Aluminum heads

[classical glass]

Hi everyone, I have a 427 stroker and I'm ready to install a set of aluminum heads. I want to purchase a complete assembled set that's all ready to go. My questions are are there different compression ratio to pick from and which one is the best for the street. Are there any incidentals that should be considered when ordering them ie [ss valves, teflon valve seals, sodium filled exhaust valves etc] I only want to order once and want to get it right the first time. Last who manufactures the best items? The car is a semi show car and driven only on the street. Thanks for your time.

[saltshaker]

Best heads are BBM or Survival Comp with aluminum heads can be 10/1 w/93 octane. Advantage of BBM heads is they require less timing. Brent Bykins is on this site and a very experienced FE builder to reach out to.
Jon

[jwoodard]

Keith Craft also does heads and offers different levels of CNC porting. They advertise on this site. Suggest you call them and discuss your needs and questions. Friendly people that do good work.

[Karl Bebout]

For the way you use your car, why would you be concerned with all the super nifty sodium filled valves and stuff? You're not trying to wring the last ounce of power and performance. Spend your money on things you'll use.
As for compression....block decking, head milling, pistons, and head gaskets all go into the mix. Given your stated purposes, why not stick to 8-9 so if you get stuck having to use cheapo gasoline, there's not much concern. Also, down the line, if you ever wanted to put a huffer on, you'd be in good shape.
This being said, its all moot, if bragging rights is your goal.
Just my 2 1/2¢ (or less) worth.

[eschaider]

+1^ on what Karl said. You are getting race car engines and street car engines confused in your head which will cause damage in your wallet.

What saltshaker said about the BBM heads requiring less timing is noteworthy. BBM does not use a period correct combustion chamber. They use a modern high swirl, shallow chamber which allows them to produce an impressive combustion event while using less timing and delivering similar results.

The other benefit to using a new production head is the new design castings are more robust, they are new and they are built for unleaded fuel usage. Current generation castings (for the most part) have improved upon the original Ford casting. There are those that have not and will provide you both a period correct and a strength / longevity correct casting.

Not to beat a dead horse but don't forget the original OEM castings were not meant to run on unleaded fuel. That means you will have to do some massage on the exhaust seats just like Detroit did when unleaded fuels became the new normal.

For an out of the box head the BBM is hard to beat and easier to find than two identical good condition period correct heads. Where you will get into the deep end of the swimming pool is when you start turning the out of the box BBM head into a race car BBM head. You would be smart not to go down that path most significantly because you don't have to.

Buy two BBM heads use them as is. Get appropriate pistons for the c/r you want. Build your engine and don't worry, be happy — as the song says.


Ed

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by classical glass

The car is a semi show car and driven only on the street.

For a street-only FE, getting the rocker geometry set right will have a greater impact on your long term happiness than the choice of aluminum heads (assuming you don't pick dogs). Out of the box Edelbrocks, with a little port matching and clean up, will give you way more horsepower than you'll ever need to kill yourself on the street. What you want is valve train reliability, and that doesn't come "out of the box."

[saltshaker]

I have a set of c4 heads ported with cj valves they flow 280ish @.600 enough to support a 560hp motor.vost with parts was under 1k and my 428 pulled 417rwhp on the dyno. It's all about getting the right parts to work together!
Jon

[Mongoose930]

I have Barry's (Survival Felony) Heads and I am very happy with them:

Survival FE Heads

Here is a link to my engine being dynoed:

My Engine Is Almost Famous

[Dwight]

do you have a 427 small block Windsor or a FE big block?


I know this is the FE forum but just checking.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Dwight

do you have a 427 small block Windsor or a FE big block?

Dang, I forgot there are "small block" 427 engines.

[FWB]

if it's a small block the list is long on heads that are available

[Phx Mike]

Agree with all the above. First question is - when you say "427 stroker" do you mean a 351W stroked to 427 or an FE? Changes your selection of heads quite a bit. Relative to FE's I have been happy with my Craft-modified Edelbrock's and for the money I think they are hard to beat. For a maximum effort I think the BBM's or Survival heads are about as good as they get. There are a few good threads on the Fordfe forum comparing various FE heads. Don't waster your money on sodium cooled or Ti valves unless you are planning a max effort race engine.

[Phx Mike]

By the way on my aluminum edelbrocks my static compression ratio is just about 10:1 and it just tolerates 91 octane. Really prefers 92-93. This is operating at low altitude (1100 ft here in Phx). At higher altitude you can go a little higher but in general I would stay at or below 10:1 esp if you have a mild cam.

[blykins]

Since the preliminary verbal thumb-wrestling has taken place, I'll see if I can answer some of the questions.

1. Need to know whether or not it's an FE or SBF.

2. Need to know every single thing about your existing combination. Is this a short block that needs finished? An existing engine that needs an upgrade?

3. Some of the aftermarket heads will only work on some engines. Again, if we're talking about FE's, the Survival and BBM heads out of the box support about 300 cfm of intake flow and both have modern combustion chamber designs. Edelbrock heads, out of the box, will go about 250-260 cfm at best. They have "old-school" combustion chambers, along with 3/8" diameter valve stems.

As has been noted, the Edelbrocks are available in CNC ported flavors from various venders, which increases the flow and also changes some of the inherent flaws of the Edelbrock heads.

