Mark,
Do you know that Ford Australia built a cross flow head around 1980 for ford falcons.I have a 1980, 250ci crossflow engine in a small vintage runnabout that I brought from Australia to play with.
Heads (iron or Aliminum),manifolds etc are available still and will fit a 144ci engine.
http://www.classicinlines.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ACH%2D250%2DBRH
With the OZ dollar at 65 cents US,it may be a help.
If you google OZ259-2V heads, you will get a lot of info.
Ken