flexfuel head help!!!

[stiluv]

i am on the search for a set of flexfuel heads for my 99 3.0 and no good. i cant find used ones anywhere. i tried ford and i can get a set of new ones for around $600, but they swear that they are the same as the regular 3.0's. the part #'s are even the same. so has anyone out there ran into this problem yet? need some help please. thanks everyone

 

[rurouni20xx]

flexfuel models simply have dif compression ratios and dif orings and injector linings if im not mistaken, they dump more fuel when e85 is sensed at the injectors. the heads should be the same, if you have yours off and find another set elsewhere if you compare the two the shape and everything should be the same. the chamber may be a little dif, i couldnt tell you, i think i read somewhere that it was a little different but i cant remember. ill let some of the other more knowledgable members fill in the details and correct me if im wrong.

 

[j03j03]

As far as I know they're the same. I'm looking to, overheated the Ranger. I hoping that it's just a gasket but I wanna be prepared for the worst.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

flex fuel heads have a smaller combustion chamber by a few CC's. regular heads have successfully been run on flex engines before with no problems....but you may loose a small amount of performance if running e85 in the truck.

 

[Beef52751]

You wont even notice a few CCs diffrences, the amount of change in power would be equivelent to pissing in a river and expecting to see the water rise.
If your that worried mill the heads.
Beef

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

ford wouldnt have paid to change out their extremely costly head casting equipment for a few CC's if it didnt make a difference. i wouldnt expect a butt-dyno detectable difference...more than likely the hit will come in the form of lower than normal mileage when compared to running a proper flex-fuel head.

 

[rurouni20xx]

considering on a stock n/a flexfuel engine its bad enuff that you use two tanks of the e85 to get the same mileage as one tank of gasoline. if the chambered heads are a few ccs larger you could make it use as much as 2 1/2 tanks of e85 to one tank of gas worth of mileage. ive been reading around and e85 appears to do well as a cheap race fuel for higher compression engines but low compression engines drink the stuff like premium in a lawn mower. ive been reading on the e85 since i previously posted and its nothing id run in a stock vehicle but modified (my current project) i may consider running if louisiana gets off their ass and makes it available here. better than 7 dollar a gallon methanol, best thing i can get here is bp fuel which is 10% ethanol, and it made a good bit of dif in my trk. i lost some mileage but after running a tank then went back to conventional 100% gas i had more power and the engine freed up prob cuz the ethanol cleaned the chambers. it accelerated a lil faster on the bp as well.

 

[Beef52751]

rurouni20xx considering on a stock n/a flexfuel engine its bad enuff that you use two tanks of the e85 to get the same mileage as one tank of gasoline.

My truck only got a 2mpg difference.

Mill the heads and Tada you can have even more compression
Beef

 

[Earl43P]

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/eb90450.htm

 

[rurouni20xx]

thats where i read the dif and thanks earl for linking to that. the dif in mileage im speaking of (2 tanks to one) was a direct quote from my fiances owners manual in her 2005 chevy 1500, apparently ford has made for the changes as well as other newer vehicles. sorry for the confusion.

 

[stiluv]

thanks for the all the help. so if i wanna run non-flexfuel heads do i have to swap them both?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i would. otherwise you may have cylinder balance issues.

 

[Beef52751]

x2^^^^

 

[stiluv]

thanks for all the help