Big cube SBC, need head advice...

Hi all. I am just finishing off the bottom end of my 427 cube SBC. Its got Lunati forged guts, good bearings, and 8.5:1 compression. I plan to top it off with a holley commander fuel injection system and finally use a centrifugal supercharger to add 10-15 lbs of boost to it.

Anyway, I kinda need some help picking the heads. I don't have a ton of experience with forced indution applications, so any advice would be appreciated. Here are my goals with the car:

Its a 1992 vette
cast iron heads
I want to be able to drive it just about any distance (road trip)
the AC will work
track times are important, but not the most important thing
I don't want to have to rev past 6500 to see the power

Dart makes a couple of different casting that I was considering. I would think something that flowed in the 300 range at .600 lift would pretty much accomplish my goals. Flowing 300 CFM on a 427 cube motor, should produce peak power at a decently low RPM. I may not be seeing the full potential of the combo, but that is OK.

What do you guys think?

And is there another board that has a good classic tech section? I would appreciate any links to a forum about the conventional SBC/BBC.

well i want to run gm fast burn heads or edlebrock e tec heads but thats me

Neat - you've got a pretty serious combo there. Is that an LT1-based 427, or a conventional small block Chevy?

As for heads, I'd say with those cubes one of the best flowing heads would be the AFR 227 CNC heads. Your combo is going to be making a LOT of power, and these heads should be about perfect for what you are doing. More info is on AFR's website:

Air Flow Research. (http://www.airflowresearch.com/)

One of the best forums on the web for classic/conventional small block and big block discussions is the 2nd Generation Camaro Owners Board:

2nd Gen Owners Forums (http://www.nastyz28.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro)

They have a great section there called "High Performance Modifications", where you can discuss your performance questions at length.

:cool:

Its a conventional SBC.

All those heads are aluminum aren't they? I have a personal issue with aluminum heads, and will never use them again. That leaves with me cast iron.

Thanks for the props on the combo. Target is 600 RWHP when its all done. In a car that my wife can drive with AC, lol. Hopefully I'll get there. Money is kinda running tight, but it seems like it always is. I hope ot have it done by the end of this coming summer.

Anyone got a reccomendation besides a holley commander to manage the fuel?

I'm running Pro-Topline 235cc heads on my all forged 434. They recieved a little bit of port work and flowed ~310. The plan is to be twin turbo in about 12 months.

Neat - with what you are doing, I'd suggest you go for the Gen 7 Accel DFI for your air/fuel management. That's a pretty serious combination and the Gen 7 will handle it easily. The bonus is its a lot cheaper than the FAST system and with extra features to boot.

I would imagine that a set of large port Dart Iron Eagles would be fine. I guess World heads would be fairly similar. Why don't you want to use aluminum heads?

Thanks for the advice on the gen VII.

Check out the 2nd gen board to see why I don't want alum. heads.

I was going to suggest what Dirt said- aluminum AFRs.

But since Aluminum is not what you want I can personally vouch for Dart Iron Eagles. Out of the box they flat blow away any modestly reworked stock casting. Porting would probably really wake them up. They come in a dizzying array of intake port and combustion chamber sizes.

The Iron Lightnings would probably be about equivalent, although I have not used them.

Don't be afraid to go "BIG" with the intakes. You're flowing big block amounts of air through them. A big cube small block will gobble up intake ports that would drown a little 350 and come back begging for more.

Have you concidered a world products motown 220's. very cheap! up here in canada they are going for like $1200 complete for the set. I imagine it would be around 8 or 9 hundred US

Originally posted by XcYZ
I'm running Pro-Topline 235cc heads on my all forged 434. They recieved a little bit of port work and flowed ~310. The plan is to be twin turbo in about 12 months.

By the way Scott, I love the car man. Whenever I want to present an example of what my dream build up will be I use your car...although I'd change a few things...;)

Twin Turbo?!?!:bow:

Thanks Fickle. There are a lot of things changing this winter. The 12 bolt posi rear is now gone, as are the wheels and tires.

The plan is to go to TT and EFI next winter. Check out the latest PHR to see a great write up about Tom Nelson's entry to Engine Masters, he's the guy who built my motor. And next month's PHR will also have an in depth write up on the TT SBC he built for Mark Stielow.

Originally posted by Dirt Reynolds
Neat - with what you are doing, I'd suggest you go for the Gen 7 Accel DFI for your air/fuel management. That's a pretty serious combination and the Gen 7 will handle it easily. The bonus is its a lot cheaper than the FAST system and with extra features to boot.

I'd recommend the FAST over the Gen VII. The Accel is a much more difficult to tune system versus the FAST. By the time you add their wide band to have closed loop full throttle it's more money than the FAST. Plus their closed loop box has problems. I've been through the ringer on a friends Procharged 406 with a Gen VII; I also had one purchased for my twin turbo but returned it and had them get me a FAST.

The Gen VII has some great features, and a true barometric board; ahead of most all aftermarket systems. But they have too many menus, sub menus, you need the pro version (another $200.) to get to all the menus, plus they're having issues with their units and most all the peripherals (wide band, fuel pumps, dual synch dist, etc.). They even approached BDS to be a dealer and were turned down and he sells more aftermarket EFI stuff than any other company I know. After looking at it and playing with it a bit he wasn't interested.

If you get it properly tuned, and if everything works (ours didn't) then it's a neat system. The FAST is just a much simpler to tune system, comes with wide band standard for full throttle closed loop (can add or subtract fuel under full throttle to keep A/F where it needs to be, a BIG bonus on a blown engine), basically does everything you need it to do.

Jody

IRON Motown 220's or if Dart is making their Pro1 Alum. heads in IRON now I'd do the 230cc versions.

And if Aluminum makes a grand entrance back into your life, I'd do AFR227's, Dart Pro1 230cc, or a big set of Pro-Toplines.

Goodluck! Sounds like a mean beast.