Thread: Cylinder heads-a-gogo

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I'm wondering about cylinder heads, I'm looking to keep Cast Iron heads, but I know aluminum is the new rage. I was wondering, until i can afford aluminum heads, should i look for a certain casting #? I hear 882s are the best, but I dunno, i'm kinda new to the v8 World. I do plan on building a motor up, but if i can get a decent set for $100 or so,(junkyard) that flow better than my stock heads (83 305c.i.) and the valves aren't too big, etc, i'd like to run them with a new intake, just for a little more umph. I need it after having to swap the Powerglide back in because of the ruined TH350. ick!

Thanks guys

Dallas

Try to find you some vortec heads and then look a professional products for a intake with the vortec bolt pattern, they make a line of intakes that perform as good or better than edelbrock for half the price.

What is the propper way to drill the steam holes in 350 heads

882's are far from the best, they are merely the most common.

Hi,
just did what your thinking of doing, I had 882's on my 327 the car ran fine nothing fantastic, I just put a set of steel pro toplines on with 64cc chambers compared to the 882 which I think were 76 either way there a big bowl, and I put a cam and roller rockers, and wow what a difference from not bad to holly shit sit down and grab onto something, my recommendation go aftermarket heads.
Steve

Locate your steamhole by laying a 400 gasket on the head surface.I did mine by drilling in about a quarter inch or so,and then swapped to an eighth inch bit anddrilled on an angle away from the valve pocket toward theoutside of the head. Hank

Going from a 305 head to an 882 is going to drop your compresssion into the basement. The 882s have about a 16cc bigger chamber.

How did we get to steam holes?

Got 305 heads with1.94, 1..60 valves on a 383 stroker motor, awesome compression but can't run pump gas, good thing its a bracket car

Originally posted by greenova
Got 305 heads with1.94, 1..60 valves on a 383 stroker motor, awesome compression but can't run pump gas, good thing its a bracket car

Yep, figuring 0.030" over, 60 cc heads, 9 cc gasket, 5 cc's of valve relief and zero deck, you'd be at 11.6:1

I'd be interested in knowing where the motor noses over and what cam you're using.

I'm using a comp cam, part # 12-679-5, 540 intake ,558 exhaust solid lift cam, 1.7 roller rockers, 4000 stall converter, 350 tranny with a manual valve body, 12 bolt 4:10 gears, its all new so i haven't had it at the track yet to see the performance. Can let you know when i do

Now where do the steam holes come in? Why a 4000 converter? I think we're getting off the subject here.
What car is the engine sitting in, Dallas? Don't get confused if you're new to V8s, a 350 and a 305 both don't need steam holes. Only the 400 does. So forget them again. And also forget the 882 heads. They flow well but they have junk chambers and no compression. Not the way to go if you want a well performing engine. And go iron, not Aluminum. Alum heads are lighter, but they pull combustion heat out of your cylinder and drop the pressure which you need to turn the crank. Alum is something for racers who use very high compression and don't want detonation (OK, who does want detonation? ). Iron is the way to go and cheaper. If you get some heads at the junk yard, compare these chambers: the ones one the left are the 882s you're asking about. See how they've got lots of tight corners in them? That's where the flame front can't get to fast, so the combustion will be slower and not so complete as in the chambers on the right. Here everything is nicely rounded and the flame can get everywhere very well. This gives you a much better burning process and more power, add to that the fact that the heads on the right are 64cc and on the left they're 76cc. That drops your compression by over one point. The ones on the right are 041s, very good heads, but hard to find. But tell us more about you're engine, the intended use (daily driver/street/strip) and vehicle weight and we can tell you more about the heads you need. Hope I could help,
Mad

Thanks for all that info. The engine is a stock 1983 305 V8 from an 83 caprice classic estate wagon. Had powersteering, a/c, and air pump. I pulled them all off. Now the 1 belt on it is driving the fan/water pump (of course) and the alternator. I pulled off all the emissions and blocked off all the vacuum ports (capped or hooked to carb) and instead of the 83 computer controlled 4bbl rochester, i put on a late 70s bigblock 700+cfm ($15 works great, can't beat it!) 4bbl rochester qjet. The car is (right now) my daily driver, but gas mileage isn't really a HUGE concern, i went 100+ miles on only 6 gallons, and then drove back on a full tank and have been driving around town for about a week now without needing more gas yet, doing burnouts, and a few races here and there, so i'm getting on it and still maintaining great gas mileage. My next step is to install a new intake manifold (edelbrock Performer w/ egr provision but i'll use the block off plate) Makes for better resale later on heh.

The ONLY mods to the engine are
1. Higher flowing rochester qjet
2. Open element Edelbrock air cleaner
3. Dynomax Blackjack long tube headers
4. Removal of all belt driven accessories cept the alt.
5. radiator from a 90' chevy celebrity. lol.

I put a rebuilt 70nova 350 non-hei (points style) distributor back on it with an accel super stock coil.

My car is on car domain. you can see it, vote on stuff, leave notes, i will have new pics up soon, just got my windshield replaced today! APG, has antenna for AM in window, tint strip up top, looks great!

The car will be used as a weekend cruiser/street strip car.

Dallas
"Psycho D"

Oh, and if you guys are wondering. My plan for the car is to get 327 badges and put a blown 5.3L (considering a gen 3 v8) in it. So i can use the 327 badges and have something other than a 350 or 383. just way to popular.

Dallas