well lets say this the 289 heads are prob the best overall windsor heads, theres a reason that 5.0 guys have them they flow better than the e7's and the 351's need some work. the 289 with a mid level cam something around 490 lift will give u about 260 wheel and then u will have some fun

 

naw gonna have to disagree on that one the e7 i believe flow more than the early 289/302 if not more almost identical

the best factory flowing small block windsor heads are of the 1993-2001 gt40/gt40p iron heads avalible on the 93-95cobra(gt40) and the 93-96lightning(gt40) and the 1996-19975.0 explorer and the 1998-2001 5.0 explorer (gt40p)
and aftert that its the 1969-1970(cast C9/DO 351w head)

so if ur looking for a budget upgrade lok for some 1996-1997 explorer heads get a nice cam and a weiand intake manifold and some tri-y headers for a nice kick in the pants upgrade

 

i just took my stocker down to the headshop and gotem cleaned up, bigger valves, bowl blend, a little cleaning up of my porting making them all even sizing cost me $385 damn good in my book for a daily driver now if i wanted a race car then i would have built a race motor keep in mind what you are doing with the vehicle please my idiot friend built a 600hp 383 stroker for his camaro and put a 3500 stall on it and 4.11 gears and he thinks he can drive in big city traffic with it i told him he was a moron and that is what is called a track car

 

yup, 289 heads are good for nothing but keeping the compression up cause of their small chamers. the 289 HI-PO heads were very nice, verrrrry nice - but they still didnt flow as well as the 69/70 351w's or the gt-40's or gt-40p's

 

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hipo heads are identical in flow as a 289 C, A code head they only difference were that the k code head had special close toleranse pushrod slots,machined valve spring seat etc but flow number are the same

 

yea..a nice cam, atleast work the exhaust ports on the 289 heads,nice intake manifold/4bbl setup,some tri-ys and dual exhuast,good ignition and I think youd be plenty happy...mate that up with some gears and agood diff. setup and youd be set.