Best Aluminum Heads for Street Small Block Chevy?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I am thinking about doing some more mods to my Cutlass in the future, and have wanted Aluminum Heads for some time now. It runs a Comp XE262, cast flat tops, a Quadrajet, small tube headers and an HEI. All of this is on a 1977 355 with a cast crank, stock rods and a Z-28 oil pump. I currently have stock World S/R Torquers with 2.02/1.60 valves, but would like to both make more power and reduce the weight over the front end for better handling. So, that being said, what heads would work best with this combo? I was thinking of using something with around a 180cc intake port and a modern high swirl combustion chamber. It's not a race engine and I am not changing the cam. I am just looking to optimize what is there for both more power and low end torque (if possible) with better fuel economy being considered a plus. I would not mind increasing the compression to no more than 10.5:1 to take advantage of the increased detonation resistance that some newer chamber designs seem to offer.

Another question: How much weight reduction will I get with the heads? What is an aluminum water pump worth? High torque starter? Aluminum hood? Aluminum bumper support? Aluminum core support? Shorty headers VS Cast Iron manifolds?

BTW, the car is fully optioned, has a large stereo, and currently has a smooth, stock-like idle quality, 3.23 gears and a TH200 4R trans. All of which I like and want to keep.

 

[MonteMan1987]

I have a 355 in my monte with a comp cam 280h magnum cam, rpm intake and 650 barry grant carb. for heads i have the edelbrock Aluminum performer RPM heads, im making over 300 hp to wheels with that set up and with only 9.5:1 compression, they arent super expensive either i think somewhere around 600 a head.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was thinking about those as I really like Edelbrock's products. They seem to be of high quality, have good instructions, and every part you will need to complete installation. I don't know, however, if they will be the best for my case in which I want a more modern chamber design. I haven't looked at a set yet either, so I literally don't know.

 

[beermonkey9417]

if ya can get it, get a subscription to chevy high performance mag. its $18 for a year and it has a lot of good pointers about that subject. also how-to's and updates on new products that thet test themselves. take a look!

 

[80' bu]

Check out AFR for heads, you can tailor them to what you need with alot of different options. The 180cc small port heads would be good for a torquey 350, they are good up to about 5500rpm. More expensive than edelbrock but should outperform them.

 

[Silent viewer]

i am not saying alumunim is bad by any means but i have yet to see a major advantage to aluminum heads.... why not a stock vortec head? they are under 500 a set and a very good upgrade or bart iron eagles or similar?? most of us dont have money for 1200+ dollar heads but we want that power and maybe not terribly worried about weight...... like i said, nothing bad about aluminum, just want to mention other options for decent power for the money

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Weight is my number one reason for switching the heads, and the aluminum heads reduce the weight by around 50 lbs. The factory weight distribution on a G body is simply awful, 60/40 for a V8 car. I want to remove weight off the nose without loosing the A/C, relocating the battery, etc. I figure that if I do everything I want to, I can switch it to 57/43--still not good, but better than stock. This is a handling car and not a drag car. Weight distribution is crucial to improving handling. I want to use aftermarket heads because if I am going to spend the money, I'd like more power at the same time. Besides, the Vortec's are not that much better than the 171cc S/R Torquers I currently have with the 2.02/1.60 valves.

 

[megaladon6]

edelbrock makes the e-tec aluminum heads, and gm has the fast burn heads. both reqire the vortec style intake i believe.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The only thing with the Vortec style intake is it will not allow me to run an EGR valve should I ever want to. It also does not look stock because of the bolt angle ( straight down like a Ford Windsor). If I can find an aluminum head with a Vortec style chamber and an old school intake manifold bolt pattern, that'd be the way to go. The heads have to have all of the factory provisions on them because I like my sleeper look small block and will paint the heads GM black like the rest of the engine ( I de-bling all of the speed parts on this car by sanding the chrome and painting it)

 

[Silent viewer]

so it is mainly a weight saver......