Which Heads do I go with

[dougfather]

Ok, I want to keep somewhat of a bugdet, so I'm sticking with iron. Here's what I have:

Engine - 350 Chevy (bored .030" over)
Intake - Edelbrock Performer
Cam - Edelbrock Performer specs Duration (278, 288) Duration @.050" (204 214) Cam Lift (.280 .295) Valve Lift (.420 .442)
Trans - 200 4r


So which heads so I use? All have 67cc chambers, will work at least to 0.520" lift.

Summit Perfomance Iron heads? Are these ok to use? 1.6"/2.02" valve, 165cc runner. $585 pair

World S/R Torquer? 1.6"/2.02" valve, 170cc runner. $800 pair

World S/R? 1.5"/1.94" valves 171cc runner. $775 pair

 

[82355supreme]

How about this option. Click or copy & paste the link, Dart Iron Eagles for $625/pair!!

Dart Iron Eagles have outstanding flow numbers.

http://www.aeroheadracing.com/id7.html

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have had good luck with the S/R Torquers, but I would also consider the Patriot aluminum heads. Last time I checked, they were cheaper than the S/R's and have a Vortec style chamber design. Car Craft did a comparison between them and the Vortec's and found they were very similar in their respective power curves. I am not a fan of that cam for a 350, it is simply too small and brings nothing to the table as a larger cam would still idle well provided it is not too large. If it were my engine and I was looking for a good budget cam, I would use the Comp XE 262. I have one and am very happy with it. Good idle and fuel economy coupled with lots of low and mid range torque.

 

[Tony_SS]

I would do a set of GMPP Vortecs.

edit.. n/m, sounds like you have a non-vortec intake manifold.

Also, you might want to consider an Air Gap or RPM manifold.

 

[megaladon6]

what compression and piston style do you want to run? i would go with 10.5-11:1 compression with aluminum heads and 9.5-10.5 with cast iron, this is if you are using a carb.. i'd recommend hypereutectic d-dished pistons due to the better quench and reduced knock. since you already have the intake i'd go with the dart iron eagle or the patriots. i would DEFINATELY junk that cam. if you stay with a 355ci use something like a compcams xe262 cams. depending on the year of the block it might be a roller cam or a flat tappet. . if you can i'd upgrade to a roller cam but that is expensive. if it's originally a flat tappet and you can't convert use an xe series cam, they are very good. they can actually outperform a roller. unfortunately with a flat tappet cam you must use special oil with a high ZDDP content. valvoline's vr-1 oil is the only oil i can find for this. for break in you will also need to use a bottle of break in concentrate.

 

[1980Gbody]

http://stores.ebay.com/whiteperformance1

id go wiht the patriot heads i bought a set for my 383

64cc 195runners 2.02 intake 1.6 exhaust they cost me around around $800

but white performance has some good parts for a budget build

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

http://stores.ebay.com/whiteperformance1

id go wiht the patriot heads i bought a set for my 383

64cc 195runners 2.02 intake 1.6 exhaust they cost me around around $800

but white performance has some good parts for a budget build

I am curious, how do you like the Patriot heads? I have read some good things about them but never seen a set in person. Were they nice quality castings? Any negatives/positives other than the great price?

 

[dougfather]

I have flat top pistons w/ 4 valve reliefs. A 67cc chamber puts me at 9.5:1, which I can still run pump gas. The block I have is from the 70s (cating 3970010).

As for cam, I simply want to match the intake with the cam.

 

[82355supreme]

It sucks you bought the cam & intake already. You really need to match the cam to the heads more so than intake to cam. The cam you have now won't do anything with aftermarket heads. It has such low lift #'s & short duration that it's just as well suited to stock heads as aftermarket.

With good aftermarket heads you need a cam in the .470-.510 lift range (or higher) & 220-230* (or higher) duration to make use of the flow the heads are capable of. If you aren't going to change the cam ever, stick with the stock heads & save the coin you were going to spend on the heads for other items.

This is just my opinion, but $600-800 on heads that won't get used to their full potential is throwing money away. Especially if you want to keep this "budget".

 

[beeterolds]

id be weary of the build quality of the Summit heads.... they look sorta Asian to me