1985 GT 306 Heads/intake question

[FadedJalapena]

Hi all, recently I purchased a 1985 GT five speed for a fairly decent price. The car is missing its cylinder heads, intake, carb, exhaust manifolds, cats, and coolant reservoir among other tidbits. I have already purchased a 4180c for it (E4ZE-9510-SA, 2713) which appears to be late 84' production for the 85 model year from the research I have done. I am still lacking an EGR plate as well. The factory shortblock has been bored 0.30 over and has an E-303 cam in it, all installed by the previous owner about 15k miles ago. I need advice on what heads/intake to run on this as this is my first carb'd fox. I was thinking a set of factory E7TE heads and a Weiand Stealth intake as where I live I will need the EGR to pass smog. Any and all advice is welcome.

[bwguardian]

The E7 heads are good, but the GT40p heads are a little better and more efficient. This is why they do not have the thermactor humps in the exhaust ports or the internal air passages. If you need those, then you might also look at the GT40 heads as they have them like the E7 heads. Don't know much about smog as I'm in Texas, but I also have the E-303 cam which is smog compliant. It's probably going to come down to how many cats you need to please the sniffer...

[FadedJalapena]

The E7 heads are good, but the GT40p heads are a little better and more efficient. This is why they do not have the thermactor humps in the exhaust ports or the internal air passages. If you need those, then you might also look at the GT40 heads as they have them like the E7 heads. Don't know much about smog as I'm in Texas, but I also have the E-303 cam which is smog compliant. It's probably going to come down to how many cats you need to please the sniffer...

I've been scouring my local yards and most explorers I find have had their heads pulled already unfortunately. Iron GT40 heads with the EGR passages would be ideal in this case as I plan to keep this car a simple smog legal (CA) cruiser for a while. Most sets of heads I find online are north of $600 which baffles me as when I was looking for GT40 heads about two years ago for my 92' they were much cheaper. This is why E7 heads, while not ideal, are fine for this application in my mind. Looks like I'll keep searching the yards and classifieds. I'll be in Vegas in two weeks and am hoping to hit a couple of yards while there.

[richpet]

I used a set of ported/polished e7 heads on my last build. Good springs and slightly larger valves. Worked great. Think I paid $250 for them. But that was a few years ago. Like 15...

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[Broncojunkie]

Evidently, most of us have been underestimating the potential of E7 heads. With some work, they can make good power. David Vizard mentioned he is planning on putting out a video on porting E7's.

Personally, I have been keeping an eye out for the early heads c9 and D0 castings. I just picked up a set of c6 dated 289 heads. These early head are decent enough in stock form, but it's not uncommon to find them with a bunch of work already done. I found a set of 351w heads (D0OE-C) ported with screw-in studs for $150. They even came with the head bolt bushings for 302. The other day, I picked up a set of 289 heads. They are fresh from machine shop. Ported, 1.94 intake valves, hardened exhaust seats, new springs and guide plates. $250. Everyone is going with aluminum heads these days and you can't hardly give the old iron heads away, but they're great for a budget build or where you want to keep stock appearance with some noticeable increase in performance.

[FadedJalapena]

I used a set of ported/polished e7 heads on my last build. Good springs and slightly larger valves. Worked great. Think I paid $250 for them. But that was a few years ago. Like 15...

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Unfortunately in my local areas I am not finding much. Ported E7's seem to be the way to as I need to meet Cali smog.

[FadedJalapena]

Evidently, most of us have been underestimating the potential of E7 heads. With some work, they can make good power. David Vizard mentioned he is planning on putting out a video on porting E7's.

Personally, I have been keeping an eye out for the early heads c9 and D0 castings. I just picked up a set of c6 dated 289 heads. These early head are decent enough in stock form, but it's not uncommon to find them with a bunch of work already done. I found a set of 351w heads (D0OE-C) ported with screw-in studs for $150. They even came with the head bolt bushings for 302. The other day, I picked up a set of 289 heads. They are fresh from machine shop. Ported, 1.94 intake valves, hardened exhaust seats, new springs and guide plates. $250. Everyone is going with aluminum heads these days and you can't hardly give the old iron heads away, but they're great for a budget build or where you want to keep stock appearance with some noticeable increase in performance.

