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882 casting heads...

Your opinion on the 882

  • They suck, nothing but smog

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • They're a good budget head.

    Votes: 7 50.0%
  • Great stock!

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Great with oversized valves and ported

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • Total voters
    14
I have used several sets of the 882 heads on different motors that I have built and had no problems. You build the heads acording to how your going to use them. As for the vortecs, we have a stock set of them with 555 lift using stock diameter springs, turning 7000 rpm nightly. We have had no problem with them. The reason being is we used springs retainers that increased the installed hiegth and these have stock guides. We have one set that we left the stock intake size valves in them 1.94 and put in bigger exhaust valves 1.6... with bronz guides they work great.. What works for one person might not work for another, do your home work. Call your cam rep and tell them what your doing, they may have so suggestions for you about springs and retainers. There are hundreds of options.
 
Well more background on the truck I would guess is in order. It's only going to be used in mud, sand, and street. With a 4 speed it will see a lot more of the upper RPMS. Which is the whole reason I was lookin at a cam that big.

I see no problem with stepping down a notch, (other than the sound loss :haha:)

When you say retainers, thats the same thing as a keeper correct?


I looked up the bee-hive springs...wow 200 ponies. :O
 
the only reason to machine down the valve guides are for using double springs, or springs with thick wire that limits lift due to coil bind.

using the beehive springs negates the need for machine work, because they are a single spring, and the ovate wire allows more lift before the spring enters bind, meaning you dont have to machine down the guide for lift reasons. the added bonus is that the smaller retainers weigh less allowing more rpms before they enter float.

in short, beehive springs will handle up to .550 lift, without any machine work, at least according to the sources ive read. i would trust them to .500 personally if i were building an engine.

as for the valve sizing, im very confused as to why they were running smaller valves in a large valve head.......... normally you take a head with 1.94/1.5 factory valves, and hog them out to 2.02/1.60 valves.

There are two reasons to machine the valve guides. The first is because when you install a cam with more lift sometimes the bottom of the retainer will hit the valve guide requiring the guide to be machined down the proper amount for clearance. The second is to machine the OD for proper fit of a positive type seal to be installed.

Also about the spring pad seat, those are machined for two reasons but you have to watch out what you're doing. The first reason is to achieve proper spring installed height, the second is to compensate for coil bind. However, when you machine the spring pocket to eliminate coil bind that also changes the spring installed height so you need to be careful that the installed height is within limits. If you cannot machine the spring seat without disrupting spring installed height then different springs will be required.
 
???

We have one set that we left the stock intake size valves in them 1.94 and put in bigger exhaust valves 1.6....

my vortec's spec sheet that came w/them from gmpp, said my heads have 2.0/1.55(sodium filled exh.)....and they have a pulled rocker stud...got to get screw in studs and a couple of new comp cam mag roller rocker arms, i had catastraphic failure, exploded lifters broke cam , connect rod out oil pan:mad:
 
I also have these heads in my shop, I don't think they're worth anything though. I'm not sure though

14102193...87-up...305/350......1.94"/1.5" valves
 
The thick casting 882 was a decent head and I would run a set if I happened to have a brand new set laying around.
However if the heads need to go to the machine shop for anything it's best to just scrap em and buy new heads.

Classic example.. I had a "decent" set of 487 castings that started out as just a valve grind, install rocker studs, install hardened seats, resurface..
I supplied the valves, springs and studs. Bronze valve guides installed as well.

Between parts & machine work it was about $600.
A few days after I dropped the heads off I started crunching numbers and saw I would be $$ ahead with new heads and called the machine shop to see where they were at. They were ahead of schedule and were almost done.
Oh well, they did do an outstanding job and it was done faster than they said it would be ready.

