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I am in the process of tearing apart and going through an 82 351w.
I am going to put in a new cam, new intake, new carb, and new exhaust.
How much benefit would I get from swapping the factory heads out with some gt40 heads?
I don't have the need or the $$ to swap in aluminum heads, I don't need a race truck. I just want to have a little more power. Are they a straight swap?
If I can find the heads for pretty cheap would it be a noticeable gain?
Yes the GT40 heads will be a upgrade of about 25-30 horsepower on there own. As far as bolt on that depends if they came out on a 351 or a 302. If they came out on a 302 you will have to get the head bolt holes drilled out to 1/2", other than that they are bolt on
The '82 351 if all stock is a low compression smog motor.. about 8.3:1, GT40s will bring that up to about 8.8-9:1 depending what version you get, some had 64cc chambers some had 60cc. These things also flow 25% better than stock so along with a cam and exhaust(the other two big factory original restrictions) you could easily be bolting on 100hp.
Also, I am using a C6 with stock torque converter... is that sufficient? Or do I really need to upgrade the TC as well? I would really rather not as this project is getting pretty expensive, haha.
The cam companies have TC calculators on their websites. When you go with so much cam the TC needs to be upgraded. I didn't change mine and you can really tell the tranny is fighting the motor.
The '82 351 if all stock is a low compression smog motor.. about 8.3:1, GT40s will bring that up to about 8.8-9:1 depending what version you get, some had 64cc chambers some had 60cc. These things also flow 25% better than stock so along with a cam and exhaust(the other two big factory original restrictions) you could easily be bolting on 100hp.
I am not very familiar with the GT40's. I know they were on some 302 motors and wanted the OP to be aware of the CR factor.
Would you just leave the rocker arms alone if you were to take them off a 1996 explorer that has gt-40s so literally take them off and just bolt on and go. ?