Are these EAB heads OK?
 

I just had these EAB heads blasted and plan to have them milled for ~0.050" clearance after measuring with my block (in progress). A few of the chambers show some moderate pitting though. Is this OK or should I seek out a nicer set? The combustion chambers range from 68-71cc. Thanks!! Ken


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Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

The area where the gasket fire ring is a little iffy to say the least , I wouldn't use them unless by some miracle they will surface out and not be too shallow in the dome area. Just my opinion .

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

the right head may be worth cutting, left head i would say not to waste any more time or money on it

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Toss 'em. Heads are too easy to get, to put up with what's there.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

boat anchors

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Sounds unanimous! Not the first $180 I've flushed away and likely not the last. I am planning on a deep cut but won't know how much until I get my block... Please PM me if anyone has a good set.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

I would not even consider using these.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Measure the diameter of the dome to start- originally similar to bore 3 3/16th" Next choice are 8Ba heads. Newc

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

If they were mine I'd angle mill thwm.060" and re dome them Taking .060 off the valve side of the head will possably need some valve eye brows near the top. But this is another way to get another point in CR. don't dump them they can be made to preform very wrll. Too bad I just did that to a nice set, I's a swapped them.
Gramps

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Ol Ron is right ,,,,these can be made to work just fine .
Angle mill .
Besides,,,,,,,they haven’t been touched at all yet,,,,,,other than the blasting and cleaning.
And if the next set is perfect,,,,,,you still have to do the mill and machine work .
But,,,,,you are the man building the engine,,,,,if you don’t feel good with them,,,,,,start with a better set .
Tommy

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

As far as using EAB heads, they are an excellent choice for 8BA family of engines. When looking, avoid any with more than surface corrosion. Also look at the bottom side of the thermostat pockets to make sure they have not been cut down into that bottom surface. There should be a good gap between the deck surface and the bottom cast surface of those pockets. I've seen quite few cut all the way down into that surface and that may be a bit to far to use depending on application and desired clearance in the chambers. Re-doming the chamber can be done but I'd prefer the transition areas to be uniform. Those, or at least the one, are not very uniform.

There should be plenty of good ones still out there.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Hi there question please. When you say transition area do you mean from plug area to dome area? Reason I ask is I purchased a pair also and the small indentation on mine is slightly irregular on one cylinder.
Also sounds like my 8BA heads will almost be just as good as these on my 51 ford flathead.In other words no gain to change?

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

The EAB head has the smallest combustion chamber of all the factory heads and therefore gives the highest compression ratio. I measured 68-71cc on these but have no idea if they've been milled before. My understanding is that the 8BAs are ~5cc larger chambers but I have not measured any. Ken

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinions. I'll hold onto these and keep my eyes open for another set. Al Clarke is doing my short block and I won't know how much can be milled until that's done in a few months. I have an NOS EAB camshaft I had planned to use, so not a lot of lift (0.328"), but I may switch that to something with a little more duration and lift since this will go on a fuel injected 265 or 276ci engine with dual throttle bodies. Opinions on the cam would also be welcome. I want to keep the smooth low idle but don't like the way the stock cam drops off above ~3500rpm.



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Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

I have several 8BA and some RT kicking around, some must be good. I can look around see what there is when I get back up to Pa. next month

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Thanks Rodrelic, but I’m looking specifically for the small-chamber EAB heads

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

The EAB heads were developed at a time when the country was starting to use better fuels so Ford started deleting the hardened seats in the valve pockets of car engines for plane cast finish. This and rotator type valves started showing up in early 1951. By somewhere in 1952, only the trucks had hardened seats in the exhaust valve pockets.

The Canadian aluminum heads and ones called cheater aftermarket heads were close copies of OEM Ford heads and they show up now and then. Aluminum has more corrosion problems so finding a good set may not be worth the trouble since other acceptable aftermarket heads are available.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Something like these?

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Rodrelic, those are indeed the desirable high compression 52-53 Ford head. I already found a replacement EAB for the worse, left side head and am hoping to salvage the right one. Thanks though!! Ken

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

I found a decent left side EAB head and the combustion chambers are a little larger - more volume when measured with fluid and deeper in the areas over the valves (measure near where the center would be; there is more clearance where the edge of the valve would strike) and the deepest part of the transfer area. It looks like taking an extra ~20 thousandths off of the left side head would even the combustion chamber volumes up but then they will likely need re-doming for somewhat uniform clearance to the piston tops.


