Thread: Advice on Arias Heads

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So here it goes...
I have a 67 chevelle that currently has a 2 bolt 454 +.30, scat cast 10:1 rotating assembly with some Dart Iron Eagle 308's, the tranny is an M21 out of a 67 vette and has a Spooled rear- end with 4.88's. I put most of it together on a budget while going through college. it has been sitting for about 5 years now - there's a little back history...

Now I'm going to be pulling the car out of storage in a year or so and was thinking about putting together a 525/ 540 short block possibly aluminum -thoughts?

But I happened upon the Arias BBC HEMI heads and was very intrigued. I was wondering if anyone had run these before, and wanted their input, also what kind of comp. ratio id need to be looking at to support the possibility of a blower? The car will be a street/strip car, Thanks for any input!

So in short:
-thoughts on aluminum blocks?
-thoughts on C.I.D. to Heads pairing?
-thoughts on Cam and compression ratio with a possibility of adding a blower

Welcome to the forum! I'm not the guy to get into your engine questions, and specifics to defend my opinions but I think you need to decide now if you're building a blower motor or staying naturally aspirated and pick your compression ratio accordingly. Also decide up front what fuel you want to run, and what's readily available in your area. If I were doing my engine today I'd have had them back the static compression down to the 9.0 to 9.5 range instead of 10.3 to be friendlier to lower octane pump gas.

My experience has been when it comes to the exotic race pieces, they're usually best left to folks with unlimited funds and a complete machine shop!!! Unless you're going for Pro Mod horsepower levels, there are many good out of the box aluminum heads that will work just fine in a street strip application.....

First Welcome Aboard! Good to see you here.

Next, I'd agree on what the end goal is to be. You'll need to decide first what your end goal is to be.

One thing I'd say up front tho'., If it's going to be on the street, ditch the spool! That's only for the drag strip!

Thanks guys for the words... I will admit right now im more or less in a brain storming stage... Its been so many years since i"ve even seen my car. Life's crazy. I have some more thinking to do mainly about what kind of budget i want to put into this... I have about a year before i can even go pick my car up though so i have time to think.

Im self taught on engines and did pretty well with the one in the car- i would like to learn more about blowers or those pro charger superchargers before i make a decision. any advice on narrowing down the "end -goal" would be appreciated - thanks!

Oh yea - the spool was in it already just never had a chance to deal with that... Ha!

Those heads where very popular in drag boats during the late 70's in the blown alky and blown & unblown gas classes when I was wrenching an unblown hydro. I don't know if they used them on drag cars as I was never around those and they did not run them on the big block circle track cars around here. I have not seen them on any thing since the boat days. So there must be a reason. They sure looked cool but it really pizzed the guys who had em off when we smoked em with our 540 inch tall deck pinch head motor .

will take many custom parts pistons rocker arms intake to run them getting water in and out of them ? big power run solid heads No water bilet heads . heads have came a long way in the last few years . it.s a hemi head with a blower some say to tune in with big power numbers like past 2000HP they are the only way to go . other then that. there better heads out there like. CFE / .Pro filer . brodix. Dart pro1s heads and the big chief heads if your going all out . not hard to get 900hp with just a dart head on a 540 with one carb . if your looking past numbers like 1000hp and abit past with a blower then them heads may be ok but there are guys doing that std type of head lay out and the big chiefs .i would have to see the flow numbers on them heads and runner size many need some work on intake port runner to work on a smaller engine with a blower or no blower .air speed is key. when all said and done if you will have to put a cost on cool factor ? if thats the case a set of DARTs will easy do the job with less money. then big wide valves covers with holes in the center for spark plugs. i have the 345 pro ones Darts in stock and the 355 cnc heads

thanks for the advice on heads Pat. That's kind of the vibe I was getting is that they are really more of a pro-mod. head - not so much for a street strip car, unless I just wanted something showy. basically just looking for a way to do something unique - the hemi heads were a stretch especially for a car that's a hobby... with all that money I could have a pretty pissed off big block without the hemi heads. It was more curiosity because I just "discovered" them. I cant wait to start this whole process!

I'm happy with dart but definitely want to go aluminum heads next time around - just to cut some weight... thinking about an aluminum block - but then you get back into the cost factor again. we'll see still brain storming. I know the world products merlin aluminum blocks are a little less costly than some of the others out there... around 4k instead of 6.5k...

Originally Posted by 67cherry

thanks for the advice on heads Pat. That's kind of the vibe I was getting is that they are really more of a pro-mod. head - not so much for a street strip car, unless I just wanted something showy. basically just looking for a way to do something unique - the hemi heads were a stretch especially for a car that's a hobby... with all that money I could have a pretty pissed off big block without the hemi heads. It was more curiosity because I just "discovered" them. I cant wait to start this whole process!

I'm happy with dart but definitely want to go aluminum heads next time around - just to cut some weight... thinking about an aluminum block - but then you get back into the cost factor again. we'll see still brain storming. I know the world products merlin aluminum blocks are a little less costly than some of the others out there... around 4k instead of 6.5k...

the dart pro one 345 are aluminum and built all aluminum bbc,one in my gto 460 pounds intake to oil pan 632 cid

Pat, how'd you bolt that 632 up to your Gto - did you fabricate a motor plate? That was something I was concerned about as well with a motor pushing 700-800hp or more - I remember the geometry of the drivetrain being somewhat tight already as far as what i could use, even had to change the oil pan to make things fit right & stock motor mounts after a motor pushing 800+ seems sketchy what did you do to secure it to the frame of your GTO?

Originally Posted by 67cherry

Pat, how'd you bolt that 632 up to your Gto - did you fabricate a motor plate? That was something I was concerned about as well with a motor pushing 700-800hp or more - I remember the geometry of the drivetrain being somewhat tight already as far as what i could use, even had to change the oil pan to make things fit right & stock motor mounts after a motor pushing 800+ seems sketchy what did you do to secure it to the frame of your GTO?

car is far from stock and the list is long but most all work can not be seen less you know what to look for car has a boxed frame boxed rear cross over . has ford 9. 35 spline axle with mounting points and custom bars . trans cross over re worked thats bolt in no more rubber points . front end disc brakes wilwood . with Qa 1 spring set . this car had a bbc in it been a bolt in that car had L88 bbc in it starting in the 70s was my dads car as had many bbc and sbc.i have had this car for over 30 years .l know this car like the back of my hand the 632 engine been the last engine 10to1 pump gas engine the 572cid was in my other gto race car the 632 is two points less the 572 and made 850 on the dyno .headers 2 1/4 header tubes going threw a custom 4inch X cross EX i built and the donovan engine 10.200 deck has a wide pan rail so i reworked the front cross over and re worked the front end some . made the oil pan to fit the car. many more things same with my 50 chevy with a 548 CID with a blower both cars have DOT soft back tires work on the street not drag cars so there is things that they do that let you know when to start to back off... if things are going way wrong. when the GTO is up on the back tires you can stuff your foot to the floor till you run out of road or balls what ever comes first there nothing sketchy about ether car they work