Hello. After searching the forum and reading many posts about heads for the 460 I got an idea of what to look for. Yesterday while cruising through the wrecking yard I stumbled across a set of D0VE-C heads in a '81' F250 of all places. Well they're mine now. They're gonna replace my D3VE- heads. Both D0VE's have the smog bump in the exhaust ports but only one actually has the fresh air passages drilled in it for smog. Why is this? Does it make any difference? I plan to remove the bumps. Do I have to plug weld the holes in the ports? Another question. Just curious as to what these are. These heads have some sort of spark plug adapter that I've never seen before. The adapter screws into the head and the plug into the adapter. This makes the electrode recessed back up into the adapter away from the combustion chamber about a 1/2 inch inside. So when you look at it, it looks like a spark plug with a 1/4 inch hole in the end. Anybody know what this is and what's it's purpose? Only no. 4 & 8 cylinders have it. Thanks for all the helpful information.

 

That's a good find on those heads. How much did you pay for them? I have a couple of sets of them and one pair is going onto the 460 I'm building now. I had my heads completely rebuilt. Starting with a valve job, porting & polishing, bronze guides, hard exhaust seats, larger valves and surfacing. You don't have to plug the holes in the heads when the exhaust bump is removed. As for the adapters in the spark plug holes, I believe they are called spark plug non foulers. They are sold at auto parts stores and are supposed to keep the plugs from fouling out in engines that have a lot of oil blow by from bad rings or valve guides. If it were me, I'd have the heads redone before using them. Mine cost about $1100 complete with valve job, bronze guides, hard seats, surfacing, porting, machining for larger valves, machining for pc seals, springs, retainers, locks, 2.19" stainless intake and 1.74" stainles exhaust valves.

 

Thanks for your reply Ford79. I paid $80 dollars for the set. I don't think I'll have all the stuff done to them that you had done to yours. I've read in some of your other posts of your engine build up. It sounds like it's going to be a power house. I'll probably just have a basic rebuild done with hardend seats installed if they don't have them already. I pulled them out of an '81' Ford. Maybe bigger exhaust valves, I don't know. It will have to wait until after summer. I plan to install a performance cam of some kind and a new timming chain & gears while I'm at it. As for the anti fouling plug adaptors, thanks for the info. Now it makes sense. :P