Aluminum head options for 390

[Gregtx]

Hoping ya'll can help me out here. I'm researching head options for the 390 in my '68 F250. I'm currently running the stock C8AE-H heads. I have heard that the heads on the truck motors had exhaust ports in different locations (higher?). I don't know if this is true or not, but I'd like to know in advance of pulling my working heads if I'm going to have to modify my header flanges.

In any event, there are a lot of options for heads available for the FE motors. Low, Medium and High riser heads, 8, 14 and 16 bolt exhaust patterns, small bore, large bore, and on and on. It's a bit confusing and I'm not sure what I need to be looking at.

My goal is to find a good performing head that exceeds the factory performance by a good bit. I'd like it to be an aluminum head. I do plan to port and polish it. My motor has been zero decked, so I'd like to target a .035 - .040 quench as well.

My working assumption is that I need large bore, medium riser heads with the 8 bolt pattern. I've been looking at the Edelbrock heads because they seem to be the most economical. Does anyone have experience with these heads? How well did they perform over factory? Did you port them? Do they also require you to plug up the oil channels with restrictors, or has that issue been solved in the aftermarket heads? Are there better options than the Edelbrock heads out there that won't break the bank?

I'm not planning any kind of forced induction. Just a higher compression, naturally aspirated motor that has a bit of a higher red line and a nice cam.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

[tnlprt]

BBM heads

16 bolt exhaust

C8AE-H heads would have come on cars and trucks

No need to restrict the oil flow to the rockers on a street engine

Edelbrock heads flow less than the BBM heads

[Gregtx]

Those really do look like great heads at a reasonable cost. But I'm concerned about the 16 bolt exhaust. Does anybody make long tube headers with a 16 bolt flange, or am I going to need to just buy the 16 bolt flanges and weld those to my existing headers?

[Ranchero50]

16 bolt flanges just give you the option if installing them on both large cars / trucks and mid sized / small cars.

[tnlprt]

Yep ...16 bolt heads allow the use of stock exhaust manifolds.....428CJ manifolds...Or 8 bolt headers

390engine_004.jpg

[WhitsEnd]

A 390 won't see a huge benefit of the increased flow that a set of BBM heads will provide over a set of Edelbrocks. However, their bigger benefit is in the chamber design, allowing lower total timing advance and potentially better performance. Again, a vanilla 390 may not be a candidate for demonstrating the difference.

For the money, Edelbrocks are hard to beat. There are a number of options available today: BBM, Survival, Blue Thunder, Shelby and recently TrickFlow threw their hat in the ring. Comparably, they are all priced higher than Edelbrock when fitted for a street 390.

As for restricting the oil flow, that depends completely on what valvetrain you are using. Stock or aftermarket bushed rocker assemblies with tight tolerances don't require any restriction. Aftermarket rockers with needle bearings instead of bushings will create low oil pressure and don't require as much oil. So, restriction is required in that case. I choose to slightly restrict stock rockers by pushing a short piece of 3/16 brake line down into the feed hole at the base of the rocker stand. Just my preference.

Most old rockers and shafts leak from high mileage and poor maintenance, meaning oil isn't getting to the rocker tip and pushrod adequately. Restricting in this case just causes more problems. Rockers and/or shafts should be replaced.

On the 390 I recently built, I chose Edelbrocks with stock adjustable rockers modified for aftermarket adjusters and new heavy duty shafts. Headers are FPA Tri-Ys. They aren't short, but I don't know if I would classify them as long either. Build is on this forum. link below.

[tnlprt]

I currently have 3 sets of FE Aluminum heads

1 set on a 451 side oiler stroker....550HP...540 TQ ...Stock edelbrock 2.15/1.65 valves

1 set on a 390........................490HP...480TQ.....Stock BBM.......2.15/1.65 valves

1 set CNC ported edelbrock ......untested as of yet slated for the stroker..2.19/1.75 valves

Both the 390 and the 451 have identical parts other than bore and stroke

Same .674/.312 solid roller cam.
Same unported Victor intake
Same dove/Comp roller rockers
Same 750 Double pumper


I would choose the BBM heads over the edelbrock head any day

The BBM heads flow what the now CNC ported heads flow ..At an additional 600 dollar cost for the CNC job
Buy them once and be done

I do not restrict the oil to my rockers

I run factory shafts with 550LBS of spring pressure on the nose
I do run end stand supports

If you keep the lift below .600 stock factory adjustables will work just fine.We ran them on the stock car for years with no problems


My truck gets street driven every chance I get .Which is quite often

FE Heaven15.jpg

FE Heaven6.jpg

Hotrods and handlebars 4.jpg