C7AE-A were the common FE heads used in the 1967 model year. They were used on every size of FE that model year, except the passenger car 427. They came in 8 exhaust bolt hole pattern for the full size cars, T-Birds & pickup trucks, and 14 exhaust bolt hole pattern for the cars with shock towers. They never originally came in the 428 CJ 16 exhaust bolt hole pattern, but they can be drilled for it if a person wants. The top row end bolt holes are in a slightly lower position on the 14 exhaust bolt hole pattern. The C7AE-A heads came with or without the Thermactor holes on the top of the exhaust ports drilled. The exhaust ports are in the slightly lower position, and they have the shorter intake ports that Ford started transitioning the common FE heads to starting in the ‘66 model year.
I usually say there are no “bad” FE heads, like some engine families had in later years, and you can build a decent FE with those heads, but there are probably quite a few better & easier choices, especially when building a 445 and the extra cubic inches to fill.
To get the best answer from the group you might want to give some more details of what you intend to build, beyond just that it’s going to be a stroker FE.
One thing you might want to consider, although a person can often find the common cast iron FE heads reasonable, by the time you have them fully rebuilt they can start to approach the cost of aftermarket aluminum heads, and if you have to have them ported to match the performance required the cost is likely to exceed a good set of aluminum heads.
Tell the group exactly what you want to build, they’ll give you some good options.
