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I finally have a plan put together for my 302, but I have some questions about head porting on the stock heads-
My plan is to do the intake swap and engine reseal, and get another block to start a fresh "performance" build (probably use E7TE heads, 9.5:1, medium cam) that I can work on as I can afford it, and still drive the truck.
Since I am going to be resealing the engine anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to do some minor port work on my stock heads, if for nothing else than experience.
I was planning on just blending the bowls a bit and cleaning up any flash or rough spots, and maybe working the short bend a bit, but nothing extravagent. Are there any "rules of thumb" to be aware of with Ford heads?
Also, when going to an aftermarket 4bbl intake, will I have to fill or blockoff any exhaust crossovers for the EGR setup?
getting rid of the ridge of both short side radius is the most important. Opening the bowls up to about 85 percent of your valve diameter and getting rid of the smog bump in the exhaust will help you a lot. Do yourself a favor and get some carbide burrs and don't worry about polishing anything.
Right.. no polishing necessary.. particularly on the intake ports, the rough finish here helps detatch the air column from the port wall. Go wild on the exhaust ports though, blend the bowl to the roof and open it up all the way out the the gasket surface and completely remove the air injection hump. The floor of the exhaust port matters less so spend the time raising the roof and widening the port a little. Have fun.
Finished a set of E7 heads recently. What a job! I cant tell you how many hours I had in them. I followed the advice above and went crazy with the carbide burr on the exhaust ports. Took out thermactor bumps, gasket matched, took a lot of material out around the valve guide. I didnt quite knife edge them but they are close. After the port work with the carbide burr I did a lot of smoothing out with 50 grit round sand 'spools', not quite polishing but they are smooth.
I did a little less on the intake side but still smoothed everything out and took our a lot of material around the valve guide and blended it all in. I also 'polished' with the 50 grit. I think rougher is better with a carb (promotes atomization of fuel and air) but less important with EFI (which I'm running).
When I switched to an aftermarket intake on my Olds, I had to fill the heat crossover in the heads- I am going to a Performer RPM on my truck- do the ford heads have the same crossover? Do I need to fill it in the same manner as I've done other heads?
I'm looking forward to getting this under way... Still waiting on my "fat stacks" from Uncle Sam...