I recently purchased a roller motor out of a 87 Grand Marquis. I'd love to get 350hp out of it, but would be happy with 300. It has E6SE heads on it, which I plan on replacing. I've got a trick flow intake for it also. I'm going to put it in my 98 Ranger!

What's my easiest/cheapest route to the 350 mark? Specifically in regards to heads. Can I get by with a reworked GT40 or E7 head? Or do I need to go bigger money on something aftermarket?

Any feedback is appreciated, please forgive my noob-ness, this is a learning project.

 

if you're going the gt heads route, I would get ported gt40p's, a cam, bigger injectors, fuel pump, and some nitrous to keep you happy

 

I hope you plan on doing a lot of upgrading and changing of that motor cause its not a ho motor. The ho and non ho motor are two different animals altogether. Different heads, cam, intakes, dizzy, tb, and exhaust manifolds. and I think they still used the true flat top pistons in the non ho motors with the E6 heads so you would have to either change the stock pistons or have the stock pistons fly cut for valve reliefs or you really can't change the heads because you will have piston to valve clearance issues. Should have done more research before you decided on you're motor buy. There are 5.0 ho motors all over Craigslist in all 50 states for $300 or less. I still find it funny that people think that just because it says 5.0 on the intake plate that its the same as a mustang motor, here's a little tie bit for ya kiddies, it's not. hope the build works out for ya.

 

This is exactly what I'm thinking, but I wasn't sure how far the gt40(p) heads would get me. I'll have to price everything I'll need done, if it comes out to $800 for reworked gt40p's, I'll just upgrade to entry level aluminum aftermarket for $200 more.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Hell, I didn't even think it was a roller motor when I bought it for $250! Talk about nice surprise. I DID think it had E7 heads though, so finding the E6 casting mark was a bummer. You are correct, it has flat top pistons. Rebuild kits are about $500 and come with pistons and rings. I'm most likely going to have to get it bored anyway. Since this is going in a 98+ Ranger, there is a very short list of headers that I can use, so that was a given from the beginning.

It's got a 2MAE crank, which I think was used in both HO and non-HO motors. I have to pull the shortblock apart still, but from what I've read the piston rods are forged on this motor, but the pistons were cast. I also need to confirm the firing order/identify the cam.

It came with a new MSD distributor and coil. New Summit racing MAF. Used Trickflow street heat upper/lower intake. 93 APL computer and harness. Turbo ready exhaust headers (won't use). New oil pan still in the box. New aluminum valve covers. New fuel injectors (however they are gray Ford brand, which I think is 19lbs.) Two sets of shorty headers (won't use).

I left the stock intake sitting on the guy's garage floor, but no, I didn't see 5.0 on it and think I had a HO. I knew it wasn't a HO, and was surprised to find that it was even a roller motor.

I left out all of the above to keep my original question short and quick. Even if I scrapped the entire longblock as it sits now, I'm still way ahead on what I got for $250.

Thank you for your feedback!

 

I'll rephrase my original question for clarity:

Assuming a HO shortblock and appropriate exhaust headers, what heads do I need to get to the 300-350 range? Can I get that high with ported/polished GT40(p), or E7? Or, do I need something aftermarket?

 

make sure you match EVERYTHING so that every part you put on the engine is in the same power range (i.e.) dont have an intake that operates from 1000-5500 a cam thats 2500-7500 and heads that are 3500-8500/
Get everything as close together as possible

 

Any more suggestions on which heads for the job?

 

tfs tw's^^^^^^