ok i know this has been rehashed more then a recycled toyota but i got a few questions.

What i got:
'85 302 from a grand marquie E5AE C3B
It has been tanked and bored .030 over.
new cam bearings installed
i still need to install the freeze plugs

Had the stock heads cleaned
had stock valves reground and valve seats cleaned up to match
had then check for flatness

I got a set of KB forged aluminum pistons on stock rods .030 over flat tops (4 reliefs) they came out of an engine with about 30,000 miles on it. had the shop check out the pistons and rods and make sure they were ok. they replaced one piston and machined it to match the others (came in with the wrist pin bosses way bigger then the used pistons)


i checked and it had the tapped holes in the lifter valley for the lifter spyder for roller lifters....however when i pulled it apart it had a hydro flat tappet cam in it.

first are these the E7 heads ive read about? what numbers do i look for to determined thats what these are?

will the block accept a roller cam?

what is the best combo using what i got (i got $650 in machine work...im NOT going to a 351W) im going to be building a 49 F1 on a newer 4x4 frame eventually for a daily driver so any suggestions would be a help.

thanks!!!

 

If it had 2 tapped bosses in the valley, it's a roller block. E7Te heads have that cast under one intake runner. Also has a large "T" cast into one corner next to the valve cover rail. E6SE heads also have the casting number under one intake runner and a large "S" next to the cover rail. As for cam choice, and you want it to be a daily driver, keep the specs under an E303 grind. An excellant choice is a factory F4TE cam, run it with 1.7 rockers. The GT/HO cam should be very streetable too. You'll need a steel geared distributor with any roller cam. On those heads, I'd also grind out the Thermactor bumps in the exhaust ports too. This takes a few minutes with a die grinder and helps out on the exhaust flow a lot.

 

ok it looks like i got E6 heads....would i be better selling these off and looking for other castings?

i was thinking on an E303 cam which is what the motor had that the pistons came out of and it seemed to work pretty good.

 

The E6's will yeild more bottom end torque, but cost you 25 hp over a set of E7TE's on the top end. The valves in E6's are really shrouded too, to the point where putting a cam any bigger than a GT/HO roller pointless. The choice is yours.

 

You're better off keeping the E6 heads. If you change heads, you'll have to change pushrods, too. The original engine had flat-top pistons with no valve notches. Because the valves in the E6 head sit higher, the notches weren't needed. Using pistons with notches reduces compression.

I have and 86 Mustang GT. It has the E6 heads. That engine has a ton of torque. I'd recommend its tune for a truck. Stock HO cam, E6 heads, SEFI, great torque, great mileage.

 

I have E6 heads on my 351 if you can believe it. Loads of torque and decent horsepower... but I have completely worked them over with the dremmel tool. Unshrowded the intake valves, smoothed the combustion chamber to remove sharp edges and casting flaws(minimizes detonation potential), removed the giant air injection hump in the exhaust port, and smoothed the pocket area behind the valves. Still I don't think they would match the GT-40 heads, much less anything aftermarket.

 

My brother's last build was a 302 E7's and E303 cam. It also had GT-40 upper and lower intakes. His combo was strong at higher RPM's, but not all that great power down low. He's got a 351 in it now with Edlebrock heads, same cam and intakes.

The E7 heads are ok if you're on a budget. If you can hog the ports out yourself, especially on the exhaust side, then that'll help. Me personally, I wouldn't pay someone to machine/port those heads though.

 

im going to buy new pushrods anyway...this engine was the epitome of crusty when i opened it up

i scooped out 1/2" of crud from the lifter valley alone before it went to get tanked so i dont trust any of the original components...the rockers were even wore pretty badly...

if i were to stick with the E6 heads which is what seems to be the consensus...would it make sense to have the heads shaved at all to up the compression a bit? would it make sense to have them drilled and tapped for studs to go to a stud mount roller rocker? or should i just look at the conversion style roller rockers in summit??

