I have the heads off of my 8RT truck motor re-doing the valve train. I have a set of 8BA heads that I could put back on instead of the 8RT heads. Would I gain anything? More compression? Is it worth the effort of cleaning up the 8BA's?
They are higher compression so yes it would be beneficial Compression low to high 8cm 8rt 8ba EAB There's also the Denver heads used in the 8ba era which are higher compression but ibdont know how to id those
Probably not enough to notice by "the seat of your pants". If you're going to change heads, why not rework them for maximum performance? The important thing is to get the "Squish" down to around .050" over the top of the piston. Mill them to get close, and then use a die grinder to bring them into uniformity. The milling will up the compression even more and getting minimal squish will improve combustion characteristics. A set of properly modified stock heads cab be made to perform as well as a fancy set of finned aluminum aftermarket units. I will admit that they don't look as snazzy, though.
Agree.....mill 'em. You need to clay all of the pistons and valves though to see how much you can remove. I have milled EAB heads on mine...it runs good!
You won't have any problem with valve clearance if you have a stock cam. Milling the heads for .045 to .050 over the pistons is one of the cheapest and best changes you can make.
remember honest charley's "flatheads ain't dead yet" sales? he discounted the hell out of denver heads!
Thanks for all of the great advice! Does anyone know a good book or other source on using clay to check clearances? I get the general idea, but have never done it.
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