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Author
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Topic: 302 Tunnel Port
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mustangboy
Gearhead Posts: 774
From: Ont, Canada
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 06-09-2002 12:00 PM
  
Saw a set of 302 tunnel port heads and a matching dual quad intake at the swap meet yesterday.Very cool looking,I've never actually seen these other than in pictures.Very impressive looking ports but I guess they didn't start to work well until about 8000 rpm which was too much for the bottom end.Asking price was $3900
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Just Strokin
Gearhead Posts: 754
From: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 06-09-2002 12:15 PM
Would be a nice piece of history to own if you had the money to squander....They were suppost to be a bolt-on over-the-counter option back in 1967-68 but never made it to the general public for the most part.
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-09-2002 12:41 PM
Well, they did make it into production and they did make it into the hands of the general public. They even made it into several cars. Mustangs and Cougars all race teams. Bud Moore had the greatest success wtih them.
The heads were only part of the package as there was an entire engine. The over the counter deal was a single 4v. All factory built and installed engines were dual 4v. The 302 TP as the Windsor group's last harrah. The Boss 302 was only a few months away and before the 302 TP's valve train problems had a chance to be solved, the program was dumped in favor of the Boss 302.
FoMoCo scrapped all of the complete enigines and they were purchased by Gratiot Automotive in Detroit. They were one of the first cataloge giants in the high performance industry and always had an inside track on OEM performance parts. The offered the 302TP's for sale complete, in the crate carbs to pan, with clutch and bell housing for $895 FOB Detroit. This was circa 1971. I was lucky if I could scrape together $8.95 back then.  ------------------
Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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R&J MOTORSPORTS
Journeyman Posts: 92
From: Tampa,Fl.
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-09-2002 09:09 PM
Were these the Gurney/Westlake or Gurney/Eagle heads and combo? I have never seen a set but always wondered. Would love to see them. Thanx, Joe------------------
Joe Strunk
NHRA SS/MA 2890
1964 SS/MA Comet
1965 PRO-Street Fairlane
1966 Fairlane Conv.
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bifs66
Gearhead Posts: 250
From: Maryland
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 06-09-2002 09:47 PM
The Gurney/Westlake heads were much different than the 302 tunnel port heads. I think that Gurney had more success with his heads in the various applications in which they were used. Last year at Carlisle, I saw a set of tunnel port heads for sale; and at this year's Ford Carlisle, there were a set of Gurney/Westlake heads avaliable. So these things surface every once in a while, but they are expensive.------------------
Bernie Frank
66 Fastback restomod project
85 GT (preserved)
82 GT (original)
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-10-2002 11:08 AM
The Gurney/Weslake heads are completly different and they DID work very well. They were an independant undertaking from FoMoCo. They were sold in kit form with Webers or one Holley 4v. The kits are, and always will be available through Moon. They require their own unique intake and custom exhaust.
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Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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R&J MOTORSPORTS
Journeyman Posts: 92
From: Tampa,Fl.
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-10-2002 11:15 AM
Thanx,Alex. I was just curious and had always wondered. By the way I got beat by your old motor in Reynolds, I new I should have bought it as a spare. I lost to Grace Howell by .0016. Joe------------------
Joe Strunk
NHRA SS/MA 2890
1964 SS/MA Comet
1965 PRO-Street Fairlane
1966 Fairlane Conv.
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Daniel Jones
Gearhead Posts: 813
From: St. Louis, MO
Registered: Aug 99
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posted 06-10-2002 04:52 PM
>So these things surface every once in a while, but they are expensive.They were always expensive. I have a copy of a friend's 1983 invoice
from Dan Gurney's All American Racers. The kit was $2618.21. That
was quite a hefty price tag in the early '80's. The Alan Root heads
(became the Motorsport J-302's) were also quite expensive when first
introduced. It wasn't until the TFS and GT-40 heads came out that
competition drove the prices down. >The Gurney/Weslake heads are completly different and they DID work very well. Yes. There were also several versions available. The race version was
slightly different from the race version and Gurney was working on a
3 valve per cylinder version. I've seen pictures of a kit developed for
the Mangusta as well. >They were an independant undertaking from FoMoCo. They were sold in kit
>form with Webers or one Holley 4v. Yes. My friend runs the single 4V intake but the kit came with adapters
to run injection or Webers. The heads are designed to directly accept
IR Webers or mechanical injection, requiring only a simple adapter. I've heard that Ford intended to issue the Gurney-Weslakes heads a Ford
part number and put them in their catalog but internal politics forced
the tunnel ports instead. Ford had some interesting bits back then
including a 4 bolt main Windsor block, 377 stroker crank, G-W heads,
independent runner induction. It's a shame they were all racing bits.
If they had mass produced them, it would have been a very different
performance scene. >The kits are, and always will be available through Moon. They require
>their own unique intake and custom exhaust. Are you referring to the Gurney-Weslake or the tunnel ports? Last I
heard, Gurney still had a couple complete Gurney-Westlake kits left.
