1980 Head Test Project (2 1Bbl Carter YF's).

1980 Head Test Project (1 300ci Carter YF).

1980 Head Test Project (Holley 500 cfm 2 bbl).

This head started out as a 1980 "E0" head , but ended up as somthing totally different than what the Ford engineers had in mind... I had my local machine shop modify the intake log and it cost me a whole $35.00 total. They used a "surface planer" and it took around 30 minutes to do. I drilled the outboard holes myself.

The aluminum stock is .5 inches thick and was machined by me on my drillpress at home. I used some thick gasket material between the intake and the adapter plate. You can use the 2 original carb mounting holes in the center and drill and tap 2 more, one on each end. Shown above is the adapter plate for my dual Carter YF 1 Bbl intake manifold

Shown are 2 Carter YF 1 Bbl carbs used originally on a Ford 250 ci six cylinder. They are rated at 193 cfm's a piece. This would really work well if you could find a pair of slightly smaller carbs like a pair of Weber ICH's or somthing similar. Once you reached 3500 RPM's, this thing would take off like a rocket and still pulled hard through 6500 rpm's. The air cleaner (shown below) is off a 84 Ford Escort that I modified to fit.

Same head, different adapter plate. .5 inch aluminum machined by me to mount a single Carter YF off a 300 ci 6 cylinder. This one is rated at 220 cfm's, and you can see how the plate is bolted on to the head quite well in the picture above. Also note the egr block off plate I made out of the same .5 inch thick aluminum plate. All the fasteners can be purchased at your local hardware store.

The carb is all mounted and ready to fire up!! This was a excellent combination that delivered a lot better peformance than the stock Autolite 1100 series carb, and delivered excellent gas mileage also. Shown below is my "ram air" that is explained in another page of my website. I was very pleased with the overall performance of this carb.

I had to make 2 adapter plates this time, one to bolt on to the intake log and the other mounted on top of that because of the 500 cfm Holley's much bigger base. This is the best "Performance" setup to date. No bog on the bottom end and it pulls hard to over 6000 rpms. This was a lot easier to "tune" due to abundance of parts available for the Holley carbs. I'm currently using this carb with no plans on changing back at this time.

II really like the looks of this "ram air" installation. The base is off a 1985 Ford E series van with a 5.8 litre engine. The top is off a 84 Thunderbird with a 5.0 litre engine. The top I polished and clearcoated. You could also use the aircleaner assy off a early 80's Mustang with a 5.0 litre engine. Note the clearance between the export brace and the aircleaner itself. About 1 inch so measure carefully!! That should about do it. I did not give any dimensions because every install will be different depending on the year of the head or what type of carb you use. The most important things are the pictures themselves so you can get a idea of what can be done to modify the stock intake log.

Here's a good shot of the adapter plates. The bottom gasket (adapter to intake log) is a fairly thick one that I made by hand but the other gasket (between the 2 adapter plates) is just a regular 2 Bbl carb gasket. I then used a regular Holley gasket between the adapter and carb. Be sure to pick up a Holley jet assortment kit. I ended up rejetting mine and I'm sure you will have to also.

A couple of important notes here!! Make sure that you install a fuel filter either on the left side of the engine or at the back of it and use hard lines instead of rubber fuel line because the line is routed over the exhaust manifold and you dont want to risk a fire. I'm also looking for some kind of insulation to wrap the fuel line with because of the heat soaking into the fuel line on the right side of the engine.

Unless you swap to a cable type throttle linkage, you will have to extend the accelerator rod as shown by sliding some electrical conduit over the rod. Flatten the one end before you install it and drill and tap a hole at the rear so the  bolt will hold it in position.  You can also see how I ran the fuel line, vacuum adavance hose, accelerator return spring and the heater hoses quite well in this picture.

You have to install a throttle extender as shown so that there is enough leverage to achieve wide open throttle. I bought a small 2.5 inch angle bracket from the hardware store to make mine out of. They are chrome plated and look nice when installed. The 1/4 inch rod ends are from Summit and cost $2.95 a piece. Most of this is covered up by the aircleaner but I like everything to look good....

I have since switched to a cable throttle linkage. It was quite simple really! All you need is a pedal from a later model 70's or 80's car (Fairmont, Mustang, Etc). Mount the pedal, then get a throttle cable for a 1992-96 Ford F-150. Its longer than the early non fuel injected models.

Fab up a mounting bracket like I did, or look through a Summit or Lokar catalog for somthing that will work!

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