Originally posted by Draco
I just ran across a D1ve? 429 but the castings on the heads say d3ve XXXXXXX how much better are the dove heades than the d3ve heads... I'snt the dove head a 72cc and the d3ve a 91cc or something along that line? My valves how ever are the big ones the exhaust is a 1.74 or something like that. Would I be better off finding a set of dove heads or should I mill this set down and port these...I'm also in the market for a stroker crank and a dual plane intake if anyone has something avail. PLEASE HELP!
D3VE heads are typically 96-97 cc's. D0VE heads are typicaly 76 cc's. Both came from the factory with 2.08 intake and 1.65 exhaust valves.

The factory issue 429's with the D3VE heads have a very dismal compression ratio. One way to improve this is to swap out the heads for some earlier units, such as C8VE's, C9VE's or D0VE's. Another way to get almost the same compression increase is by adding flat top pistons. It really depends what your intentions are with the motor. Also, D3VE heads utilize a different valve train than the D0VE heads, valve train swap is also required.

A D3VE head cannot be milled down so much as to reduce its combustion chamber volume to that of the early-style (D0VE, etc.) heads; it is a different casting.

Contrary to recent beliefs, a D3VE head can be made to work as a good performance street head, but in a short stroke 429 compression ratio suffers unless you run a huge, heavy domed piston.

If you want to go with a stroker, a good person to get stroker rotating assemblies is from Bryan Adams at scatstroker@hotmail.com Bryan is a reputable dealer and not a fly-by-night ebay seller.

If you want ported D0VE or D3VE castings, I have them for sale in any condtion, from bare and uported to fully prepped with oversize valves, etc.

Paul