While I do see the potential in aluminum heads, I feel as if they're not needed in my application, at least not yet. Some E7's should be fine I'm thinking, with a port and polish and upgraded valvetrain. I just scored a stock 84' GT intake manifold that will also be ported.

[richpet]

Just to throw it out there I am using the Edelbrock E-Street heads. Ran me about a grand. Work quite well!
If you can get them.
By the time you work the E7 heads it might be a tossup.

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[BoostMasterZero]

I was wondering why you couldn't just put Historic or Street Rod tags on your car and not have to deal with emissions, but then I saw you said you live in CA. I know they're infamously stringent about their smog/CARB laws. As someone who lives in MD, as long as I have a vehicle that is 20 years or older (used to be 25+), I don't have to go through emissions or get a MD state inspection and registration is nearly 1/3 the price of an ordinary tagged car without Historic/Street Rod plates.

I'm curious, at what point in CA can you register your car with some type of tags that allow you to no longer have to go through getting emissions done once every two years or however frequent your mandate is in that state?

I use collector car insurance, so it's even cheaper. I thought every state had some type of program to allow you to get Historic/Street Rod tags that comes with their own benefits.

[KevinVarnes]

Michigan has historic plates, but they limit how you can use your car (car shows and parades). No thanks. I don't need somebody telling me how I can use my car.

[BoostMasterZero]

Michigan has historic plates, but they limit how you can use your car (car shows and parades). No thanks. I don't need somebody telling me how I can use my car.

Theoretically that's how it is suppose to work here in MD. The car is for use to be driven to and from car shows/events and for weekend cruising. It's not enforced though and there isn't a single cop around here that will pull you over to make sure you're only using the car for the purpose of going to a car show, but it's sort of null and void since they added cruising on nice days or however they worded a late it. I have never heard of a cop pulling someone over around here and giving someone a ticket for driving a car with Historic tags that isn't using them properly. Honestly everyone uses Historic tags on any car because of the simple fact they are cheaper, no MD state inspection, and no emissions. I've seen them on all kinds of cars. Just the other day I saw a set on a plain old Subaru Outback with some old woman driving the car, and then I saw a late 90s Integra with Historic tags as well. It's only $51 for Historic tags and $50 for Street Rod tags every 2 years vs what I believe is $135-140. I'm not sure, because they keep raising the price on registration for regular passenger automobiles.

I had an issue with my tune on my WRX, that I fixed, but the CEL would stay on, even if I cleared it and I couldn't get the car dyno-tuned at the time since my clutch was slipping. Of course this would cause me to fail emissions since all they care about in my state if there are any CELs on, they did away with the rollers and sniffer a long time ago, which makes no sense to me because if I actually had nothing wrong with my engine/drivetrain and purposely made it so my CEL light stayed on and was able to trick their scanner to saying the car had an unknown code, the car would fail.

It's all a scam, the company that runs the VEIP, is a contractor for the state of MD. The charge $14, they get half of the $14, and MD get's the other half. You can take your car to a shop of your choice, and must spend up to $600 to fix the "emissions" problem. Of course the state of MD is getting their 6% tax of the $600 you're paying to whatever shop you take it to and you get a waiver.

What I did on my WRX, was transfer the title to my father's name, since he's 70. Anyone 70 and over and claims they use their vehicles less than 5000 miles a year (I believe it's 5000), doesn't have to go to VEIP to get emissions done. So that was what I had done, and didn't have to worry about getting the emissions done on my WRX ever again. Before that, when they had the rollers, even though they stopped using them a while ago, on my 99 GT the car itself was low and the longtubes were even lower, so I used to get a waiver that way. I feel bad for car enthusiasts in CA though, it sounds like 1940s Germany there. You can't even get 93!

[FadedJalapena]

Unfortunately, even with historic plates you need to smog a vehicle every two years here in CA. There is no age-out for emissions, anything gasoline powered built from 1976 onwards needs to be smogged. Only real benefit to historic plates is the look and cheaper registration fees. I finally got an intake, E4ZE-9425-GA, but am still searching for heads. I noticed that you have an interest in Marchal fogs, I just scored a set of 850 GT amber lamps for a song. I'll post some pictures when I can.

[OX1]

Michigan has historic plates, but they limit how you can use your car (car shows and parades). No thanks. I don't need somebody telling me how I can use my car.

