i have a head gasket which has gone bad and going to put new heads on while i got them off, and trying to decide which ones to get. im trying to stay as cheap as possible, but also looking at just buying a set of heads and porting them myself? or i have talked to a few people and they say that heads off a 96 explorer are same as a 93 cobra? would i notice much of a difference from stock to ported or to heads off of a 96 explorer or would i be better off with aftermarket heads?

 

After market heads will give you the most power but you can check out the stock heads that Thumper does . He claims to port them and they flow better than a World Jr. head after wards .

 

gt-40 heads will yield you a decent improvement as long as you do a cam and intake swap together

 

well i wasnt really planning on doing those swaps at the same time, i was trying to keep costs down specially know because last night some kids slit my top up really bad and thats another 800 for a new top. so i can get gt40 heads from a junkyard and they test them for me and then im going to port them and then soon down the road i plan on doing intake. can the intake from the explorers also work? i have heard it is also an improvement along with the throttle body so i was wondering if anybody knows if those also work?

 

The Exploder heads are GT40P. They have a different plug angle and you may have toruble getting the headers to fit.
93 Cobra and 93-95 Lightning heads are the OEM heads that you want.