Ford Repair: 67 Stang with 289, edelbrock performer, mustang 289


Question
I recently swapped heads on my 289.  The heads that are now on it are a set of '82 heads from an f-150.  My question, or questions, is when I fired the motor we realized two things: the intake seal along the top in the back of the motor blew out and we can't get one of the emission ports of the heads to fully seal.  The car will now shift from first to second easily but will not go to third when driving, it seems like I don't have the power I did before (the valves in these heads are bigger and I added a set of roller rockers to the mix), and it has a hard time idling unless its above about 1200 RPM.  Could the blown intake gasket or the emission port cause this to happen?

P.S.
1967 Ford Mustang
289 Vin C
Edelbrock Performer 289 Intake
'82 302 Heads
Comp Cam 218 Intake Duration at .050 224 Exhaust at .050. .493 Lift Intake .500 Exhaust
No Power Accessories
C-4 Automatic Tranny
Edelbrock 600 CFM Carb

Answer
Mr. Hainline,

Yes, a blown gasket will definitely cause your engine not to idle. I would like to say that those heads are not a good combination with the engine because the valves are much bigger. If you want to use the bigger heads with the valves you need to match up the rest of the engine components.

You will not have the power you had before because the valves on your heads are too big and do not match so it is causing you to loose power.

As far as the shifting, it could be one of the following: a bad band in the tranny, a bad forward clutch or a plugged or bad valve body.

Hope that this helps and if you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Good luck.


Ken