Jersey is like that. But of course you have to be able to fix the car, and many times you can't tell if it's fixed unless you drive it. Or you are taking it to your mechanic. Heck it could (and has) take(n) me 100's of hours of driving around tuning an EEC-IV, so stick your laptop in the pass seat, down load binary editor, and load a file in it.

Yes, you can't roll out of a club @ 2AM probably and be 100% OK, but most collector car insr policies are not happy if you leave it long term anyway, just anywhere (I'm too old for clubs, and I don't leave my collectors just anywhere by themselves). So as said, who is really going to bother you unless you are daily driving a real POS.

[FadedJalapena]

Alright all, many weeks later I now have a factory intake manifold, 4180c, and a set of stock E7TE heads pulled from an aeronose. The heads are in good shape albeit some carbon buildup. Can anyone tell me if these valve springs are stock? I only ask as the shortblock in my car has an E-303 and I don't have a spare HO cam to toss in at the moment. From my past experience in my 90' GT the E cam was alright but not great. Should I take the gamble on running these as is? The 306 in this car has what appears to be minor scoring on one bore and the whole car was $600, so if I drop a piston I won't be too hurt. I have a spare shortblock/heads coming to me for free in a couple of weeks as well. Just want to drive it already as you can probably tell. Link to pictures of heads.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/193699749@N05/

[bwguardian]

The valve springs look stock but may or may not be, but they are still singles and not dual units. With a stock factory intake it really won't matter relative to the springs or the cam as that alone will choke it down alot.

[FadedJalapena]

The valve springs look stock but may or may not be, but they are still singles and not dual units. With a stock factory intake it really won't matter relative to the springs or the cam as that alone will choke it down alot.

Well, that settles it for me for now. I plan to cruise it, and not really get on it until I build a 331 or manage to pry the 4.6 4v and IRS from a friend's derelict cobra.

[KevinK]

I just ran across this post. Too bad, I had some heads available. E7s I think.

[FadedJalapena]

I just ran across this post. Too bad, I had some heads available. E7s I think.

Dang. Oh well, these were cheap and I only need them so I can get to driving this thing.

[at_the_junkyard]

FWIW I did an upgrade to E7 heads and stock HO roller cam from a 95 in my sons 80 vintage 302 non-roller block. The consensus on the research I did anyway was that the stock E7 springs were pretty wimpy and borderline, especially for a roller cam with any lift (or even the stock HO).

I ended up purchasing the trick flow spring/retainer upgrade kit for stock E7's/GT40's. No issues and have lots of miles on them now. Quite a bit beefier springs than stock. It was not a lot of money relatively and fairly straightforward to install on the heads while they are off if you feel they may be questionable etc. I think others also sell upgrade kits for these heads as well.

[FadedJalapena]

FWIW I did an upgrade to E7 heads and stock HO roller cam from a 95 in my sons 80 vintage 302 non-roller block. The consensus on the research I did anyway was that the stock E7 springs were pretty wimpy and borderline, especially for a roller cam with any lift (or even the stock HO).

I ended up purchasing the trick flow spring/retainer upgrade kit for stock E7's/GT40's. No issues and have lots of miles on them now. Quite a bit beefier springs than stock. It was not a lot of money relatively and fairly straightforward to install on the heads while they are off if you feel they may be questionable etc. I think others also sell upgrade kits for these heads as well.

That kit is fairly priced at $180 and I think I may do it as peace of mind. This whole combo will be swapped out sometime in the next year or so for another powerplant either way.

[bwguardian]

That kit is fairly priced at $180 and I think I may do it as peace of mind. This whole combo will be swapped out sometime in the next year or so for another powerplant either way.

I wouldn't bother. Installing better springs helps increase upper end rpm power ability...depending on the cam also. Your stock intake will choke that out and you won't benefit much if at all. Save the money and put it into your future power plant.

[FadedJalapena]

I wouldn't bother. Installing better springs helps increase upper end rpm power ability...depending on the cam also. Your stock intake will choke that out and you won't benefit much if at all. Save the money and put it into your future power plant.

Fair enough. I see a modular V8 or 331 build down the road, after all brakes/suspension and metal work is done.

[pi_surfer]

FadedJalapena - did you pass the smog test?

I'm in socal too and am in the process of getting a transplanted car, originally from Washington state, smogged.

[FadedJalapena]

Unfortunately I haven't gotten it running just yet. The original engine harness fell apart in my hands and I'm currently figuring out a solution for that.