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Recommendations on Cylinder Heads

I built a set from a 95 gmc van. Comp has retainers that let you use stock LS2/3 beehive springs. Gave me almost .540 clearance. I ran a summit 218/224 flat hyd cam. I scored a proflo 2 with vortec pattern. All of this bolted to a cl 70's Vette short lock of unknown origin. Holy cats. It runs like a scalded dog. I'm in the process of swapping my tpi k5 to vortec with a small comp 260 cam and Edelbrock tpi vortec base. Vortecs were made for low end grunt on trucks. ymmv
 
I have World Products Torquer heads on my 400. 2.02 1.60's 76cc. I got mine for 800 shipped but that was 4 years ago. I also have Comp Cams roller rockers and a Comp xtreme 4x4 cam CL12-231-2. RPM range is 600 to 4500. Stock pistons that have been line bored, reconditioned crank, Jegs intake, Qjet and Pertronix ignition. And yes, this motor has an absolute stupid amount of torque.
Joel
norcal
 
World S/R Torquer is great value for your application. If you are leaving everything else the same, and want low end you should stay with the small valves
 
YOUNGBLOOD13 said:
World S/R Torquer is great value for your application. If you are leaving everything else the same, and want low end you should stay with the small valves
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Good point, I obviously forgot about the valve size.
I put World Products heads on my 400, but we had to go through the valves and seats, several that we initially tested leaked, so we just went through them. Have you experienced this with them? Or heard of this problem?
My machine shop said that they were nice cores, in his opinion.
 
6872xtc said:
Good point, I obviously forgot about the valve size.
I put World Products heads on my 400, but we had to go through the valves and seats, several that we initially tested leaked, so we just went through them. Have you experienced this with them? Or heard of this problem?
My machine shop said that they were nice cores, in his opinion.
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Have not had any issues with those. Some of the other "good" heads have not been so good. For a basic head only swap like op is doing, I wouldnt hesitate
 
shady said:
:thinking: For around $800 you could get a good running 454 with peanut ports and have low end torque for days.....

:waytogo:
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I still have to deal with smog so small block is what I have to work with. With the WP 2.02 heads I still passed smog. Not too many 454's for sale around here that still run and only for 800$.
Joel
Norcal
 
Has anyone ever tried those Summit Racing iron heads that appear to have been made by Dart? 72cc combustion chamber, 165cc intake runners, 2.02" intake valves, 1.6" exhaust valve. Seems like perfect specs for a mild-build 350, and at $350 a head they're affordable.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-152123
 
I think those heads are covered in
"not a bronco" build thread.
not mine but I've been looking at those as well
 
Heres my 2 cents.
Buy the biggest and best head you can afford.
I have never heard anyone ever, in the history of man say, "that engine is just to powerful "
If you need low end torque you should already be in 4wd low anyway. Get a name brand, and don't waste you time with factory vortecs, by the time you make them worth a shit you might as well buy a quality aftermarket one. Its basically cost prohibitive.
Also Don't get wrapped up in big names or prices. Heads like an AFR isn't substantially better then their lower priced counterpart. At least not for the price tax of the name.
You can find quality in the Middle of the pack.
 
beags86 said:
Heres my 2 cents.
Buy the biggest and best head you can afford.
I have never heard anyone ever, in the history of man say, "that engine is just to powerful "
If you need low end torque you should already be in 4wd low anyway.
Heads like an AFR isn't substantially better then their lower priced counterpart. At least not for the price tax of the name.
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No offense, but if he isn't planning on changing the cam, this is not a good idea.
The heads only flow as much as the cam draws into the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. Having the same cam pulling the same volume of air through a bigger port moves slower.
It is absolutely important to match up the heads to the cam and carburetor. These aren't race cars, they're big and heavy and need torque. How much time do you spend in 4 low?
AFR heads are absolute BEASTS, btw. I agree that in this case AFRs aren't necessary. (I think the summit brand aluminum heads are made by trick flow - good stuff btw)

If I was going to the trouble of swapping the heads I'd save my pennies and swap over to a retro hyd roller cam at the same time. Even with similar duration and lift over a FT cam, the area under the curve is far greater than with a FT and it makes more power everywhere. Your smiles per gallon will improve greatly.

Without knowing the rest of the engine specs, it is tough making a suggestion. Without swapping cams the head swap change won't net a big gain, but it enables you to put in a better cam in the future without having the factory castings being a choke point.
 
