Milling heads 5.0L cobra heads...

[Quick88Tbird]

I've recently acquired a set of iron GT-40's(not the P heads) and I'm looking to get them clean, pressure tested, and milled...I would like to bump compression...my longblock is all stock HO right now, but I will be buying a small comp cam that's SD friendly(somewhat) and using a ported explorer intake...I'd like to get closer to 10:1 compression...but can the heads be milled enough to safely accomplish that?

thanks,
Don

[DynoJoe]

you can take 40-50 thous off the heads to bump the compression, it will make a nice diff, it will also take about 530 lift without having to cut the pistons. This combo worked well for me with a stock cam and 1.72 roller rockers.With an explorer intake the car made 285 whp and 325 ft lbs of torque. I did have neck down swirl polished valves and double springs too though so your results may vary.

[Ourobos]

If you cut them MUCH (more than .025 normally), you may need to get the intake angle milled to match up the ports..