The BBM and Survival heads can also be ported.

All of the above heads can be used on a 390/428/427 bore size. The valve spacing lends itself to that.

The CNC Pond heads will only work on a 427 bore size. They are another option for a nice high-performance cylinder head. The combustion chamber is a little old-school, but CNC ported heads will flow about 350 cfm.

4. The combustion chamber sizes vary on all these heads. The Edelbrock heads usually go about 74cc. The way I usually set up the BBM heads will give them 72cc chambers. Barry's head will go 74-75cc.

The Pond heads start at 92cc. That's a big difference and depending on your short block, you could end up with 8:1 compression or 12:1 compression.

Once I have some more information, including camshaft specs, I can steer you more precisely.

5. A 482 with 300 cfm heads will support around 525-550 hp. The 482's that I do with the CNC ported heads will go higher, towards the 600 hp mark.

6. No one uses sodium filled valves anymore, that's a trademark of the 1960's. Modern day valves are 11/32" stem, stainless steel valves. A teflon valve seal is a no-no, as they eventually get brittle with heat. A Viton rubber valve seal is the seal of choice. The current trend is to also use a small diameter valve spring to help with valvetrain weight and response. It's very common to see 1.250" OD valve springs for flat tappet and hydraulic roller camshafts and we have even been using 1.350" OD valve springs from PAC for solid roller camshafts with engines that peak at 8000 rpm.

[Dimis]

Hey Brent
Thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by blykins

The Pond heads start at 92cc.

Is this right or a typo...?
Seems like an outlier in comparison to the others.

Thanks again for the education.

[blykins]

Not a typo.

That’s the difference between LR and MR chamber sizes. Your factory CJ heads and others were around 72-74cc so we have aftermarket heads to replace them. The Pond heads start at 92 and usually are cut to about 86 to match MR chamber sizes. Your TP and some HR heads were also that big. We normally run a flat top or small dish with the Pond heads.

[classical glass]

Originally Posted by Phx Mike

Agree with all the above. First question is - when you say "427 stroker" do you mean a 351W stroked to 427 or an FE? Changes your selection of heads quite a bit. Relative to FE's I have been happy with my Craft-modified Edelbrock's and for the money I think they are hard to beat. For a maximum effort I think the BBM's or Survival heads are about as good as they get. There are a few good threads on the Fordfe forum comparing various FE heads. Don't waster your money on sodium cooled or Ti valves unless you are planning a max effort race engine.

I have a Fe 427 side oiler striker. Sorry.

[classical glass]

Sorry for the lack of information. What I have is a FE 427 side oiler stroker.
Thanks

[classical glass]

Originally Posted by blykins

Since the preliminary verbal thumb-wrestling has taken place, I'll see if I can answer some of the questions.

1. Need to know whether or not it's an FE or SBF.

2. Need to know every single thing about your existing combination. Is this a short block that needs finished? An existing engine that needs an upgrade?

3. Some of the aftermarket heads will only work on some engines. Again, if we're talking about FE's, the Survival and BBM heads out of the box support about 300 cfm of intake flow and both have modern combustion chamber designs. Edelbrock heads, out of the box, will go about 250-260 cfm at best. They have "old-school" combustion chambers, along with 3/8" diameter valve stems.

As has been noted, the Edelbrocks are available in CNC ported flavors from various venders, which increases the flow and also changes some of the inherent flaws of the Edelbrock heads.

The BBM and Survival heads can also be ported.

All of the above heads can be used on a 390/428/427 bore size. The valve spacing lends itself to that.

The CNC Pond heads will only work on a 427 bore size. They are another option for a nice high-performance cylinder head. The combustion chamber is a little old-school, but CNC ported heads will flow about 350 cfm.

4. The combustion chamber sizes vary on all these heads. The Edelbrock heads usually go about 74cc. The way I usually set up the BBM heads will give them 72cc chambers. Barry's head will go 74-75cc.

The Pond heads start at 92cc. That's a big difference and depending on your short block, you could end up with 8:1 compression or 12:1 compression.

Once I have some more information, including camshaft specs, I can steer you more precisely.

5. A 482 with 300 cfm heads will support around 525-550 hp. The 482's that I do with the CNC ported heads will go higher, towards the 600 hp mark.

6. No one uses sodium filled valves anymore, that's a trademark of the 1960's. Modern day valves are 11/32" stem, stainless steel valves. A teflon valve seal is a no-no, as they eventually get brittle with heat. A Viton rubber valve seal is the seal of choice. The current trend is to also use a small diameter valve spring to help with valvetrain weight and response. It's very common to see 1.250" OD valve springs for flat tappet and hydraulic roller camshafts and we have even been using 1.350" OD valve springs from PAC for solid roller camshafts with engines that peak at 8000 rpm.

What I have is a 427 FE stroker. Crowley 16331 cam (551/565, lob center 108
Duration @ .050 lift247/252, lobe lift intake .312, exhaust .319). Ford roller rockers 1.76, MSD ignition, lemans HD rods, Wisoeco forged Pistons 10.5 comp ratio 10.6cc dish top. Lunati 428 crank, 2 Holley 600 CFL carbs. I think that's it.

[patrickt]

The Crower 16331 is a solid flat tappet camshaft. A little bigger than mine, and a very good choice.