I ran water though the carb and cleaned it up somewhat. My pistons are flat tops with one significant valve relief on one side and one very small valve relief on the other. I also ran a compression check. My lowest was 190 and my highest was 200 psi. I by-passed the vacuum advance and set the total at 36*. It doesn't run well like this. It doesn't seem to wind up like before. The timing starts to advance at about 2000 rpm and tops out at 3500 rpm. This is getting very frustrating.

 

Well there is your issue, if hte pistons are down in the bore .020 (which would not provide any quench and make it prone to detonation) your compression is well over 10:1 actually closer to 10.4:1 and thats assuming that the heads have not been milled at all. And worst case is if the heads were milled anywhere near .020, and the pistons are at zero deck your looking for a comp ration around 11.1:1 and that just isn't going to run on pump gas expecially with Iron heads.
Honestly the best thing I could suggest to you is sell those early model heads buy a set of D3VE heads, port the exhaust side, add some stainless valves, put in studs and guide plates if desired and make sure the block is squared adn the piston to deck clearence is within .010 that will give you just short of a 9:1 compression motor with those flat tops, have good quench distance and will allow for using 91 octane easily or 89 with making sure of good tune.
Next best thing is run 100LL or race gas cause anything else is going to ping in that engine.

 

Thanks Monsterbaby, I have two sets of D3VE heads, one complete and one bare. The local shops gave me an estimate of around $800 to recondition them and that was not including any porting. That seemed high to me, but it has been many years since I have had any head work done. I have roller rockers on my D0VE's and would want to use them. Is it more feasible to by new rockers instead adapting the D3VE's? I really need to get this resolved so I don't embarass the FOMOCO name.

 

crane cams has the pedestal to stud mount conversion kit. you can get it for around 90 dollars from summitracing.com- that will let you use your current roller rockers on the d3ve heads, and yes 800 dollars to recondition the heads does seem a bit high to me too unless theyre cutting for oversized valves and milling and putting good springs and titanium retainers on

 

Thanks for the reply. That price was for a basic valve job with no additional parts needed. I would consider sendind off my D3VE heads depending on shipping and cost to redo them. Anyone have a suggestion? The shop here are Ford guys but they are into the Windsors. They told me that porting of heads is not worth the gain...I myself disagree, just from what I have read on this sight.

 

call around on other shops, to tank, mag, and redo the valves install hardened seats machine for screw in studs and guide plates, install new guides, mill and cut for slightly larger valves it only cost me about $900 for the last set of Iron heads I had worked locally.

 

Thanks for the help. I spoke with Scotty "The Mad Porter" today and will be ordering a set of heads soon. I will probably be changing the cam as well. The local shops around here are GM people and have nothing good to say about Fords. Therefore I dont feel I would get the best service. This makes me wonder, why Chevy guys go so far out of thier way to bad mouth Fords and Ford guys dont really seem to care enough about Chevy's to really say anything at all? I guess we are secure enough with our Fords that we really dont worry about it. I have owned both and they both have ran good. I just prefer Fords....Just a thought.

 

What type of timing chain do you have installed? I fixed my detonation problem by using a timing set that has 6 degrees before, 0 and 6 degrees after, set it at 0 degrees TDC, then backed off the initial timing so that I have 32-36 total, but I'm also using a MSD Pro Billet, Fully adjustable, Mech. Advance Dist. I also rejetted the carb to run slightly lean at the altitude that I drive at most. This combo allows me to run regular or premium my choice. I do run premium at high altitudes as this gives me more performance and little more mileage. I have a stock `69 lincoln 460/10.5 comp.