New member- 90 GT looking for some knowledge/advice

[90FoxGt]

Hello like the title says I'm new to the forums and came for some help! I have a 90 GT Hatch its a 25th anniversary if anyone cares lol but anyway I've owned it almost 2 years used it as a daily and now have a tacoma too so hell lets make the mustang faster now that I dont have to rely on it. I have a cobra upper and lower intake that I plan to install paired with some aluminum heads I found on ebay that seem like a real good deal haven't bought the heads yet so any feedback on those would be great. I've watched a lot of videos and know what im getting into but have some questions.

1. Currently having the 24lb injectors that were on the intake clean and flowed but wasnt sure if i can use the pressure regulator and fuel rail that was on it
2. The upper (pics below) has everything on it, can i use the idle air control thats on it or possibly use the oem one thats on the car currently?
3. Is it okay to reuse pushroods?

Any and all help is appreciated I'll attach pics and a link for the heads im referring to
Heads: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-289-3...rsOtherItemsV2&_trksid=p2047675.c100047.m2108

 

[broncojunkie]

You can use the stock pressure regulator and fuel rail. An adjustable regulator will give you some extra tuning ability, but for a n/a setup, my argument is that you only need to adjust it if your stock one isn't working properly.

As for the iac, they should be the same. Try the one on it and if it idles incorrectly (most likely high or surging idle), try your old one.

Your pushrod length "may" work with the new heads, but the stock pushrods are not hardened. You need hardened pushrods with valve guides. Any time you swap heads, you should be measuring for correct pushrod length (and valve/piston clearance... this one goes for cam swaps, also). A pushrod length checker and calipers is a great thing to keep on hand, when you have a project like this. They're cheap and will keep you from really making a costly mistake. You can check for correct pushrod length using your oem pushrods. If they work, just order a set of hardened pushrods in that length. If they don't look like the length is correct, you can still use them to figure out which size tool to order. There are several videos on YouTube and other places to show you how.

 

[broncojunkie]

Those heads may be fine, or may be junk. Can't say either way, but there are a lot of complaints about cheap heads. I have a set of Flotek heads on my pace car. They seem like decent quality. Machine work was better than i expected and I've had no issues with them. I did end up swapping new (good quality) valve springs and retainers for the ones that came on them...not because I had issues, but because i swapped cams and needed a different spring rate.

If i had it to do over again, i would have gone with Skip White heads (also sold through eBay, but do your research.... there was another seller going by a similar name. Skip White is located in TN. They use Chinese castings but assemble them in-house using higher quality valves, springs, etc. Price on both heads i mentioned are similar to what you are looking at.

 

[90FoxGt]

You can use the stock pressure regulator and fuel rail. An adjustable regulator will give you some extra tuning ability, but for a n/a setup, my argument is that you only need to adjust it if your stock one isn't working properly.

As for the iac, they should be the same. Try the one on it and if it idles incorrectly (most likely high or surging idle), try your old one.

Your pushrod length "may" work with the new heads, but the stock pushrods are not hardened. You need hardened pushrods with valve guides. Any time you swap heads, you should be measuring for correct pushrod length (and valve/piston clearance... this one goes for cam swaps, also). A pushrod length checker and calipers is a great thing to keep on hand, when you have a project like this. They're cheap and will keep you from really making a costly mistake. You can check for correct pushrod length using your oem pushrods. If they work, just order a set of hardened pushrods in that length. If they don't look like the length is correct, you can still use them to figure out which size tool to order. There are several videos on YouTube and other places to show you how.

Thank you this was very helpful I have had trouble finding details on the little stuff so this was nice. After researching more heads and really thinking about I think im gonna upgrade the whole suspension first because for the price of heads and all the misc parts that go with a head swap I can get aftermarket lower front arms, coilovers front and rear and possibly rear lower arms. For right now i think its a better choice for my budget, I can easily redo the suspension for around 1k more or less but getting everything for a head swap in that budget would be tough and most likely not the best parts. Also its rocking the original suspension right now so even with that added power from the intake,, heads, injectors etc I dont think id actually be able to put that power to the ground. Plus she'll look good lowered an inch or two

 

[mikeAZ]

Thank you this was very helpful I have had trouble finding details on the little stuff so this was nice. After researching more heads and really thinking about I think im gonna upgrade the whole suspension first because for the price of heads and all the misc parts that go with a head swap I can get aftermarket lower front arms, coilovers front and rear and possibly rear lower arms. For right now i think its a better choice for my budget, I can easily redo the suspension for around 1k more or less but getting everything for a head swap in that budget would be tough and most likely not the best parts. Also its rocking the original suspension right now so even with that added power from the intake,, heads, injectors etc I dont think id actually be able to put that power to the ground. Plus she'll look good lowered an inch or two

 

[mikeAZ]

If those were the Skip White heads?.. You should be fine . We bought a set. ... They look to be very well made..... Haven't fired the engine but I don't expect any issues. Lot's of others seem similar but he uses better parts. Comp Cams valves / springs. What they do... buy Chinese castings and build to finished...