Clark75K5 said:
No offense, but if he isn't planning on changing the cam, this is not a good idea.
The heads only flow as much as the cam draws into the combustion chamber and out the exhaust. Having the same cam pulling the same volume of air through a bigger port moves slower.
It is absolutely important to match up the heads to the cam and carburetor. These aren't race cars, they're big and heavy and need torque. How much time do you spend in 4 low?
AFR heads are absolute BEASTS, btw. I agree that in this case AFRs aren't necessary. (I think the summit brand aluminum heads are made by trick flow - good stuff btw)

If I was going to the trouble of swapping the heads I'd save my pennies and swap over to a retro hyd roller cam at the same time. Even with similar duration and lift over a FT cam, the area under the curve is far greater than with a FT and it makes more power everywhere. Your smiles per gallon will improve greatly.

Without knowing the rest of the engine specs, it is tough making a suggestion. Without swapping cams the head swap change won't net a big gain, but it enables you to put in a better cam in the future without having the factory castings being a choke point.
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no offense taken.
I guess I got caught up in a rant a bit. Let me clarify.
1. I said buy the biggest and best you can.
Not " buy the biggest head available "
Their is a drastic different. With a thousand dollars to spend you won't touch the biggest set of heads available for a sbc.
2. There is absolutely no point in spending money in heads unless you have or buy a cam to match.
3. I actually spend alot of time in 4low. ;)
4. There was a time AFR might have been the absolute best. That isn't true anymore. Most, if not all other companies have caught them. Not saying they are not good. But just worth buying them for the name.


Agree on the roller cam, but you slightly missed the main advantage of a roller. Thats the quicker ramp rates of a roller. No point in spending roughly a grand for the conversion if you don't take advantage of the technology available.
 
@beags86 My info on AFRs is about 10-15 years old, so it is admittedly a bit dated. I have not toiled on a SBC since I put a set of AFRs on a 383 and did a roller cam swap at the same time. That was a huge difference. In a 70 chevelle with 3:31 gears i went a best of 8 seconds flat in the 1/8 mile with a terrible 60' time. But, I digress.

Congrats on all the 4 low time! I have zero. Bought my blazer in February 2020 and it turned out to be more of a project than I had planned. (i'm sure this has never happened to anyone ever.) Down to just trying to figure out why I have no turn signals, considering they have worked fine up until last week.
 
Clark75K5 said:
@beags86 My info on AFRs is about 10-15 years old, so it is admittedly a bit dated. I have not toiled on a SBC since I put a set of AFRs on a 383 and did a roller cam swap at the same time. That was a huge difference. In a 70 chevelle with 3:31 gears i went a best of 8 seconds flat in the 1/8 mile with a terrible 60' time. But, I digress.

Congrats on all the 4 low time! I have zero. Bought my blazer in February 2020 and it turned out to be more of a project than I had planned. (i'm sure this has never happened to anyone ever.) Down to just trying to figure out why I have no turn signals, considering they have worked fine up until last week.
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Still got your chevelle? If you dig around hard enough you will find my chevelle thread. I put it together last year.
 
beags86 said:
Still got your chevelle? If you dig around hard enough you will find my chevelle thread. I put it together last year.
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No, unfortunately I ended up trading it for a truck, which I ended up not liking and sold. Its the only ride I've ever missed. It was reliable enough to take on long trips.

Congrats on your quick build. Maybe I'll see if I can find it.
 
Clark75K5 said:
No, unfortunately I ended up trading it for a truck, which I ended up not liking and sold. Its the only ride I've ever missed. It was reliable enough to take on long trips.

Congrats on your quick build. Maybe I'll see if I can find it.
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Lol. It was just the suspension. Nothing fancy. Still a long ways to go to get the car where it needs to be.
 
Clark75K5 said:
No, unfortunately I ended up trading it for a truck, which I ended up not liking and sold. Its the only ride I've ever missed. It was reliable enough to take on long trips.

Congrats on your quick build. Maybe I'll see if I can find it.
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Also. Chevelle pictures. We need them.
 
Just checked those out. Super cool solution. They built the best of both styles. I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing on the tpi head swap for my 74 K5. I just scored a tpi vortec base. Might not need it now. Thanks for the link.
 
At $400 a bare head, I’d keep looking
GM sells several heads that are dual pattern intake
 
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