New Heads?

[74Bronco]

Well it's time to get my 74 EB on the road. It's a total basket case Everything needs to be worked on. So of course that means I must consult the gurus in Bronco land for advice first!

I pulled the valve covers and saw the seals for the valves need replacement, and one of the studs for the #3 valve had worked itself out a bit so the rocker was flopping all over the place (the noise that made me pop the covers to begin with). I pressed the stud back (with my specially designed hand operated hammer-press) in to the correct height (to match the others) and the rocker torques down nice now (did not damage stud with hammer), valve, spring and rod appear undamaged from flopping.

But, then I got to thinking (uh oh that usually equals money):

- If the seals were in such bad shape should I pull the heads to check the valves?

- And, since the heads are off should I get 'em cleaned up (ported, polished)?

OR

- Should I just get new heads? I noticed Edelbrock has some in the $500 dollar range (@Jegs). How's that compare to the price a machine shop would charge to work the stock heads?

I'm not made of money, but I wanna do the smart thing. I'm not into making this a hotrod, I just want to get it running right and not break down at 10,000 feet in the Colorado mountains. I might put a RV cam in later, manifold, carb (your suggestions more than welcome).

It's a 302, 2 barrel (motorcraft) with a C-4 tranny and no power steering!

Thanks, I'm sure I'll be here much more in the future!

 

[routerman]

You might want to check those $500.00 heads. Those might be bare castings. That sounds too cheap. If you are going to spend the money, AFR (Air Flow Research) makes very good heads for Ford. I think you'll spend about $1200.00 for a set. I have use a couple of sets on 302 engines.

 

[bidibronco]

Ebay man... Ebay

 

[jrmyrgd]

I've got a set of 302 4V heads but with shiping and going throught them it would be better to try something else

 

[paintproject]

Try Jegs.com Edelbrock sells a power package kit. It comes with thier heads cam and intake and a few other parts to freshen up your top end. It is $1700 and they claim 365 HP from a stock 302. I understand it might be more than you wanted to spend but for what you get it is a pretty good deal. If you are thinking of a cam and intake in the future anyway ehy not run what you have for a while then do it all.

 

[Southern_Pride]

Talk to some mustang guys. Ussually they give away old stock heads for free that have nothing wrong with em. I've got 2 sets of e7's at the house and when properly ported they flow very similiar to a stock gt 40 iron head. I paid 25 bux for both sets.