I just broke a spring and dropped a valve. Needless to say, I am sure I did quite a bit of damage to the head, piston, etc..etc... I made 440 to the wheels with the mods in my sig. This setup wasn't too terribly bad to drive on the street buuuut...I would like to 1: get to 500-550 rwhp and 2: behave a bit better on the street. I will probably get a fresh short block and am looking at doing 383. I know I am probably going to have to replace at least one head so my question is: if I buy a set of used stock unported heads, can I get to my goal with supercharging/mild cam?

 

I had a 383 with stock heads that had the casting flash cleaned up and a small cam. 12psi non intercooled got me to 10.6 at 138 in ideal conditions. I think it is doable if your tune and combo are spot on.

 

Thanks for the reply. How was drivability? Do supercharged cars behave better than big cammed cars? Any overheating issues?

 

I would say drivability depends on the size of the cam and the quality of the tune. I have not had problems (knock on wood) with a stock cooling system, electric water pump and 160 Tstat in 16 years.

 

Drivability really depends a lot on the tune. My old 383/YSi setup made just shy of 800 whp and drove fine with a 234/250 duration cam. The new 408 drives even better with a 235/247 cam and a single plane. No FI on it yet as they're sitting on my closet floor.

Cooling system on the 383 was a stood up aluminum radiator with derale fans. Same setup on the 408 but I'll probably change to a double pass radiator to eliminate the hose on the driver side.