Im pretty adventurous and wouldnt mind trying to do a port job myself...

conanski...do you have any pics of when you did yours?

will an E303 cam actually be over camming this engine with these heads?

also i probably will not be going with EFI right away and will just end up putting on a decent intake and an edelbrock carb.....but thats not saying a decent SEFI setup wouldnt be in the future...i dont have the truck yet....i just have the engine left over from a previous build that never transpired

 

These heads have smaller 62-64cc combustion chambers, so you have 9:1+ compression with stock pistons, higher with flat tops. If you shave them down you will need custom pushrods, or the stud mount rockers.
Porting is not hard.. you just have to restrain yourself from getting carried away. I don't have any pictures of my porting work(wish I did but it was before I had a digital camera). The exhaust side needs the most attention, with a minor cleanup all that's required on the intake. Don't bother with gasket matching.. it's of no benifit on these heads...Just remove and obvious casting flaws.
The bottom line is that there is plenty of room for improvement..but what are your design goals. Do you want a torquey daily driver, or a play toy that revs and builds good HP? With the E6s you are not likely to reach the performance of the untouched GT-40 heads, especially at higher rpms. If you were to start with some E7 heads and install bigger valves then you could outperform the GT-40s, if you do everything right. But sinking $$ into the factory castings is not money well spent when there are many aftermarket heads that perform so much better for about the same money.
I didn't spend any money on my heads besides checking for cracks and 3 angle valve grind because of this very thing. My motor certainly produces loads of low rpm torque over a stock motor, and I like to take some credit for that by way of the porting job. My goal was a torquey daily driver with decent midrange power, hence the 351 with small chamber heads, and high lift, short duration cam. I'm certain a set of Edelbrock Performer's or WP Windsor Sr's would transform it to something else altogether.

 

I think this cam, itself, would be ok in a standard cab, 2wd pickup. Anything larger/heavier would cause the motor to "lug" a little down low.

I made several program changes on my brothers F-150 ext cab 4x4 when he was running an Ecam, E7's and 302/EFI. It performed better than stock, but not as good as we wanted at the lower RPM's (then again, maybe our expectations were a little high). A higher stall converter would help put the rpms in the cam's power range, quicker, where it really shines.

Now, a roller cam from a late 80's early 90's Mustang is another option. Installing this cam and advancing it 2-4 degrees works well in a heavy truck. You can also use the spider, roller lifters, and dogbones since your block is drilled and tapped for it, and the hardware for the conversion is cheap and can be found on ebay or the corral. I picked up the same parts about a year ago for about $80, from ebay.

If you looking for a lopey idle, then there are better cams than the E cam. The Trick Flow Stage 1 cam is a good option.

 

Even though you're correct about the E6's having shorter valve stems, this doesn't affect the pushrod length, they both use the same pushrods. The top of the valve stems is in the same location (or rather elevation above the head) as the E7's and other post 66 heads. The pistons notches do add volume to the compressed volume, but the pistons themselves also had different compression heights making up for the small cc volume the notches add. Pretty much a non-issue there. The E6 head's chamber volume is also 4 cc's bigger than the E7's. Nominal volume for E6's is 68cc, E7's are 64cc. That 4 cc difference also negates the volume of the valve reliefs.

 

all very good tech!! thanks guys!!! i can bolt on parts its just the proper selection is where i get a bit confuzzled....

i already got the spider,dogbones, and lifters....also an ebay find...what other hardware would i need for a roller cam?

basically you guys are on the right track.. i want a reliable torquy DD thats got a nice lopy idle...i thought about the stroker kits and all...but i think for what i want and what i got its not the right answer...

whats the benifit of the trick flow cam vs. an E cam?

 

I'd also make sure the cam retainer plate was off a roller engine too. I had a B303 in one of my builds that wore into the retainer, and I'm pretty sure Ford changed the metalurgical characteristics from the flat tappet plate to the roller for that. But I think you're going to have to give up one of your "wants" in cam characteristics. Lopey idle comes from lots of overlap between the intake and exhaust lobes, and that isn't condusive to bottom end torque and mileage. I don't believe you can do both. A B303 cam will give you a lopey-er idle than an E303, but it ain't a mileage cam, it will give you good power though. Run it with 1.7 rockers.

 

The TFS stage one is pretty much a slightly moddified E cam with a little more lift and duration on the exaust side. The TFS has 112* lobe seperation compared to the E's 110* for better idle with EFI.

The TFS is a good value, usually costing a lot less than most roller cams.

 

Bingo. I run a stock mustang HO cam with 1.7 rockers. It get's you the lift of the E-cam with good idle.