If you’re building a Fox Body one of the best modifications you can do is upgrade the cylinder heads. Although the stock heads were pretty good back in the day they can’t even come close to modern cylinder heads.
There are many aftermarket cylinder heads out there, so we compiled the best ones into this list to help you decide.
Why Upgrade Your Heads?
Up until around 1999 muscle cars had pretty crappy cylinder heads. They weren’t designed well and ultimately didn’t flow that much air. Since an engine is basically an air pump you need the heads to flow as much air as possible.
This is where the idea of installing aftermarket cylinder heads comes from.
Back in the day people used to port and polish the stock E7 Fox Body Mustang heads. Doing this will pick up some horsepower, but not nearly as much as a properly designed aftermarket cylinder head.
With aftermarket heads and a good aftermarket camshaft, your Fox Body could gain as much as 80 horsepower.
#1 Edelbrock E-Series Street (Editor’s Choice)
Back when I had my Fox Body I ran Edelbrock E-Series heads with an E303 cam. These heads provide excellent performance for the price. Featuring 60cc combustion chambers, 1.900” intake valves, 1.600” exhaust valves, and an all aluminum design. Overall this head brings amazing performance for the money.
- Intake runner: 170cc
- Exhaust runner: 60cc
- Intake valve: 1.900″/2.020″
- Exhaust valve: 1.600″
- Intake CFM at .500″ lift: 242cfm
If you plan on running a cam larger than 0.550” lift then you might need to look elsewhere. Apparently, the springs these heads come with are only compatible with flat tappet cams so keep that in mind too.
The Edelbrock E-Series heads typically cost around $800 for the pair. This makes them the cheapest heads on this list
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#2 Ford Racing GT-40X
Up next on our list are the Ford Racing GT-40X heads. You might’ve heard of these heads from American Muscle’s Fox Body build where they used these heads. These heads are significantly more expensive than Edelbrock’s heads, but in theory, should make more horsepower.
The GT-40X heads feature a 64cc combustion chamber, 1.940” intake valves, and 1.540” exhaust valves.
- Intake runner: 178cc
- Exhaust runner: 62cc
- Intake valve: 1.940″
- Exhaust valve: 1.540″
- CFM at .500″ lift: 240cfm
Unlike the Edelbrock E-Series heads, these heads are compatible with roller camshafts. The Ford Racing GT-40X heads typically cost $1,400 for the pair. I honestly wouldn’t recommend these heads due to the high price and low performance, especially when compared to the Edelbrock E-Street heads.
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#3 Edelbrock Performer RPM 190cc
Third on our list are the Edelbrock Performer RPM heads. These are a step up from the E-Series heads for those of you who need more performance. Although you can buy a version of this head with 170cc intake runners, we decided to feature the version with 190cc runners.
These heads feature large 2.020” intake valves and 1.600” exhaust valves.
- Intake runner: 170cc/190cc
- Exhaust runner: 60cc
- Intake valve: 1.900″/2.020″
- Exhaust valve: 1.600″
- CFM at .500″ lift: 245/251cfm
If you’re running stock pistons you might want to consider the version of this head with 1.900” intake valves. The Performer RPM heads typically cost around $1,600.
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#4 Victor Junior
Fourth on our list are the Victor Jr heads. I wanted to include these heads on this list because they’re made by Edelbrock, a company we’re familiar with and these are pretty much the best heads you can get from them.
These heads feature 2.050” intake valves and 1.600” exhaust valves.
- Intake runner: 210cc
- Exhaust runner: 75cc
- Intake valve: 2.050″
- Exhaust valve: 1.600″
- CFM at .500″ lift: 268cfm
The Victor Junior heads are a nice step up from the Performer RPM heads and perform pretty well. Although these aren’t the most expensive heads on this list, they are pretty pricey at around $1,600 for the pair.
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#5 Trick Flow Twisted Wedge 11R
Fifth on our list are the Trick Flow Twisted Wedge 11R heads. Trick Flow is pretty well known in the Fox Body scene and a lot of racers have great success with Trick Flow heads.
These new 11R heads are based on the original Twisted Wedge heads, but with many improvements to improve airflow. These heads feature a massive 2.055” intake valves and 1.600” exhaust valves.
- Intake runner: 190cc
- Exhaust runner: 66cc
- Intake valve: 2.055″
- Exhaust valve: 1.600″
- CFM at .500″ lift: Unknown
According to the Trick Flow website, these heads are setup for hydraulic roller camshafts only. Overall these heads bring a massive amount of performance to the table. Unfortunately, that performance isn’t very cheap.
A set of Twisted Wedge 11R heads will cost around $2,000 for the pair.
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#6 AFR 220cc SBF
Last, but certainly not least are the AFR 220cc heads. We wanted to include the biggest, baddest heads possible and AFR is known for making the best heads in the industry.
These heads feature absolutely massive 2.100” intake valves, but marginally smaller 1.570” exhaust valves.
If you want to run a massive camshaft these heads can handle up to .700” lift or more depending on the springs you order.
- Intake runner: 220cc
- Exhaust runner: 70cc
- Intake valve: 2.100″
- Exhaust valve: 1.570″
- CFM at .500″ lift: 296cfm
If you need the most performance possible for your Fox Body Mustang, then these heads are the way to go. The extreme performance of these heads will cost you. Typically these heads cost around $2,100 making them the most expensive heads on this list.
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Porting and Polishing
Normally I would recommend porting and polishing your heads for free horsepower. The stock Fox Body heads, however, are garbage. You can spend an entire week making the stock E7 heads and they’ll still suck.
Expect to gain around 20 horsepower for porting and polishing the stock E7 heads.
That sounds like an okay idea until you consider that the cheapest set of cylinder heads on this list will gain around 50 horsepower and takes considerably less work.