then I would go for the E7TEs. A little port work will go a long way on those heads.

 

thanks guys, this helps a lot. Ill have to try the 96 exploder heads swapped at autozone lol thats a great idea, i thought all the exploders had "P" heads. I could port a set of e7s, i know how, but im not really looking to spend the kind of time it takes to do even a basic port job since im on somewhat of a time constraint too. autozone here I come!

 

$269 + $100 core, be here may 9 :woot: