I'm rebuilding a '72 429 and was wondering about cleaning up the exhaust ports. I've been reading on this site about removing the "bump" significantly helps preformance, but how much can you safley remove? Should I be worried about hitting any water jackets or anything else? Thanx!

 

If it's a stock or mild level performance engine, just take off the smog bumps and smooth, not polish, the rest of the exhaust ports. If you want to get involved with it, 60+ hours of breathing black dust, go here:

http://www.reincarnation-automotive.com/D0VE_C_notes_guide_index.html

If your heads are D2XX, they're the only open chamber head made for the early 385 and not suitable for full porting or higher compression than used in '72 as they're prone to detonation.

 

Is it going in the '58 F-100?

 

don't believe the rumor on the 72 heads being prone to detonation. i'm using a set that have 120,000 miles on then and they have been ported very well on the exhaust side, and have no problems with them. they are running around 9.6:1 compression motor. the 72 429 heads can support lots of horsepower, mine is running a very conservative 425 H.P. and runs super. so take it from some one who has these heads and knoes how they run.. C.J.

 

Thanx for the advice! The '58 already has a 351w in it, and seems to do just fine. As for right now the 429 is going to be living under the hood of an '88 Mustang.(I need something to tow around behind my F150 don't I?) It's already in, firewall mods done, truck headers seriously re-worked, 3" exhaust, truck oilpan, and a set of homemade solid mounts. Now all I have to do is take it all back apart and go through the motor.(175k on it, ran good when it was in my 82 Mustang, 13.3 in the 1/4) I'll have the thing apart by tommorrow. I'll check the #'s on the heads, so atleast I know exactly what I've got. The only concern then is detonation issues and no water jackets? I'm thinking about running a bigger cam, straight up timing, dual piont distributor, 800cfm Edelbrock carb, and a 2000rpm stall. I have an Edelbrock Street Master intake I'm using right now. Any advice? I'm not trying to hi-jack this site away from the truck disscusion by any means,(I do own 3 of 'em) it's you guys are just so knowledgable. Any advice is appreciated! Thanx again!

 

Standard abrassives has a very good article on porting heads. You can safely grind the hump down flush with the bottom of the exhaust port floor. Also gasket matching makes a world of differance in the heads. Best bet is to save the money for a set of aftermarket heads and do the major port work on those. Just my advice.

 

I think I'm going to the grind the bumps down and port match route, being I'm on a tight budget here. If anyone is intrested check this pig out at:http://home.att.net/~ambroberts/Frankenstang/ Thanks again for the input!

 

 

on stock heads made ford they have alot of "meat" on them so you can grind on them but don't go to far. when porting just keep moving the bit around. I would use the carbide bits on summitracing.com. I would also get rid of the streetmaster intake it is an economy intake and you wont make any big numbers off it, if your looking for horsepower. OH and dual point distributors are bad, I had one in my 351W and it made my tach act up and my engine ran rough and i got a MSD system on of the rtr ones so then you don't need the boxes it has them built in and i regaped the plugs ten thousandths out and she runs like a dream and pulled 425hp at the last dyno run, but soon over 500 when i get my new edelbrock super victor heads and intake.

 

Just a word of cauton on port work. I would spend the $25.00 to get acess to scots site http://www.reincarnation-automotive.com
He has guides and pictures to show you what and where to grind. The most inportant thing he will show you where the water is. You can end up with a good expensive trout line sinker if you don't know. I have just finished a set and understand why the cost of having someone port and polish a set of heads is CHEAP.
Bill

 

I would get rid of those D 2 heads they are the worst heads ford ever made by far unless P I. good heads will make a motor run like night or day if you where wanting to run rollor rockers you cant on a D 2 head unless you have machine work done D2 they are a low compression head small intake runners their just not a good base to make power i suggest you get dove or cobra jet or just get aluminum heads I just got done doing a set of dove heads i did all of the porting and polishing i took the intake to a cobra jet on the exhaust side the bump is gone the valve guide humps are gone i just opened the up to where i felt comfortable they are alot bigger than stock they dont leak.the valves are cobra jet too.i have a 1000 bucks in them and now they are a awesome set of heads and the only reason i didnt go with aluminum is because their going on my pulling truck and i cant have aluminum heads in my class