But for $200 more I could have had a set of World Products heads
http://store.summitracing.com/partd...791967+4294784794+4294784400+115&autoview=sku

The 487's came in at 73 cc chambers & 165 cc intake runners. 1.94 intake.
As I was paying the bill I was thinking that was dumb when every thing else on the engine was brand new except for the block & crank. :doah:
 
In my opion cutting down guides to get clearence for a lift requirement is dumb. Yes you may have to spend a little more on springs and retainers to get the right stuff, but it saves you money in the long run. When you cut down the guide you take away support that the valve has. If you are running stock type rocker arms they are more or less dragged across the valve stem surface as the valve is pushed down. This causes side load on the valve stem. Take away the support and the guide and valve stem wears out faster, so now you need to remove the heads and do more work that could have been prevented to some exstent right from the git-go.....

In our race engines we have tried all the tricks to gain every advantage we can and some cost you more than the gain is worth. Be smart spend your money wisely
 
I do have to agree with powermad. You are going to put alot of money into a stock set of heads to make them perform well. And when you start putting in SS valves,guides,springs/retainers,and studs/guideplates, youare better off buying an aftermarket set.....like World Products,Dart,RHS,GMPP. They will all have better flow and heavier castings PLUS they will be BRAND NEW!
But if you still plan on stockers, try to find a good set of 487's.
-Lance
 
I forgot to add one more thing. It is costly to redo stock heads,( depending on what you are doing), but it is also foolish to buy heads that over run you intended use. I mean to big of intake runners, valve size, lift rateing on springs for cam size, ect.ect...
 
In my opion cutting down guides to get clearence for a lift requirement is dumb. Yes you may have to spend a little more on springs and retainers to get the right stuff, but it saves you money in the long run. When you cut down the guide you take away support that the valve has. If you are running stock type rocker arms they are more or less dragged across the valve stem surface as the valve is pushed down. This causes side load on the valve stem. Take away the support and the guide and valve stem wears out faster, so now you need to remove the heads and do more work that could have been prevented to some exstent right from the git-go.....

In our race engines we have tried all the tricks to gain every advantage we can and some cost you more than the gain is worth. Be smart spend your money wisely

Unfortunately even using the matched springs and retainers for a given cam almost 100% of the time the guides still need to be machined. Yes with less guide you have less support for the valve but we are usually only talking about .100" or less being removed. Also even with a non roller rocker if the geometry is correct there is very little side loading on the valve.
 
before i put the cummins in my truck i had a 383 with 882 heads...i ported and poished them and had z28 springs installed and that was it....they worked well for a stock head until one of them cracked :mad:....luckily i had another one in the garage....when that one cracked as well i said the hell with it and spend 350 bucks on some rebuild vortecs with screw in studs and guideplates....motor definately had more power than before:wink1:....so my summary is this:

1. if you are pretty much set on 882's then you'll be fine (alot of dirt-track racers swear by them)

2. i would sell them and spend the same amount of money on some vortec heads (just make sure they are vortec and not early center-bolts)

3. if you can afford a couple hundred extra bucks i would agree with the rest of the posts here and get a set of new aftermarket heads that you do not have to dick with altogether..... :rolleyes:
 
A lot of upper RPM's really says it all IMO. Drop the stockers, stay away from even the Vortecs. I guarantee there are plenty of 383 builds to be found at car craft, enginemasters, etc., that have parts lists, and show what kind of power they made.

The last thing you want to do on a high RPM engine is choke it, or have parts fail because they can't handle what you put them through.
 
3. if you can afford a couple hundred extra bucks i would agree with the rest of the posts here and get a set of new aftermarket heads that you do not have to dick with altogether..... :rolleyes:
X2
It used to be you had to make your own performance. Now it's better and less $$ to buy it.
That means engines, trannies and sometimes axles.
 
I'm only looking at *maybe* 150 out the door to do the 882s, That includes a valve job and shaving.

For now I'm going to drop down my cam size to work with stock heads, and when the money arises (prolly after highschool) I will spend the ponies on a set of nice WP heads and a bigger cam.
 
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