Heads

J

JR

Junior Member
I know the EAB heads are the best (highest compression) Ford made, but is there any other advantage to them ? Would a shaved 8BA, 8CM, or others be just as good or do the EAB's have other advantages ? Thanks JR
 
If you read my book you will see the detailed answer to your question. In a nutshell, it depends on the intended use, but for a street engine the .050 milled, 8BA heads, give exactly the same performance as the stock EAB.
 
John, An 8BA engine with 8BA heads. Milling .050 assumes (I hate to assume) the same specs as an EAB head. Since many of these heads have been on and off the engine and probably have been milled already, is claying the best way to determine the final specs on the head or is there a better way to avoid problems before reassembling to the engine? Ken
 
You might want to check piston to head clearance before milling .050" off of them, you might have to redome them. Finding a set of EAB heads and mill them for .050" clerance.
 
To KGS: I don't know your definition for "determining the specs" of a head? If that refers to clearances at the pistons and valves then claying or using aluminum balls(a trick learned from Richard FL) can be used. If the reference is to volume, for CR calculation, it will need to be measured with an appropriate liquid.
 
Don't mean to get off course here but I have a question as long as we're talking heads here. I have a set of aluminum heads I bought for my 21 stud '37 engine and one appears to be in very nice shape and the other has a lot of corrosion around the holes, is there anyone in the Northeast that does repairs on these ? Thanks
 
At one time I did allot of head repair, This corroded area can be repaired by bead blasting the filling rhe affected areas with Devcon aluminum. I suppose you could use JB weld as well. A word of caution here these heads are quit thin and I wouldn't take off more tham 050" valve clearance..
 
John, Maybe my terminology wasn't correct. I guess my concern is when there is too much taken off by milling. You can cc the head and/or redome as Ron said but at what point is enough enough, and how do you tell when you're at that point. Again, dealing with a set of heads that may have been milled in the past by someone else. Would overheating and warping become a concern in the case of a head that has had alot taken off of it? Clear as mud? Ken
 
If you mean Ford heads the standard deck thickness is .260 inch. How much can be removed before gasket retention becomes a problem would depend on the cylinder pressure the engine is capable of. With a "street engine" I would probably stop at .080 off. It would be very unusual to find a stock head from which .080 can be removed without serious piston rub. About .050, on a virgin head, is the limit to avoid dome re-cutting.

As for the warping or heating, that would seldom be a problem. Actually, when milling is done you are raising the CR and reducing the heating affect of combustion. So, the engine would tend to run cooler.
 
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