Bang-for-the buck Performance SBC street heads?

[A HotRod]

You all have a lot of great ideas, so many my head is spinning

My original thought was to see if I could have a streetable, daily-driver-ish Hot Rod 355 engine that would make 430-470 HP with a Hyd. Roller with peak power in the 5500-5800 RPM range.

Those ATK Profilier (?) heads appear good, although my question would be on the quality of components used in the heads.

The AFR 1034 Street Eliminator 195 heads look to be very good. Should be able to achieve the power levels.

Mmmmmm .....

[turdwilly]

On a bang for buck topic I just finished touching up a set of edelbrock E-street 185cc heads.
Out the box the were pretty ordinary, flow topped out at 225cfm @ .55" lift & then backed up.
But it didn't take much work to bring them alive, I left the factory valve job alone, opened up the pinch to 1.8^", blended in the valve job properly, tidied up the bowls & lightly reworked the turns, did much the same on the exhaust side & just knocked sharp edges of the chambers.
The reworked heads went:

Intake
.1 - 61cfm
.2 - 131
.3 - 186
.4 - 226
.45 - 240
.5 - 250
.55 - 256
.6 - 256
.65 - 257
.7 - 258
.75 - 260

Exhaust went from 164cfm @ .5" up to 178cfm.

For the time spent they picked up real well, was pleasantly surprised at how good they are with minimal porting.

Nice work 31 cfm at low lift & previous peak not too shabby!

[Newold1]

Obviously the AFR and ATK heads are good heads, but your post ASKED for heads for a moderately mild 355 street engine with best "BANG for the BUCK". The AFR and ATK heads are about $1500-$1600 minimum per set. That's why I put up the ProMaxx Stage I heads at $1000 per set with good comparable flows. I am not a great math genius but the math seems pretty simple on this comparison?

[kimosabi]

Well if you buy a more budget friendly set and you break components on them, that might often total up to what you pay one time for a better pair of heads.

Just two ways of looking at it. I know guys that successfully run chinese or budget heads but the common theme there is they almost always need a little tweaking to get everything to size and line up properly. Guides being too tight are common.

[A HotRod]

I hope I don't offend anyone, but no Chinese cylinder heads for me. I have witnessed allot of poor quality over my years with TRW and Fel Pro Performance.

[Keith Morganstein]

I hope I don't offend anyone, but no Chinese cylinder heads for me. I have witnessed allot of poor quality over my years with TRW and Fel Pro Performance.

Yes, the AFR will cost more than budget Chinese heads. Some of the castings have proven to be good, but I would avoid budget assembled head packages.

You could put the cash into the sportsman II's. You'll spend a bunch of money (if you have all the work done) , for basic street porting, mill, new guides, valve job, new valves, etc... You'll prob be happy with the performance. (And keep some work going into a local shop if you have a good one)

Or just buy AFR heads, spend your money and know you'll be happy. No doubts, they work great for what you are doing.

[BOOT]

Just so you know you can go more then .040 off those heads. I have done .100 flat and .040 angle then .030 flat ( rules) but they can get more then .040 off as world stated that because they had a stock replacement designation for NHRA and other race organizations that used them as a spec head.
But you can still wack a bunch off and still use the steel shim gasket if needed.

Cool thx, got some 72cc I'll have to take down a bit more now.

[rfoll]

If you build a flat top 383, the 72 cc heads will be spot on. You can then use your old rotating assy in another 350 block.

[496s10]

Look at the blueprint h8002k heads, they are a afr195 competition copy with a cast finish. New around $895 a set or check their clearance eBay store and can pick a set up for $550 to $600 complete. Just bought a set from them and they look great

[A HotRod]

Look at the blueprint h8002k heads, they are a afr195 competition copy with a cast finish. New around $895 a set or check their clearance eBay store and can pick a set up for $550 to $600 complete. Just bought a set from them and they look great

After reading reviews online, I'd be gun shy. Thank You for the information!

[A HotRod]

If you build a flat top 383, the 72 cc heads will be spot on. You can then use your old rotating assy in another 350 block.

True, and according to most, I still have to do bowl blending, narrow up the valve guides, work on the Short-Side-Radius, and port the walls and roof to make it into a decent head.

[Newold1]

I don't consider the ProMaxx heads "Cheap Budget or Chinese Junk" heads. I've seen them up close and personal and know some racers and builders who use them and they are nicely done, with some good parts and they don't need bowl blends, chamber work, porting or such to deliver their advertised flow numbers.

If some like Kimosabe and others are not familiar with them, try not to knock products you have no direct knowledge or experience with. This is one of the biggest problems with internet comments and advise. Posters are talking about products where they read someone said this or talked down about that.

A HotRod, don't be so quick to make such quick judgements, you are the one asking for help and budget help here not me!

[rfoll]

If you build a flat top 383, the 72 cc heads will be spot on. You can then use your old rotating assy in another 350 block.

True, and according to most, I still have to do bowl blending, narrow up the valve guides, work on the Short-Side-Radius, and port the walls and roof to make it into a decent head.

From what I have heard, the largest and easy gain to be had on the heads is the guide work. Add 30 cubic inches and the resulting compression increase, and your gain will by way above anything from heads alone on a 350. Loose the Q-Jet manifold and use a painted Performer if you want to keep the stock look.

[NewbVetteGuy]

Profiler 195cc

Especially for $1,019 including shipping and taxes right now for a pair @ Jegs with dual springs 1.440", 0.600" lift ready to support an aggressive hydraulic roller cam... Pretty tough to beat.
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Performance- ... 2/10002/-1

273 CFM @ 0.500" out-of-box. No porting time required.

If Bang-for-the-Buck includes labor considerations; pretty hard to beat for a US-cast head.

Adam

[496s10]

Look at the blueprint h8002k heads, they are a afr195 competition copy with a cast finish. New around $895 a set or check their clearance eBay store and can pick a set up for $550 to $600 complete. Just bought a set from them and they look great

After reading reviews online, I'd be gun shy. Thank You for the information!

They have 2 design heads. Most bad review's that you find were on the old design, Both design's have the same part number.