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The Ford head casting, E7TE, is quite popular with DIY home porters because it is cheap, easy to find,
and not too bad of a performer as is. Lets take a look at the E7.
After the less than spectacular performance of the '86 Mustangs
E6 head was being realized, the Ford engineers looked to the truck department for
a suitable head for their '87 Mustangs. What they came up with was the E7TE, which
found a home atop the Mustang 5 liter block for nearly a decade.
About the only way I know how to identify an E7TE is by this 'E7TE'
cast on the bottom, or deck, side of the head.
This end view of the E7TE has no distinguishing marks that I am aware of.
The combustion chamber is a wedge design with a recessed spark plug.
This chamber measured 62 cc.
The intake valves are 1.780"
The exhaust valves are 1.450"
The intake pocket is skewed slightly to the outboard side. The
valve guide boss is quite large and some high lift flow improvements
could surley be realized by trimming down the guide.
The Exhaust pocket displays an even greater skew to the outboard side.
While the guide is not very tall, it could be narrowed some. You can also
see the thermactor boss and the slight roll in the roof just behind the
thermactor boss. This roll is for the thermactor plumbing that runs the
length of the head.
This intake port measures 1.894" x .1.039" at the milled deck surface.
The volume measured 126.5 cc's
Just inside the deck surface, the push rods squeeze the opening to
just .898" wide measured on this port. The pushrod holes measured 1.150" at
their narrowest points so 1.150" - .898" = .256". And .256" / 2 = .126".
So if this head were cast perfectly centered and square, the push rod holes
are only .126" thick. Not a lot of material to work with.
Notice how the valve guide dominates the port.
This exhaust port measured 1.237" x .966" and 43 cc's volume.
You can see how the thermactor boss is not too obtrusive, but I am
sure flow would improve without it. The Thermactor boss is cast into
the port to give the factory machine shop a flat surface to drill into
for the thermactor plumbing.