Thread: Head Selection?

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I am planning on building anouther 350 engine soon and was wondering which set of heads would benifit me the most and if I can put bigger valves in them, they are cast numbers 14022601, 3998993, 14102187, and 332882.
If none of these are good what is a good aftermarket head to use and are reasonably priced, the cam I'm wanting to run is a Magnum 292H from comp cams.

Im about to start building my first 350 and since Im on a shoestring budget, Im leaning towards Dart Iron Eagles, or maybe World Torquer or Sportsman IIs for it. I hear they have good flow-rates even stock,even better with a lil porting, are very durable, and are the best bang for the buck.

Here is a set of flow readings for a lot of heads. Note that the 882 heads are the lowest on the list but they flow pretty well for small volume runners. I am going to try a set of these for a while on a mild-cammed SBC 350 with a professional port smoothing only on the exhaust side keeping the intake runners rough to maintain suspension of the fuel. I am trying for low rpm torque using a 700R4 OD trans with a 3.55 rear and the lower ratio in the 700R4 for acceleration and then low rpm torque in OD running at 2200 rpm. Some folks say 882s are only good for boat anchors, but remember large volume runners are great at high rpm, but maybe not so good at low rpm. Anyway if the 882s with 3 angle 1.95" intakes seem weak I guess my next move would be to the Iron Eagle heads. Aluminum heads are more expensive but do allow higher compression ratios. Probably the best deal overall is the newer Vortec heads but there are several models, some better than others and the only drawback is that you have to buy a newer intake manifold. Maybe I should have done that since the Vortec heads are actually the cheapest option. Anyway here is is a good set of test comparisons:

http://chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/41598/

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

A good street cam for those 76cc heads are the Lunati 30111 hydraulic cam, if you are doing a budget buildup plane the heads and get the block decked to get your compression ratio up a bit and do a 3 angle valve grindon the intakes and exhausts with a sensible manifold and carburetor package it should be fun street motor

Thanks for that link, Don. Very informative. I thought about Vortec heads but hated to hafta buy a new intake too.
76? I was thinkin more like the 64-72cc range. Any idea if thatd be close on a good pump-gas CR with that size chamber? I think the Darts are 64 and 72 (and 49) lol and the Worlds are 67, 72, or 76...something like that.

well a lot of those smog era haeds a re the open chamber 74 to 76 cc heads, and the cam manufacturers are spinning the numbers on duration and valve timing to actually increase the dynamic compresion ratio, read higher cylindre pressures to get more power out of the stock heads. If you want a set of good flowing heads for the street your best bet is a set of vortecs or some world cast iron sr torkers. They have the right combustion chamber shape and the intake runners are the right volume and shape to keep the intake air velocity hih at street revs.