eldebrock aluminum heads or gt40 heads

Hello fellow Bronco owners: I need to replace my edelbrock #60379 heads because the dumb asses sold me the wrong spark plugs and it cracked afew of the spark plugs holes.Edelbrock said inserts could be put in but I didn't want to mess with it.So, I was wandering if anyone had any ideas in which heads that I should put back on.Also,the aluminum heads are for sale for $500 if anyone needs a set of heads and would trust having inserts put in.Let me know.Everyone have a safe New Year.

If you have a 351W I have heard that GT40P heads are great, all comes down to the type of setup you want. The GT heads give a nice boost in power and torque.

yo Rog,

As Mud advised and;

According to someone who had done this; by Ken B (Kenny's 94); "The GT40 & GT40P heads are one of the highest flowing heads for the SBF 5.0L applications. These are available online, ebay and in some junkyards if your lucky. Aclot of racers that have to meet stock OEM heads requirements, also uses these heads. You can use these on any 289/302/351W engine. All OEM int/exh manifolds will bolt on.

Let's start with the GT40, these heads can be found on Ford Mustang, Explorer and SVT/truck Lighting applications. These heads also boast the larger exhaust valves but don't flow as much as the GT40P that I will speak about later. These heads also flow more than the other E7 E6 heads which can be found thru out most of the ford car/trucks.

These heads can be found on a few Mustangs up to 1995 and on most of the earlier Ford Explorer applications (approx 96-98ish). They are easily identify by the tell-tale 3 vertical end marks or by looking at the sparkplug at either end and finding the GT stamp.

http://s35.photobucket.com/user/kenfelix/media/GT40/IMG_0045.jpg.html

http://s35.photobucket.com/user/kenfelix/media/GT40/IMG_0048.jpg.html

the heads also have the F3ZE AA casting stamped on the bottom side

Most accessories brackets bolts on with no problems. These do NOT have ports for any airpump. The combustion chamber has the spark plug almost terminating into the chamber, leading to a better burn and reduce emissions. If your looking for a non worry, direct fit head, that low cost and iron. This is the head to buy and use. Ford racing make the same head in Aluminum btw, but at a higher cost. It might be available in some dealer inventory or thru other suppliers.

next the GT40P heads, this is off my girlfriend car. She blew a gasket and we found a crack exh valve, so I loaned my heads out to her. This head is only found on a explorer. The explorer uses the GT40 and up to 98ish they started converting to the Gt40P for even better emissions reduction. A side benefit to this head, it brings the plug out and puts more flame exposed to the incoming air. The only bad thing about this head, it's plug angle is not ideal with stock exhaust manifolds.

Just like the GT40 it has vertical end markings, but 4 lines

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d2...0/IMG_0044.jpg

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It like the Gt40 has the wording GTP and a single P stamped on the outer edge and near the spark plug hole. The flat spot at the corner of valve cover has the P.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d2...0/IMG_0061.jpg

The bottom of the head has a different casting number than a GT40; miesk5 Note, it is F77E

http://s35.photobucket.com/user/kenfelix/media/GT40/IMG_0061.jpg.html

Both heads boast the same size valve for intake but the exhaust is smaller on the P.

GT40 ( 1.54 )

The oil return galley has the letters GT40P in that valley. This is only place you will see the full GT40P stamp btw;

http://s35.photobucket.com/user/kenfelix/media/GT40/IMG_0058.jpg.html

Most accessories brackets bolts on with no problems. These do NOT have ports for any airpump and reduce emissions. The combustion chamber has the spark plug exposed into the chamber, leading to a better burn and reduce emissions than the Gt40s.

If your looking for the highest flowing OEM ford heads, this is the head to buy and use. You will have header problems if your choose to use the factory GT40 or regular manifolds. Most people get by with custom headers and with reduce plugs lengths that are found thru accel, with custom plug wires.

