Decent 390 street Heads

[Adam78]

Your wonderful forum was recommended to me by the guys over at the Vintage Thunderbird Forum I frequent in bring my old girl back to snuff. So I will ask you guys what I asked them.

Okay, so I have researched heads for this car ad nauseum, and I just want someone who knows more than me to tell me what to do at this point hahahaha.
The car is a bone stock 1964 Thunderbird with the 390 engine. It was never quick, but not slow enough for me to hate. But seeing as the head gasket blew, and I needed to take everything apart anyway, I would get new heads.

I have worked on many Air Cooled VWs in my life, this is my first time doing real engine work that isnt accessory, transmission, or carb related on a water cooled car. I was not ready to be hit with the close to $2400 price tag for something like Edelbrock or Survival FE heads! Vw Heads are $500 haha. Basically what I am looking for is something that will give me a bump in power, but not break the bank. I would like to keep it under $1200, and I'm not afraid to buy used and get them cleaned up, or get something refurbished.

This isn't a drag car, just a Daily Driver for nice days, I'll also be getting a new Intake, most likely the edelbrock, but I have been considering the Blue Thunder Dual plane, which is pricey, but it gives me the required Oil Filler and vintage look. I don't want this to look like a new engine honestly, and would like to keep my valve covers.

I looked at the C7AE-A heads which a few forums said were okay, and I can pick those up for relatively cheap. Also, the C8AE-H heads were in my price point, I have seen them mentioned before. I just feel like I am in a little over my head, and don't have the wallet to throw the issue to an engine builder. I would love to do a full rebuild on the old girl, but I just don't have the funds. After getting the old girl in running order again, my next project for her is to replace that leaky jerkey transmission with a Ford AOD. But that's a story for another day. So, do you guys think the C7AE-A heads are any good? The good deal I found on those so far say: "Heads have 2.090 Intake Valves
1.650 Exhaust Valves, All Stainless Steel 1 Piece, Swirled Polished Valves. All new Cast Iron Valves Guides, Custom 3 Angle Valve Job, Cut for Positive, Type Valve Seals installed.New Valve Springs and Retainers, Keepers, 8 Exhaust Harden Valve Seats installed. Springs are good for .600 Lift Cam. Specs 140 lbs. @ 1.800, 295 lbs @ 1.300, Heads were resurfaced 0.015 was taken off. Heads were checked for cracks.

This all sounds great for me for the $750 price tag shipped, but you guys will know whether it's actually better than my stock heads and will deliver more power and/or better fuel efficiency. I'd take either. the C8AE-H heads are all over eBay for $400, so I assume the C7AE-A are probably better? But I'm just going by costs more, is better line of thinking. I know nothing. Thanks for dealing with me!!!

[FERoadster]

To me a lot depends on what performance gains you want
The c7 heads are ok for a stock rebuild and the C8AE are  a bit better, but you've got to look at piston and cam choices.
 I can send you a pair of C8AE heads free but for the cost of shipping, but then maybe seats and valves would cost more than the benefits of re-doing your C7 heads

Just my thoughts,
 I'm in SW Oregon Zipcode 97415 (miles from any where)

Richard

[jayb]

Going to the Cobra jet sized valves (2.09" intake, 1.65" exhaust) is a good start for any run of the mill FE cast iron head.  If you can find a set of C6AE-R heads, those are probably your best bet for performance in my opinion.  If the C7 heads you mentioned in your post were done right, they should be OK for your application, and they sound like a reasonably good deal to me.  Remember that the heads are probably the key piece in how much power you can make, so something to think about is to spend the money on the heads now, and add other items later as you can afford them.  Its a lot easier to swap on an intake than a set of heads...

[My427stang]

Do you plan on running headers or stock exhaust manifolds?

If exhaust manifolds, you need to make sure your heads are drilled for the same pattern, some of the "GT" heads, really just common heads are not all drilled the same

If headers, you need to make sure that the header flange matches, not only in bolt pattern, but also in port location.  The "GT" heads have a lower exit point in relation to the bolts, and you can have a tough time sealing if you don't match

[cammerfe]

It's been long established that the cost of taking a pair of 'shelf' iron heads and going through them to make them ready for use will cost almost as much as simply buying a pair of aftermarket aluminum heads. The cost savings by going iron won't save more than enough to buy lunch a couple of times! (Depending on where you go for lunch )

KS

[FElony]

Adam78, don't you already have C4-G heads on that Bird? They have a better reputation for performance than C7 or C8 castings. Stick the bigger valves in with a quality valve job, and the usual guides, springs, etc. Using the original intake? Going to have a mismatch in the lower port with '67-up heads that may cause gasket/leak problems.

[BigBlockFE]

None.

[TorinoBP88]

I have a machinist i really like, and i get heads done if the $700 to $800 range fairly often.  Hard exhaust seats, CJ valves, stock with 0,017 over stems if the heads are loose, resize guides rather then insterts, they run cooler and it cheaper.

Sure you can spend $1700 on stock heads, but they wont be much better then a good re-do.

C6 heads are good. Larger intakes (but lower floor)

D2t heads are great also, but higher compression ratio can be a problem for a stroker unless you can get dished pistons.

[chris401]

I have a machinist i really like, and i get heads done if the $700 to $800 range fairly often.  Hard exhaust seats, CJ valves, stock with 0,017 over stems if the heads are loose, resize guides rather then insterts, they run cooler and it cheaper.

Sure you can spend $1700 on stock heads, but they wont be much better then a good re-do.

C6 heads are good. Larger intakes (but lower floor)

D2t heads are great also, but higher compression ratio can be a problem for a stroker unless you can get dished pistons.

Same price ranranhere for a local FE guru to redo.