gve

I'm going to put a 540 in my car this Fall and want to see what heads you have on your engine and are you happy with them. I'm going with a solid roller with a max RPM of 6500. Would a oval port head give me better mid range power. Also I see some heads have raised exhaust ports, would that be a problem with headers fitting in the car since the BB is such a tight fit. Thanks, Gary

Ibfurloughed

Quite a different animal, these went into offshore race boats. But this is the only 540 experience I have. Dart Wedge Heads were used with solid roller set up. 2200 HP and 1850 ft/pd Torque below 6000 RPMs. LOTS of boost, which lifted heads until we put in custom made ARP studs. The heads could only accomidate 7/16 studs. Which will be fine for normally asp.

richiev88

Hi, for 540cu i believe a head like these would be excellent
http://www.airflowresearch.com/index.php?cPath=68_69

uxojerry

Dart Pro 1 are used on the 695hp build at Shaffiroff racing. Check the 540 builds at ultrastreet.net for some ideas ranging from 595-695hp. They also have an all aluminum 540 motor that is interesting. Good luck with building your monster!!

540 vette

I ahev a 540 that is going into my 67 GTO pro street car and I have Edelbrock Performer RPM heads on it that were all ported.

langg

I am currently running the GM ...188 rect. port iron heads. I am happy with the throttle response. etc. Would not consider reducing to the oval ports, but that is just me (and l88, LS6, etc). I have been looking at the Edelbrock performer X/T. Flow looks good. I too wonder about the fit of raised exhaust ports with the hooker super comps.

lang

427Hotrod

You can search here on the Forum or over on the Chevelle Forum for any number of combinations of 540's and 555's. I also posted a lot of them on my car as well as the "Bruiser" 555" that was featured in Corvette Enthusiast Magazine. Mine was covered in Auto Enthusiast Magazine. It makes 871 HP with some Brodix 365 cc CNC 3xtra heads, solid roller and Holley EFI. Carb makes about the same peak...just EFI is easier to tune with.

As much as I like solid rollers...if you're only planning 6500 RPM...a hyd roller will easily do that with the right parts.

The Bruiser 555" made 760-770'ish HP with Dart 335 CNC heads, ported Vic Jr intake and a Holley 1000 HP carb using a Crane Hyd roller. A Super Victor intake with a Dominator will make right at 800 HP with same cam. We made 820 HP or so with a solid flat tappet with big carb and intake and a Solid roller made 850HP. The Hyd roller peaked HP around 6300 RPM...the flat tappet around 6500 and the solid roller around 6800 rpm.

The 290 cc AFR CNC heads are nice, as well as their 315's for a nice 6500 rpm engine. I like the larger heads in the 335+ range usually..but I like RPM also!

Brodix makes some of the best castings in the industry and the 3Xtra's are available in several port sizes. The Race Right series have the ports in the stock location..but I can tell you that the .600" raised ports haven't been an issue for me on headers. The AFR's are .300" higher I believe.

The Dart 335's are some real nice heads out of the box also.

Heads are where you don't want to cut corners. It's where all the power comes from.

Stick with a brand name where you know machine work and casting quality will be good. Many of the *offshore* heads are not heat treated to anything close to what the Dart, Brodix, AFR's are.

JIM

Ben Lurkin

I've Edelbrock Victor Jr CNC's on mine but they are no longer made. For your build, I would suggest the 325 cc AFR's with the CNC'd chambers or if your budget will support an additional ten bens, look at the full CNC offerings like Jim mentions above. The Brodix race rites are supposed to be real nice too with stock exh port locations, but I don't have any personal experience with them. I've used their -2's and -2x's on a couple of 502's and they worked really well. Brodix makes good stuff.

Whatever you choose, go with a good US manufactured head. The off shore stuff I've seen is best used for recycling.