I bought a set of rebuilt E7TE heads for a 78 302 that I'm rebuilding to put in my old van. The heads didn't have rockers or studs on them so I'm looking to the aftermarket for those parts. I've rebuilt a few engines in the past, but only used stock components. I'll be using an edelbrock intake/carb/cam package on this engine, but I don't know what rockers to use and what studs I need. I'd consider roller rockers if you all think they're worth the extra dough.

Any suggestions?... Part numbers?... Thanks,,,,,,,, Rog

 

If the heads are stock they don't use studs or press in studs, they use bolts/ pedestal mount rockers. The stock pedestal rockers are torqued down vs using a feeler gauge to set. With that in mind your pushrod length has to be just right. good luck

 

yes the heads are stock... So, should I forget about the aftermarket rocker stuff and just buy a set of OEM style rockers and pushrods?.. The edelbrock stuff is going to be the performer series... No huge camming going on here. The bottom end will be stock components.

While I'm at it,,,, the company I bought the heads from (on ebay) ground the E7TE number off of the heads. Something to do with them buying all their heads from an authorized Ford rebuilder. I guess the company that they get them from has a deal with Ford where they have to remove the numbers... So, I guess I should be asking you guys if you know of any way to confirm that these are E7TE heads without seeing the casting number.

 

Something about that doesn't sound right to me, they wouldn't be able to trace the heads to any one dealer by reading the casting number E7TE that only identifes the years and what engine it came off of, so again, that sounds odd to me. You are talking about the casting number on the bottom of the intake ports, combustion chamber side correct?

Well if you want higher lift rockers then I wouldn't see the need for more lift.

If you want to use 1.6 roller rockers because they reduce friction, why not.

I wouldn't get hung up on it but thats my opinion.

I would suggest you go with another camshaft, I know there is the thinking of matched components etc., but there are many camshafts better suited for your application than the performer....give comp cams and crane a call, on simulated engines the smaller comp or crane grinds better the perfomer as far as low end torque every time, the smaller comp will also produce a lot more engine vacuum. Just a thought good luck

 

yea, the only reason I was looking into aftermarket rockers (rollers) was for the reduced friction. Otherwise, I'm content with using stock stuff. As for the casting number again, I don't understand the whole thing about grinding off the numbers either. Everyone I've talked to has said the same thing. It don't make sense. Here's a picture of the area that is ground off. I can post other pictures if you think it would help in identifying the heads. From the pictures that I've found on the web, this is right where the numbers should be. And right where you said. Bottom of the head, intake side... The highlighted area on the right is where the number should be. The area on the left is just showing the difference in the smoothness of the surface.

 

Odd.


Looks like you may wanna CC the combustion chambers, ideally the e7te have 64cc chambers but they varied greatly from the factory, so you would be doing it more for personal knowledge than actually identifying the head.

If you want post a picture of the combustion chamber.

 

My guess is they are not E7 heads. Got any shots of the combustion chambers?

 

here's the best shot I have of the combustion chambers at the moment. And one of the exhaust side of one of the heads. I posted these pics at another site when someone asked if there were any other numbers on the heads. That's why the numbers are marked all over them. I have some other pics of the top of the heads if any of those would help.

 

Cant realy tell from the pic's but are those the older style big spark plugs 13/16 wrench size or the 5/8. At least there not E6 heads

 

Back to your original question. You can have a machine shop take care of the holes if there were press in studs and are unthreaded. If the holes are for the modified pedestal, you can just order screw in studs. Either way roller rockers are available for the 7/16" or the 3/8" dia studs.
Check out the http://www.fordracing.com/performanceparts engine tip sheets for a lot of info about this.
Pam

 

I thought they may have been trying to dump the e6 heads on you but from the picture those are not e6. So as the other user mentioned, if you let us know which spark plugs fits that would be a good indication. If it uses the small spark plug then a later casting if its the larger plug its an early casting. I believe the E7 used a 5/16" bolt to hold the pedestal mount rockers down so you might wanna measure that as well. later

 

Sorry for not gettin back to this. My DSL went down for a day...

The spark plugs are the smaller 5/8" ones. And the holes for the rockers are definitely 5/16" and threaded. I haven't got the chance to CC the chambers yet, but I'll let you guys know what I find out when I get to it. I've never seen a set of these heads fully assembled (rockers and all) so that's why I didn't know what they used originally. I really appreciate the help so far.

 

y guess is they are heads off one of the last years of carbed 5.0/302 engines say 84 through 86. Which are not bad heads not even shure if they are much different than E7s. Ported they would be basicly the same. If they were E7s I am shure the casting numbers wouldnt have been ground off.

 

well, I finally got around to CCing the heads. They are 64 cc or darn close. Did any of the other year heads have 64 cc chambers?

 

quite a few years do. Were are you at in Mi?