Blue Thunder iron CJ heads, good or bad?

I saw a set of Blue thunder iron cj heads for sale. what do you all know about them? hp potential, aproximate value, do they use a standard intake? anything you could tell me about them would be appreciated. they would be used on a truck so the extra weight isn't a problem.

mitch wrote:I saw a set of Blue thunder iron cj heads for sale. what do you all know about them? hp potential, aproximate value, do they use a standard intake? anything you could tell me about them would be appreciated. they would be used on a truck so the extra weight isn't a problem.

chevy or ford exhaust port?

ford raised exhaust ports

I've done a set of the Blue Thunder iron CJ heads for a truck puller out west. In general they are a very nice head. In regards to the set I did, one particular head was a nice casting,,,,it's mate was a leaker and it had some porosity holes in a few places. We had to repair the short side radius, and also the valve spring cup/seat area was very thin and we couldn't do any brazing (too thin), so we packed that area with epoxy. That particular set had the Ford style but raised exhaust port.

Art probably needs to cast some more,,,I suspect the demand is there.

Charlie

I'd agree Charlie a guy could make a few $$$ if they where to cast a few sets of CJ heads for the class racers, and maybe sneak in a few updates that the techs wouldn't be able to pick-up, like maybe some "fast as cast", bump a little hear add a little their type of thing...

Typical Used but not abused Iron CJ's see to be in the $600-$1000 range for good casting, have seen the for less and sometimes more, seems to depend on the location.

But as far as the BT iron heads their haven't been a whole lot of them made.

For power ... simply the BEST cast iron, stock production valve angle, (though the location is spread slightly from production Ford), cylinder head ever produced for a Big Block Ford.

Would like to get my hands on a set

There was an iron head that Art cast with the BBC ex. Did it have a different designation?

schmitty wrote:There was an iron head that Art cast with the BBC ex. Did it have a different designation?

They did indeed exist. We had a set back in the late '90's, traded them to a truck puller......Don't remember what the exact designation was.....

lghting94 wrote:Would like to get my hands on a set

here they are, I wish I could afford them: http://www.460ford.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146804

Thanks guys for the knowlegde, I'll go back and change my answer.

Charlie

Pretty fair price iMHO. They will still need a certain amount of porting to achieve all out performance capabilities. Very

Very fair price if I only had money, why is it you can find these deals only when you are broke

lghting94 wrote:Very fair price if I only had money, why is it you can find these deals only when you are broke

Ain't that the truth !!! Thats a pretty fair price for them NIB.

mitch wrote:I saw a set of Blue thunder iron cj heads for sale. what do you all know about them? hp potential, aproximate value, do they use a standard intake? anything you could tell me about them would be appreciated. they would be used on a truck so the extra weight isn't a problem.

its a very good head, did a few 514 1 carb bt headed engines, depending on cam we used,and some port work make between 780 to 830

some are very thin by the valve guide

schmitty wrote:Pretty fair price iMHO. They will still need a certain amount of porting to achieve all out performance capabilities. Very

Not just porting ... those are "out of the box" heads and have NO valve job on the seats and the guides also need to be sized.
I don't know if seperate valve seats are installed or just the cast iron. Seperate seats are the hardest seats I've ever cut; including diesels.

That is the ONLY way A.T. Francis sells them.