He also had a number of incomplete sets but they are missing parts
required to be useable. Dan Jones
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-10-2002 05:03 PM
Moon Dan. Dean Moon and Gurney were parteners in several ventures. Dean's company Moon Equipment, was the primary distributor for the GW packages. The currant owners of Moon still have inventory of the heads and intakes, although they are priced way out of sight now. Over $5k for a kit is what I hear. ------------------
Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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Daniel Jones
Gearhead Posts: 813
From: St. Louis, MO
Registered: Aug 99
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posted 06-10-2002 06:57 PM
Interesting, I didn't know about Dean Moon's involvement. There have been some individuals involved with GT40 replicas (the John Wyer team GT40's used the Weslake heads, including the '68 and '69 LeMans winners) who have contacted Gurney about buying out his existing stock of Gurney-Weslake heads and possibly reproducing some parts to complete the rest of the kits. Apparently the price was not right, though and as far as I know, nothing happened with it. Dan Jones
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Dusty Kiser
Gearhead Posts: 168
From: Bethel,Oh USA
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 06-12-2002 01:20 AM
The 302 TP heads are very trick aren't they? The only cars equiped with the heads that made news were the factory backed TA Mustangs and Cougars and performed quite well, winning nearly every race they finished. However, they didn't finish much. Sustained 9000RPM was too much for the state of developement of the engines at the time. The Gurney Weslake heads worked quite well in both the two valve and three valve versions. Gurney made a shambles of the Formula 2000 series with his car utillizing the three valve heads, I believe with 8 port injection. Some years later Hank the Crank assembled a 340 inch Boss 302 block with Weslake 2 valve heads for a Cobre Tire sponsored super modified running the west coast pavement series and wreaked havock on the 388 to 410 Chevs that formerly dominated the series. My recollection was the intakes on the Gurney heads was verticle and didn't make an easy task of manifolding for single 4bbl. They really liked the IR intake setup. The G-W v12 Formula 1 engine was a thoroughbred race engine that was awesome in it's day too.
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-12-2002 09:07 AM
Hank the Crank? Allen Bethloff? 340 inch Boss 302 blocked windsor?  Hmmmm. sounds awfully familiar? Wuuld you believe a 363 inch version that used to reside in a certain black and white 65 Mustang????  ------------------
Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-12-2002 09:23 AM
PS, it was the 312 rocker arms and shafts that would not hold up on the 302TP's Dusty. In their haste, FoMoCo adapted existing in house parts that were never intended to see high RPM duty rather than spending a few bucks on the appropriate hardware. Had FoMoCo contacted Isky, Norris, or Harland Sharp for some rockers, the 302 TP saga may have had a better ending. 
For those who don't know, FoMoCo race teams even had to install archaic oil feed tubes from the galley to the valve cover the lube the inferior 312 shafts and rockers.  ------------------
Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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Daniel Jones
Gearhead Posts: 813
From: St. Louis, MO
Registered: Aug 99
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posted 06-12-2002 10:52 AM
>Gurney made a shambles of the Formula 2000 series with his car utillizing
>the three valve heads, I believe with 8 port injection.With split intake port and dual intake valves actuated by a forked rocker.
Gurney claimed a 100 CFM increase in intake flow and 80 CFM over earlier
2 valve heads. >Some years later Hank the Crank assembled a 340 inch Boss 302 block with
>Weslake 2 valve heads
Also, Lothar Motschenbacher (I think) campaigned a 377 cube, Weslake headed,
injected, aluminum 4 bolt main Windsor block engine. >My recollection was the intakes on the Gurney heads was verticle and
>didn't make an easy task of manifolding for single 4bbl. They really
>liked the IR intake setup. Yes, the intake ports were vertical with a horizontal mounting surface
which made it easy for IR induction. The 4 barrel intake was a dual plane
design. It reminds me of a nailhead Buick intake manifold with ports with
a horizontal mounting surface. You can see pictures of the intake at: http://www.ntahc.org/modifiedhealeys/Photos/34Delzer/Delzer1.htm More G-W pictures are at: http://members.tripod.com/lyc_42/fordv8/gurney/gurney.htm Dan Jones
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bifs66
Gearhead Posts: 250
From: Maryland
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 06-12-2002 08:22 PM
Alex...
Maybe Ford should have used the rockers and shafts from the 1963 Indy engine in the TP 302. All this discussion of the Gurney Westlake heads had me thinking that I remember Gurney making similar heads for the small block Mopar engine during his association with Chrysler after his days with Ford.------------------
Bernie Frank
66 Fastback restomod project
85 GT (preserved)
82 GT (original)
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Moneymaker
Administrator Posts: 25883
From: Lyons, IL, USA
Registered: May 99
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posted 06-13-2002 12:21 PM
Different port layout. Remember that the 302TP was bacially a 289 head with HUGE ports put where they should be. Then the engineers ran tubes through the middle of them for the pushrods. Was it coincidence that the 312 rockers and shafts had the correct spacing?????  KNowing Ford and the pressures that were on to win back then, the engineers raided the existing parts bins and used anything on hand as there was SOOOO much stuff being outsourced already for the other programs that the costs were astronomical. ------------------
Alex Denysenko
Co-Administrator and Moderator/ non 65-66 Mustang owner sensitivity co-ordinator NHRA/IHRA/SRA member
NHRA and IHRA SS/LA National Record Holder '00, '01, & '02
Fleet of FoMoCo products including 88 ASC McLaren Mustang #28
Part time secret agent license #0089
Professional Manwhore
The Barry of BarrysGrrl
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Thud
Gearhead Posts: 1258
From: Cumming,Ga.,USofA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-13-2002 01:11 PM
Weren't the Weslake/Mopar heads OHC?------------------
Laugh at your problems, everybody else does... Dwayne M&M Member #18
'94 Lightning #942 of 4007
'70 Mach1
2 '69 Cyclone Spoiler II's
'65 Galaxie 500 + parts car
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