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Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Make sure you consider the gaskets that you plan on using. Folks get creative with gasket thickness when using copper.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Bringing this post back up to get some more information. I have an EAB in similar condition and never thought about using until I read this. What is angle milling exactly and who could do this work?

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

That would be corrective for a set that is milled a little too close to the valves and in need of a little more dome area added back. Most machine shops carry enough equipment to do stuff like that if needed. It may not be needed depending on the piston clearance and cam shaft that a person wants to use. A lot depends on the condition of the heads too.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Ken, Can you please post more photos of your flathead engine showing your ignition system? What type of ignition system are you using? Looks unique. Thanks.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

On the head subject, I had an 8ba with 8cm cam & 8cm heads. It also had domed pistons. It needed rebuilt so I put Offy heads, flat top pistons & an IskyMax 1 in it. Performance wise, it ran better with the 8cm heads & domed pistons. Would the domed tops make up for the lower compression 8cm heads ??? Just say'n ....

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

With the price of aftermarket heads running close to our national budget, you might consider al the modifications we "Stock" car guys did to improve the these engines. Ahgle the heads as much as you can the EAB heads are liminated to the area of the thermostat housing thickness, Byt the 59 heads can go much further, Starting with a good set you can use little balls of aluminum to measure the piston clearance of=ver the pistons and valves. Looking for about 40/50 thou over the pistons and .050 over the valves at max lift. angle mill the heads they hit thhe valves, the using a larg diameter shell mill clearance a little materila from the valve area at a 4 deg anngle. Now use a dremmet to make sure nothing hits without a head gasket. This work isdonwit some machine shop and milling machine work and would probably cost several hunderd dollars. Using a Max!1 cam and 59 heads this will give around 65 cc or a good poing in CR, boring to 3 5/16 another point in cr. The stock 6.8 CR engines usually measure around 8:1 because very few engines have much over 6:1 from the factory. Another thing you can do Is use a merc intake, bored to except a 2GC carb and one of Charlies distributors. Now you'll have an inexpensive engine that will last forever, have lots of power and great economy,

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

I’ve got a couple oddball rights if you end up needing one .......Mark

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Regarding the heads, that engine is not yet assembled yet but I ended up using the right side head from the pair pictured above. My machine shop took off 0.015-0.020 (not angle milled) to clean up the gasket surface which brought the combustion chambers into the 67-70cc range. I plan to get them all in the 69-70cc range for this 276ci motor. I'm not sure if these heads had been cut before, but even with this light cut I had less than 0.040" clearance over the pistons and hand to do some grinding. See here:


https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=302368

The ignition system is part of my home-built EFI system using Megasquirt. It uses a trigger wheel which I brazed to the crank pulley and an EDIS ignition module from a 90s V8 Ford. The coil packs are GM which have the advantage of using a more standard ignition wire boot. I put a bunch of miles on everything this summer and am really happy with it!


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ef663995_b.jpgA772FC73-578C-4782-9812-EC4AD0352756 by kenhenry_06268, on Flickr

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Thanks Mark, appreciate it. I'm all set and have amassed quite a collection of EAB heads at this point!

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

In my experience, combustion chamber volume is not important, What you need is proper "squish" (.040"-.050") and the compression ratio will follow. After years of just bolting on a set of "High compression" heads and being disappointed I have found that getting the quench right is the best thing you can do with a flathead Ford.

I also do not understand the advantage on "Angle Milling", but I'm sure someone will come on here to explain it to me.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

The "advantage" of angle milling is that you're taking away more material on the cylinder bore side of the head - than the valve side. It is one way to help "tune the cat".

Given that I rework my chambers (via CNC milling), valve clearances, piston compression height, etc. - it does not come into play for me. I get the clearances I want, the CR I want, etc - by the work (and parts) in my builds. BUT - I'm putting a lot of time and $$$ to do so.

Ole' Ron has some good suggestions for tightening up the chambers and leaving a bit more over the valves - by angle milling.

Re: Are these EAB heads OK?
 

Sometimes you just want to rebuild your engine for a Dailey driver. Something with some reasonable power and economy without reducing your retirement funds. The 239 engine in stock form in perfect running condition produces "LESS THAN" 80 horsepower. Adding heads intakes and exhaust to it will not increase the power to 100HP and cost a bundle. Buy building a 258 HI compression stock cam engine you can have a nice runnning engine with more than 100 hP and economy and longevity as well.
Gramps
Never thought I'd ever be running a stock cam, but the low and midrange torque in=s incredible, Running a 87F15 3spd with OD 3.73 rear with posy. The truck will climb any hill in Vermont in OD