I have a '71 302 sitting in my barn and i was wondering, do i have to get made for '71 cylinder heads? Or could i find some used ones and whatnot from a different year and put them on the engine? just wondering, not currently building up the engine, just used it for reference for when i do plan on building it up.
Just about any 302 heads will work. Rocker arms depend on what year you are using. Roller rockers on the later years. 351W heads will work too, but you'll need special bolts for them. Might try to do some searches on heads. Some years are better than others as far as compression goes.
get a set of e7 heads off a mid 80s 5.0 1985 HO 5.0 would work nice. or a set of gt 40s off of an explorer 5.0.i have a set of reworked e7 heads on my 302.
Just make sure the springs on the new heads match what you have for a cam. You don't want to do like me and slap GT40 heads on a flat tappet cam (heads were originally on a roller motor) and eat the cam and lifters up.