Stock 2.3 ford alum 8 plug Head questions

[steveshawjr]

Our track is allowing 8 plug alum heads this year with only 4 plugs other 4 have to be blocked off as cast heads are getting harder to find in good shape .

just wondering if the heads are better than cast. No port or polish rule , solid cam, .454 max valve lift & any headder.

curently run a cast d-port, efi intake, & schonfield headder

just looking on info on thes heads

[number9]

What 8 plug aluminum head?

[holloway9car]

I have never seen an 8 plug aluminum 2.3 ford head.

[car62]

Ford never had or made a 4 plug or 8 plug aluminum head for the 2.3 Lima...Esslinger came out with the 4 plug aluminum head that is close to the D-port head,it does have a Ford part number,however you will never be able to purchase it from Ford,it is exclusively Esslinger.

[steveshawjr]

ok guys thanks for clearing that up i was told it was an alum head ok now the question is the 8 head plug any good ?

[dannyracer6]

Steve,
to my knowledge, no one is doing anything with the cast 8plug..As stated there is no such thing as Aluminum. Also, you will have to fabricate an intake for it. The standard efi that we all use will not fit the ports. It is a whole different design. If they are going to allow aluminum, show them the info on the Esslinger built to replicate the cast lima head. It was designed with the idea that cast limas are getting harder to find. It is not to be confused with the Arca or Svo thing, it is to replace the stock cast head. Go to their website to see what they have.

[steveshawjr]

thats where the problem lies my tech guy tought the 8 plug was alum i bet he changes his mind one i say to run alum heads the y have to be aftermarket and there crazy money to boot so i know he will say no there trying to keep some cost down for now lol

[Racedad]

We have run the 8-plug cast iron head for years.Definitely cheaper and easier to find.

Boport website says the late 8-plug flows better than oval or d-port but I don't believe it.Stock intake ports are too small and too much swirl for high RPM racing engines IMHO.

Our heads are ported and we run the stock size valves as per rules.99 percent of the material removed is on a bridgeport,been using the esslinger SVO intake with drilling and tapping required,only one or 2 intake holes are shared.Otherwise all head bolts,head gaskets,oil passages,exhaust manifolds etc identical.

Works great,but it won't make the 4plug conventional stuff obsolete.These setups won their share of races for us but have been beat plenty of times by the old 4-plug stuff too.

On 8-plug all intake ports go straight in where as you know the older heads had the end ports angled in sharply toward the carb.

You might be able to adapt an old round port Ranger intake or I'm sure we could conjure up an inch thick adapter to bolt a dport intake on an untouched 8 plug head but I'll bet money it would be down on power vs a well set up 4plug oval or dport.Be fun to try it though.

[BVS40FL]

Racedad,
Just curious. Which set of holes do you block off on the 8 plug head ?
Was there any advantage over running the engine on the exhaust side plugs ?
The 8 plug head does use the thinner valve stems too doesn't it ?

[Racedad]

We run the whole late model distibuterless shortblock just as it comes from the junkyard which really saves money versus a built bottom end.

Late model stuff has light pistons,longer rods and thin low drag rings stock and all have proven reliable at least to 7600 or so.

Also no auxiliary shaft,distributer gears,roll pins.Oil pump is direct drive off the timing belt.Eliminates these common problem areas.

We fire all 8 plugs using a distributerless ignition system we make.If you are going distributerless it is easy to fire the second set of plugs.

I don't know how much power there is in dual plugs. Idling speed in the shop the thing really slows down if you kill one side or the other but I don't think it makes much difference at high RPM.

As far as firing only one plug per cyl it would be easiest to use the exhaust side due to interferance with the intake manifold for the spark plugs on the other side.

The intake side plugs though are more ideally located in the combustion chamber.We drill large angled holes(big enough for a sparkplug socket) in the intake flange between the ports for the plugs and wires.

Yup late heads use 7mm valve stems stock which have been really good for us.We run flat tappet off the shelf Schneider 2300cams.You can even run a little lighter valvesprings with the 7mm which is a good thing,saves on cams and followers. Retainers,valves and keepers are way lighter than the 11/32 stuff.We machine flats on 7mm lash caps to fit the 11/32 follower grooves.

I'll try to post some pictures this weekend.

[BVS40FL]

I'd also be interested in photos of your distributorless system.
Stock coils ? stock damper pulse ring? stock sensor ?
What do you use for a module ?

[Racedad]

GM 4cyl coil packs controlled by 2 hall effect sensors 90 degrees apart on a custom made bracket triggered off slots I cut 180 degrees apart in the back of the intermediate shaft pulley belt guide. Timing is fixed at 32 degrees which these dual plug heads seem to like.
I'll get you some pics later off my spare motor out in the garage.

[Fstng00]

Any chance of still getting those pics i would like to see this also?

[Racedad]

http://s1235.photobucket.com/albums/...urrent=020.jpg

Sorry for the long wait.I got frustrated dealing with the upload manager last November(I don't think it works) and forgot about it til this last post.
Best I could come up with was the photobucket link.

These are pictures of a couple spare motors I have.Both are bone stock 2.5 Ranger junkyard bottom ends,you can see one still has a block heater in it.Sorry they look so cruddy but it's how they looked coming out of a couple wrecked racetrucks.
Both have 2300 steel pans which only requires minor mods to the pick-up tube and a few bolt holes.
One motor has the ported 8-plug head with an Esslinger SVO intake and Hall Effect Geartooth sensors for triggers.The other has a 4 plug d-port head with a stock carb intake and uses GM 2.2 OHV cam sensors for triggers.

[idealer]

What all will I need to mod on a stock ranger 2.3 (97 long rod) to adapt a d-port head.

[dannyracer6]

the stock D port head will bolt onto the ranger block without any modifications. You can not use the stock 8 plug intake....It only fits the 97 8 plug head. use the intake you get with the early d port head and you will have no problems.