I have to politely disagree-
This is exactly what most folks want that are purely street driving and what to have fun around town, not at the track.
HP numbers for most people are bragging rights that don't understand that torque is where you get the most fun on the street.
Revving a big cube V-8 to 7-8 grand is not my idea of fun, especially when the power doesn't come on till 4 grand.
Give me 500 ft/lbs and 300 HP vs the other way around any day.
Just my .02

 

Marketing yourself

Cassius Clay AKA Muhammad Ali.

IM THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME... No doubt a good one.

Joe Louis record, pro
70 total fights
66 wins
52 wins TKO
3 losses
1 no contest
25 title defense's without a loss still a record for heavy weights.

Muhammad ALI record, pro
61 total fights
56 wins
37 wins TKO
5 losses

Lets pretend these two fighters are just one fighter and combine both there records. That would be

131 total fights, pro
122 wins
89 wins TKO
8 losses
1 no contest.

Sugar Ray Robinson record, pro
200 total fights
173 wins
108 wins TKO
19 losses
6 draws
2 no contest

as a pro fighter between 1943 to 1951 he won 91 strait fights without a loss. Kind of makes Rocky Marciano's 49 strait wins without a loss look really bad. Marciano only defended the title 7 times.

Most of Robinson's Pro losses came more from age.

His Amateur record
85 wins, no losses, 40 TKO

In all of professional hitting contact sports, boxing, Karate, UFC there has never been anything like him doubt can ever happen again.

But he was not the greatest marketer of all time.

I'am the Greatest the Greatest of all time

I was a big fan of ALI rooted for him to win.

 

Preach on, brotha!
I've been doing this for about 40 yrs now. I learn every day- more now than ever before. One thing that is clear and will never change...there are some who get it, and some who don't. There are some with an open mind and always willing to learn, and some who think they already know all there is to know and that's where they stop learning.
Carry on. I'm going to take your advice here (in your "location" under your avatar) and leave it at that.

 

We have SO many examples of what some consider "small heads and cams" (actually, correct for the application) where we've been able to achieve both good tq and hp. Little of having your cake and eating it too. One particular big block comes to mind...509 ci (started as ZZ 502 crate motor, now 4.500 bore) with a set of mildly ported AFR 305's and a small hyd. roller, Vic Jr, 4150 carb, made 732 lbs ft of tq. 4900 rpm. Real torque monster, right. Probably doesn't make a ton of HP, though. I mean, it's only a pump gas 509 with a 244* hyd. roller and a set of 305's...well, it made 764 hp @ 6200 measly rpm and puts a 3550# street legal '67 Chevelle in the low 9's at over 140 mph. I can't tell you how many high winding, gear slamming, 540+ ci powered cars with big heads and big cams it's put on the trailer, and embarrassingly so. Plus, this car has over 350 passes on it with not a single issue other than traction.
That's just one example of a well thought out combination with the right size heads and cam to deliver the right kind of power to get that car down the track. Would I build that same engine for a 2200# tube chassis car?? Of course not, but when you're talking about 3500-4000# street cars that need torque and grunt to get them going, "bigger is better" is never a winning combination.

 

Nothing just yet. Go back and forth bet something like that or a big SB2 got other priorities right now. May have to setlle for trading in my Darts for AFRs for my wimpy 383 we will see.

 

This thinking keeps me in business. Your combination is not at its max potential for what you do with it, but it would take a smaller cam to achieve max performance.

 

Gkull uses his car for road racing. To use a weight lifter's term he's not dead lifting anything from rest like a drag car and cars used as sports cars don't either. I suppose he needs a lot of mid range power and if he's on a track with enough long straits plenty of upper end power to sustain any advantage he might have gained coming off a corner. He ran a dyno for many yrs working on high end road race cars those foreign jobs neither him or any of us can afford to own. No one would let him touch there million dollar plus cars if he's a dumb *** now would they.

Motorhead has a street solid roller nothing silly radical. Think he built it with a friend a collaboration of minds at his machine shop that has his own dyno to work with. Sent the manifold into AFR made sure it would flow enough for the heads.

Straub made a camshaft for paul he's in that business hit exactly the mark he wanted at the right rpm actually 7 hp better then he wanted. So what happens lol not good enough now he wants more comes on here with which vacuum system should i try. He's already tearing out his rear end has no tires to even control all this low rpm torque he wanted ripped up his wheel studs, Its all straub's fault, he was fine with that Edelbrock cam.

