im new to the heads and cam deal and have a couple questions. i recently bought a pair of used afr 190 heads that were suppose to have been ported by trevor johnson. and run on a car with a cc306 cam.
my question is this, where do i go from here? to get the most out of a pair of heads shouldnt i get a cam to match them and not just some off the wall cam. and if so how do i go about doing that,
who do i contact?
should i send them somewhere to see if they can be improved on porting wise?
should i just go to trevors shop and ask him about the heads? what should i do?

 

talk to bret bauser (sstroker somethin) here on cz28.com, he can hook you up

 

I 2nd Bauser for a custom cam.

 

cool ill talk to him, but how does he know what cam to make if he doesnt know the heads? i know i need to contact him for specifics but how does he know what the heads are setup for? do i send him the heads or do i get them flowed and then send them to him? im just trying to get a feel for what i should be asking these people

 

I say buy a proven cam kit, such as an LT4 hotcam kit, or go with someone who's cams run hard at the track and dont eat springs. Like AI. AI can hook you up.

 

You can probably do either of those. Talk to Brett (or whoever you want to use) and find out how they want to do it.

 

IMO the "cam to match heads" thing is overrated. All the good cam guys will already have a good enough idea of how the head will flow or at least what points it will flow well at peak and drop off. I am not saying do not have them flowed what I am saying is it is not necessary in order to get a good cam. That said AFRs especiaslly the little ones like the 190s pretty much suck and a cam aint going to change that. The porter might have been able to polish those turds a little but don't count on it.

 

well i got them cheap and figured they would be a better platform to start with than stock heads.
am i wrong? would ported stock heads produce more than ported 190s?

 

I think it's Bret Bauer.

 

IMO you would be better off with ported stock castings.
IMO AFR is living off an old reputation they no longer deserve, they had good stuff for the gen 1 motor but the LT1 heads were a BIG step up by GM and AFR did not keep pace. A friend has a set of ported AFRs(small TPIS ported around 190 after porting I think) on a stroker in a Camaro, my car is half a second faster despite the extra weight. I think we can coax more out of his car but even he is sure he will not catch me. I think he is kicking himself for selling me his old stock heads because those were what I had ported.

Once you start looking the only cars you will see going fast with AFRs have so much money thrown at them you can not give the heads the credit and then they usually have another couple grand sunk into the heads after purchase as well.
Another friend with a b-body swapped out a set of AFR 190s for ported iron heads and went faster with the irons and later faster yet with a set of ported LT1 aluminums, we both ran the same cam at one point and his AFR/ZZ4 cam times were slower than my stock untouched iron head/ZZ4 times.

You will find A LOT of folks who will talk up AFR as wonderful, start digging and you wont find much real info to support it on the LT1.

 

thanks for your input. i think what i will do is call some porters and talk to the guy who had the heads before me. but since the guy who had these heads before me ran a 6.4 in the 1/8th im sure hed say oposite of you. thanks for the oppinions now im going to hunt for the facts

 

6.4 in the 1/8th is like a low 10 second pass, there is MUCH more to that story than heads. Even most AFR fans will tell you the 190 and smaller suck, some research willturn that up.

 

this is all true. however I'm pretty sure Bret has seen these heads a few times and would be able to better match a cam to maximize their power output then some shelf cam, no matter how good the 306 is.
A custom cam will make power for your setup, and get the most out of your heads. Go for it..I built a 383 with a shelf cam, and kicked myself for it after hearing about custom cams. I saw the light.