Thread: Best 351W production heads ?

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A friend just emailed me and asked my opinion about heads. He has a '88 351W in a boat and wants a little more action from it. He's asking me if there is a better production head (cheap and bolt-on). You could write everything I know about small block Fords on the end of a pushrod, so I'm asking for help please. Thanks in advance for your responses. P.S. The motor has been rebuilt with flat-top pistons.

GT40 and GT40p heads are very good flowing factory heads. other than those two heads i think stock 351 heads are better than the rest of the heads for the windsor engine. good luck

Don't take this a Gospel, Richard, but I'm betting on '69 4 barrel heads, #c9OE, but we'll see what some of the others think. I had a set of these that I was saving for some project, and they got wet and ruined during Hurricane Charlie.

Don

Richard I think Don is right on the money for production 351W heads. My knowledge is about the same as your on the SBF's but I do know the C90E-B or D, D0OE-C or G, D0OZ-C and the D5TE-EB heads are pretty good. All of those have 60.4cc chambers and stock 1.84/1.54 valves. In 78 the chambers grew to 69cc's and those were D8OE-AB. With the D8's you'll lose some compression and valves were smaller at 1.78/1.45. A bud of mine is building a 408W with some AFR heads and a snotty roller cam. He was going to use the D5 truck heads as they came on the engine core he used. He's over 600hp and I'll see what flow numbers he has. The GT-40 heads that Steel mentioned are also good. I think they they have larger valves (1.94/1.54) and with flat tops you'll need to notch the block for clearance I'm sure. But i'm not certain what size the chambers are. I'll do a little more checking and see.

G.

The C90E-B with match factory 4 barrell intake work great together, especially in a boat... Best flow this side of the aftermarket aluminum heads. Power is right there in the 2500 - 4000 RPM range where a boat can really use it. Got the same setup on my pickup, work fine and lasts a long time.

I have C90E's on a 351 in a '79 Mustang. Some mild porting at home and they work great.

Thanks to everyone for the quick responses, I apprecitate it.

I personally would consider what it cost to rebuild heads as oppose to an aftermarket head cost. I personally would not run stock cast heads on anything. Saying that I have run the GT40 cobra heads on a 302. Good luck. Any of the aftermarket heads are a considerable improvement over any ford cast head.

later

dennis

On a pleasure boat, with cheap bolt on being the main criteria, the C90E's with a 3 angle valve job will do the job quite well. Going fast down the track, then aftermarket is definitely the answer....

I ran D0OE's for years, but the last set went to the dump a few months ago because when I tried to sell them for $50, all I heard was that it took more money to refurbish than a good set of GT40P or low end $500ea World Products cast iron pieces. And I had to reluctantly agree.