Also, for a gasket kit, the explorer 1996 gasket kit for the 5.0L was used in my upper head rebuild. I would think any standard FSB 5.0L kit would be okay since the heads are identical in regard to gasket and the standard truck heads. I bought the explorer gasket kit due to I wanted the GT40 upper gaskets for the plenum..."

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more stuff: by various folks

For a 5.8 - you want these:

STAINLESS STEEL "SHORTY" HEADERS

M-9430-T50*

Ford Racing Part #: M-9430-T58

1990-96 F-Series Truck and E-Series Van with 5.8L engine

Fits all Production and all GT-40 heads

409 stainless steel tubes

1.625" diameter tubes

Machined ******

Bolts to stock exhaust pipes

Includes gaskets, bolts and studs

Designed by Ford Racing engineers

If using the above Ford Racing headers for a 5.8 or 5.0 - you should not have any issues at all with spark plug clearance on any head you decide to go with.

GT-40 vs. GT-40P Review in an 87

Source: by broncoflorida

I always look for the 5.0 Explorer. the 96 to 97.5 I think were the regular GT40 heads. the 98-01 were the Gt40P heads. they are identified by the bars on the ends. you can see the 3 bars on the heads in his pic says its a GT40. if it had 4 bars it would be the P heads. but easiest way for my to quickly identify regular vs P heads is the 90* elbow on the intake manifold and how the EGR is ran. the regular 40 heads have a big blocky elbow because the EGR runs through it. the P heads arnt as blocky and the EGR has an external tube running to the exhaust manifold

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1032177/fullsize/p82a03091.jpg

96 Explorer on right for GT40 heads (internal EGR)

98 Explorer on left for GT40P heads (external EGR)

re GT40 Heads

Just keep an eye on how much the machining will cost. No point paying more to make old heads work, if you could get a good aluminum head for the same money that would flow much better. just my .02

just had a set of GT40 heads done at my local machine shop. just picked them up Friday. they kinda surprised me with the cost being way higher than expected being that I had 2 other sets of heads done by them previously for a lot less. they charged me $100 to drill for 1/2" head bolts and then $226 for having them milled down and valvejob then another $40 to hottank them. I paid about $80 at junkyard for them. that's about $450 in a set of heads that are still only soo much better than stock. but whats done is done and don't think im gonna do that again. i might try and sell them on craigslist for 600 and get a nice set of heads

$700+ for used aluminum unless you can find a really good deal. by Kyle in NOV 2014

if you want to use these on a 351 that you have to ream the head bolt holes out to 1/2" since the 302 size is 7/16".

and more on this by SigEpBlue: "...Actually, you'd want to go a little further. I machined mine to 17/32-inch. Nothing worse than a snug-fitting bolt in a casting. Crack, boom...& For the general DIY'er, the regular GT40 head is probably the easier option. Better? I don't think so, but it depends upon many intangible things."

Check the boneyards for Explorers from about 1994(?) to 1996 for regular GT40 heads, and 1997-2001 for GT40Ps. They'll be used, but rebuilding them isn't expensive

re; "...These do NOT have ports for any airpump"

Some do.. so look for them

I'm running a 351W out of a 96 van with GT40's with a truck lower to a Mustang upper and this motor screams to 7K rpm.

Seems all the GT heads either have smog ports, or one of two styles of plugs. The plugs come either with a press fit or ***** in plug. Mine seem to have the press fit.

Both plugs are removeable, or can be inserted to run without the smog provision. his price on the plugs was 3 to 5 bucks.

the P heads without the ports have the EGR tube going to the manifolds/headers. 351 gets its EGR from the manifolds/headers anyway so if you have 351 headers that work might already have a spot for the EGR. for 302 you will have to weld a **** on it for the EGR

or you can drill the ports into the heads and use the non-P style 90 (between TB and intake manifolds) so the EGR is internal

pulled a few sets of gt40 heads off explorers and I,ve seen them with both 1/2 and 7/16 holes

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GL!