84 Mustang GT Carb 302 Head/cam selection

[bigmed]

Hi,

I recently just purchased a 84 mustang carb 302. Car has headers, exhaust, edelbrock carb, msd wires and not much else. It is a 5 speed car. I am changing the rear to an 8.8 with 4.10 gears. It is a cast piston motor and it will be hit with a 100 shot of n20. Suspension will also be done.

My question is what heads/cam combo can I use for this motor? I cant find anything as far as what works, what doesnt work. Im assuming its a flat tappet motor so im not sure if gt40's work or not.
Can anyone guide me in a direction?

ps: car will be used for drag racing.

[n2omaverick]

Wolverine 1087 and Trick flow TW170 heads (yes you will need to convert to link bar hyd roller lifters) that set up with a 125 power shot put me in the 11.Teens with a 121 mph trap speed in my 64 falcon.

[bwguardian]

You don't state how much money you are wanting to spend. If on the cheaper side a set of GT40p heads will bump your compression raito from 8.4 to one about a point...so you will be around 9.5 to 1 which will help bottom end. That 4:10 gear will be alot...especially if you have the 3.35 first gear and stock height rear tire. If the pistons are stock they should be cast flat tops with four valve reliefs. If you utilize a larger diameter valve in the head you might still run into piston to valve clearance issues. For the cam you can look at Lunati or Comp and they will show you to stay in the 108-112 LSA for a carb motor which may or may not work with the N2O. I would definately be careful with that much laughin gas on cast slugs...

[mcfairmont]

If you are still using the factory aluminum intake manifold, THAT is a bigger bottleneck than either your stock heads or cam. Make no mistake, the stock heads and cam can be greatly bettered, but the stock intake is a total turd.Although I have AFR aluminum heads on my 331, I was pretty happy with the iron World Products "Windsor Jr." heads I had befeore.

[bigmed]

I will eventually be putting in another motor the following season (Roller 331 w/TFS heads) . I am new to the mustang world so i do apologize for my ignorance. As far as a budget goes, id like to not spend much more then $1000 for a top end setup MINUS the intake.

mcfairmont - does the world products "windsor jr" heads fit my motor?

It is tough to find head/cam that will fit a flat tappet 302 from this year from what i am seeing.

[n2omaverick]

I will eventually be putting in another motor the following season (Roller 331 w/TFS heads) . I am new to the mustang world so i do apologize for my ignorance. As far as a budget goes, id like to not spend much more then $1000 for a top end setup MINUS the intake.

mcfairmont - does the world products "windsor jr" heads fit my motor?

It is tough to find head/cam that will fit a flat tappet 302 from this year from what i am seeing.

The Twisted wedge head with the cam I mentioned will clear those pistons, I have done it a dozen times.......Then the same cam, heads ect can be swapped directly over to your 331. Those pistons are fine with a 125 shot, watch your fuel pressure and delivery, adjusting the timing is not necessary as long as 93 octane is used.
Windsor JR heads need a ton of port and bowl work to make decent numbers. The factory intake needs to go! RPM or Vic jr.

[mcfairmont]

My Windsor Jrs were right out of the box, they fit just fine with my stock replacment cast pistons, and ran mid 11s at 115mph on a basically stock short block, with a RPM Air Gap and 600 Holley DP. My current 331 also ran a set of out of the box Windsor Jrs when it was in my buddys 3350lb 64 Comet. With the Windsor Jrs, the 331 ran a best of 11.09, with out of the box AFR 185s, he ran a best of 10.69. This is the same engine than has gone 10.29 in my 85 Mustang. I actually still have the pair of Windsor Jrs that had been on my 331, if you were interested. Both the Windsor Jrs and AFRs work with the FlowTech long tube headers I run, although I don`t know how they will fit with various header brands.

[bigmed]

I'd like to stay away from iron heads only because I dont want to purchase another set of heads for the 331. I'm in the "do it right once" mindset.

As far as the link bar rollers, how is that measured? Do I call TFS and tell them about this or do I take it to an engine builder?

Also have you had any experience with Morel link bar rollers?

Please nothing is over my head in terms of information. I am a mech engineer so you can tell me anything.a

[mcfairmont]

I used the same set of FlowTech long tube headers on my 85 Mustang with the factory E5 heads, the Windsor Jrs, and the AFRs. I know that my buddy needed new headers with his AFR 205s, due to the wider bolt spacing.Don`t know how other headers fit other cylinder heads.