Cleveland heads on 408 Windsor

[CHRIS POTTER]

I bought a 408 Windsor short block awhile back with a flywheel and balancer. I want to put a set of Cleveland heads on it from Aus Ford Parts so I can use my original headers. My car is a Lone Star from 1997, and it was the first one they did with a Cleveland engine. They built the headers from a jig they built. I was wondering if any of you know if the ports will be the same width bolted on a Windsor block vs the Cleveland block. I hate to take a chance on having Ultimate Classics build a set of headers that won't fit, s I would like to use what I have, as they are still in fine shape. Aluminum Clevor heads are not in the budget, but I would like a little more power. Sound familiar? Thanks in advance for any insight you may have.

[blykins]

Much wider on a Windsor. A Windsor block is 9.500" deck height. A Cleveland is 9.200" deck height.

Also, your pistons won't work with the Cleveland heads and there is some drilling/plugging that you'll have to do to make the C heads work on a W block.

[CHRIS POTTER]

Thanks, Brent!

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by blykins

Much wider on a Windsor. A Windsor block is 9.500" deck height. A Cleveland is 9.200" deck height.

Also, your pistons won't work with the Cleveland heads and there is some drilling/plugging that you'll have to do to make the C heads work on a W block.

Brent: I'm not doubting what you wrote - you probably see more engines in a week than I will in my lifetime!

I am, however, thinking of my math / trigonometry lessons from a few decades ago, and it seems to me that, all else being equal, a 0.300 higher deck height would result in the ports being 0.21" higher and wider. Looking at my car I could easily see how that difference could be accommodated without changing either the headers or side pipes.

I'm probably over-simplifying this, so I'm relying on your expertise to point out what I'm missing!

[blykins]

The issue is where the sidepipes exit the body.

Any header will bolt onto those heads, but if you want the sidepipes to exit without body work, then you have a problem.