If you were going to choose a for an Lt1, that would be going on a low compression 383 w/ an STS what would it be? Either LT1 castings or converted SBC heads, but lets exclude SB2 stuff? This would be more strip than street. I've done my searching and just can't seem to make up my mind so help me out.

 

Ported AFR's.

 

Ported TrickFlows would help in the compression department, and are very good heads. If you are going for max HP, then the AFR RR heads are your ticket. Other than that you are looking at other gen I heads converted to LT1...

 

You can have a nice port job done on your stockers with some larger valves and with the right piston, bring your CR down to about 9.0:1 and it would be pretty inexpensive compared to buying an aftermarket set and then porting those. Granted, you may see a little more power, but if your a pretty standard boosted application, i think the stock castings are the way to go. More so if your looking to keep a tight budget too.

Ken R.

 

But he said "BEST cylinder head" and for a non-FI car I'd agree with you, but the larger chambers on the AFRs or even the TFS heads are perfect for that.

 

Didn't see the "exclude". I'm at work and half asleep. My bad...

Ken R.

 

1.afr rr
2.afr 210,220
3.Trickflow
4.stock castings
Once you approach the limit of stock castings 280-290cfm, you pay a lot to get to 300 and even more for 320. Being a FI car I dont see the need for anything more than a le3 or AI's top head. I could see the need for larger heads so the trickflows would be appropriate.
But if your budget is not a concern or if you have high goals go ported afr's. Unless you going to convert something and really go wild.
You should give more info, such as: budget, goals, driveability, sr or hr cam, turbo size, etc.

 

I'm not against using a converted SBC head at all, just didn't want anyone through up a sb2.2 setup because that's just stupid expensive and unrealistic for what i want. I already have a set of ported stockers but they just don't cut it. How good are the figures on the trickflows? I haven't been able to find much on them. What would it take to fun mod for mod agasint say set of port Ls6's on a 382 in a camaro? I dont' want to be limited short comings for the LT1 castings aftermarket or not if I can't run with whats out there.

 

TFS can flow 306 or so from some of the numbers ive seen after their ported

 

http://advancedinduction.com/AiProductsTFSAFRLTx.html

That's just some examples of what can be done with the aftermarket castings. Depends on who ports them for you. If you already have all of the valvetrain, I'd say get some of the bare heads in whatever size you want and get them ported by whomever you chose.

You can also ask engineermike on here, he's very knowledgable about FI setups.

 

If you want a real strip head, you need to run a converted SBC head. You can make a lot of power with LT1 specific stuff, but you can make more with a converted head. Of course, this isn't to say that you need to simply convert the SBC head to realize all of the potential of the conversion; doing the conversion just opens up the door to using heads that have more potential, themselves. You can spend a bunch of money on labor in getting the ports, bowls, valvejob, and chambers optimized, then some more getting it converted. Then, you get to spend more money on the high quality parts you will want on these heads. The question becomes, "Do I want to pay for the best head?"

With regard to SB2.2 heads, I hope nobody is buying these off of eBay for their LTx drag car.

 

So what SBC heads would you guys recommend. Assuming of course a converted single plane and al the goods. I hear the going rate is about $500 ro convert a set of heads, so lets set a limit of $2500 for a bare head.

 

Retail on the AFR RR heads is $3000+ per pair + cost of converting.

That would be my choice unless you want to look into the 18* stuff...

 

There are so many choices. It all depends on what you are willing to spend and what your goals are. If you want a deatiled answer, deatials about what you currently have, what you will spend, what you want to achieve, etc. are needed. But a simple andswer to the question would be AFR's, assuming you are sticking with LT1 stuff. The RR heads get pricy due to the non-standard parts needed such as a shaft mount system, offset lifters, manifold, etc.

Once you open the door to Gen I parts or an LSx swap the choices are just too broad for a simple answer.

Rich

 

Guess I'm just not an AFR fan mostly due to their promotional tactics plus the AFR 227's I had ran much hotter than my current Trick Flows. In a blown car the heat part may be an issue on the street.

Anyway.......Just saw a set of Brodix 23 degree heads with Jesels that impressed me. They flowed 280 cfm unported and I passed on the heads and they sat for a couple of years on a shelf. The heads were sent off to a fellow who does a lot of circle track cars and when they came back, they flowed in the 330 cfm range. That's the most I've ever seen from a 23 degree head including raised runner AFR's but do not know the intake runner volume.

It's converting them to reverse flow that has me concerned. Lloyd Elliot flat told me he'd seen a lot of issues in converted heads. That part has me running scared.