heads for 89 5.0

redwing89

redwing89

Club Member
i have a stock 89 mustang with bbk shorties, and a stock intake manifold. im getting a good sized chunk of money from my military bonus this winter, and was looking to do some upgrades in the engine, A/C delete, electric fan, underdrive pulleys, oil pan and some good aluminum heads.

unfortunately ill have to keep the stock intake until april or may of next year... what heads should i look for? i plan on getting hardened pushrods and new rocker arms, i would prefer pedestal mount if possible. sorry if it may seem dumb, im a newbie... and all of the intake exhaust port sizes confuse me, i just want to get a professional second opinion so i dont waste money on something that isnt right for my stang.

i dont plan on doing any forced induction, just something to free up some horses and lighten the load on my stock block.
 
nice nice sounds like some good stuff. can either of you give me a link to a description, or specs for these heads? and are they direct bolt on replacements of stock heads or is there any mods needed (different head bolt size etc.)
 
that looks like a good deal. not trying to break my small budget just on the heads though, theres a few more things i want to do with the engine. i know its not a great idea to skimp out when it comes to heads, but right now im looking for something in the 900-800 dollar range as far as heads go. those track heats look nice, only 950 on summit racing. would i need 1.6 or 1.7 roller rockers to go with those? i know they will need to be 7/16th
 
track heats are great heads too, do what your budget allows instead of being like me with a bunch of high dollar shit and no cash to finish it....lol
 
id go with edelbrock victor jrs best bang for your buck. you can find them used for about 1000 and another 200 for good rockers. direct replacment from stock heads and make a lot more power than stock.
 
I picked up a set of vic jr heads for 600 used and it picked up 5 tenthes in the quarter on a stock block with a small cam. That is what I would look out for.
 
Victor jr's can be had at a crazy good price.

I personally really like the AFr 185's pretty badass head. I think they are far better than Trick flow std twisted wedges and comparable to high ports with the correct work done.

You can find used heads for cheap man. Shit the whole engine in the car I'm racing right now cost me less than 1800 to build and its pretty fast for some junk like its knockin on the door of single didgits on some spray and runs in the 11's on motor.



Holley systemax is the only intake I would buy for efi unless I went to a vitor jr intake with injector bungs and a elbow with throttle body. The stock style ford efi intakes blow nutz when compared to a carb style intake. The carb designed intakes always make more power, might lose alil low end but thats what a convertor and gear is for.
 
whatever head you end up going with make sure you get the proper camshaft, you should get in contact with Jay Allen @ Camshaft Innovations though last I heard he was still very sick, at least he may be able to point you in the right direction. sticking an off the shelf cam in there would be counter productive. you have the budget for TFS fast as cast 190's and a custom cam shaft, and believe me jay has a number of stock short block hci cars running bottom 11's without the juice.
 
Pure84GTT said:
whatever head you end up going with make sure you get the proper camshaft, you should get in contact with Jay Allen @ Camshaft Innovations though last I heard he was still very sick, at least he may be able to point you in the right direction. sticking an off the shelf cam in there would be counter productive. you have the budget for TFS fast as cast 190's and a custom cam shaft, and believe me jay has a number of stock short block hci cars running bottom 11's without the juice.
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I'd stay away from Jay, I had a bad experience with his attitude and currently a guy at my work has given jay $400 for a camshaft and Jay wont answer the phone and its been close to 6-7months. Curious as to if Pure84 has ever used Jay Allen or if he just throws his name out when ever someone needs a cam? I'd go with Comp cam or Cam motion.
 
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85notch said:
I picked up a set of vic jr heads for 600 used and it picked up 5 tenthes in the quarter on a stock block with a small cam. That is what I would look out for.
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There you go, food for thought my buddy had a 302 from 1987 with Windsor heads from 1969 and a Ford motorsport x-303 Camshaft (he had to notch the pistons) and his car went 11.70's with a auto and 4.56 gear all on pump gas and I believe he had $800 into the whole engine.
 
I have used jay in the passed, and his knowledge and customer service is top notch. he is however very ill right now and that would explain why he is hard to get ahold of. His work speaks for itself ,however say what you will, but there are a lot of happy customers out there and I for one wont ever go anywhere else for a camshaft.
 
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