I don't see a 210 head as being in trouble on a 406 maybe not quite as ideal for the low lift lower rpm's he wants not really put to work as much as it could be so to speak. But he could become Pauldana more power some more revs please. He would already have the head to do it. Big camshaft mistakes really screw you over not the heads unless you get silly on them.

Lots of difference between a 220 and 195 head but little difference in a 406 and 427 generally they just have a stronger torque curve with the extra stroke. Pauldana is not having any trouble with his 220 head tearing up parts left and right at 6300 lol. So you put a 210 head on a 406 at 5.500 rpm and your in trouble come on really.

427 hot rod runs around 99 percent of the time on a 255 tread tire 850 hp not sure what the torque. Some guy come on here you need a cam with more torque. For what so he can blow the tires clean off a little earlier lol. Probably drove to many 350 chevys in his lifetime.

 

Just to let you guys know.....I ordered a set of 195's....should be here Monday or Tuesday.

 

That is a sound decision.

 

I do what works for me and if works for me it will work for others, I raced that 'Cuda when it was new, beat new 454 Corvette's at the time.

My friends shop has been building racing engines for 30 years and doesn't come on here because he is to busy building engines and doesn't have the time to sit in front of a computer to drum up business.

Like I said every year or so we get new members who are going to set all the C3's members straight because we know nothing. I told my friend about counting threads on the rocker stud and he just laughed, he said anyone counting threads when building an engine in his place would be out the door. Now you have done your job and the OP is buying heads that will leave power on the table across the board, congrats.

 

"Leaving power on the table" is a term I see an awful lot out here and yes, for anything other than a 100% *****-out race motor, you are ALWAYS leaving power on the table.

Everything is a compromise and most folks that have purely street cars don't want or need every last ounce of potential power available, they just want to have some fun between 2000-5000 RPM.
Do we leave "power on the table"? You betcha!
Do we care?
No!
Just my .02

 

Just curious.... could you please tell us why you decided to go such a small head with a 406? I truly would like to know what you think you are, or are not, getting with the 195 VS 210' or 220's.... will you run a chassis Dyno when done? I would very much like to see the outcome,,,,


Just my .02 here.... my 427 has the 220 compatition ported heads...... I run a lightweight flywheel and lightweight HB, through a TKO600 and 3.52's.... and I have PLEANTY of tq at 2,500rpm.....350lbs tq and i hit peek at about 4000rpm 515tq....

just food for thought.

 

I posted this a week or so. Nice street build...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ual-plane.html

 

The 195 is not a small head for a 406 turning 6000rpm. This is what people don't seem to understand. It has more cross sectional area than it needs, it has more valve area than it needs, and it flows more air than it needs. Someone please explain to me how that makes it "too small".

 

peek numbers tell little... do you have a graph?

And, that was a engine dyno, not a chassis dyno,,,,

 

by your line of thought here, my 427 would have been better off with 195's....

is so, why? and if not... then explain why mine is better with the 220's CP and his is better with the 195's... please explain.
Not being sarcastic.... I really do want to understand your line of thought here... one never stops learning... unless they are ready to die.

 

Really need to look at the description of the heads on AFR's website, the recommended RPM range and intended use. AFR manufactures and tests these on a variety of combinations. They know their product and it's capability and applications better than anyone on here. The posters for the most part are recommending heads based on one or two builds or peak horsepower. You can put 220 eliminator heads on a 350 and make good power and, if you compare it to what you had you might say "this is the way to go! It is way stronger" but, did you compare your results to a 180 eliminator? Is it "way stronger" than the 180 would have been at the RPM you use the most? It is similar to cam selection, Any cam will work, most aftermarket cams will make better power than stock at a specific RPM range. That may not translate to the RPM range you use the most, your gearing or the capability of the rest of your build. Well matched components throughout for your intended use that compliment your specific build, gearing and intended use create the most satisfactory results.

 

More piston speed. Piston speed swallows up cylinder head volume!!!

 

Right off the bat you have 21 more cubic inches and sounds like you're turning pretty much the same rpm. Your engine is moving more air. I'm assuming you also have more stroke which pulls harder on an induction system. Piston speed plays a big role in sizing the induction and more stroke = more piston speed (or more correctly piston acceleration)

ETA...Chris treed me on that one.

 

No one has come on here saying a 195 head is just to small for what he wants to do.

I think some have said you may not have room to grow if you decide you want more.

Motor head put a street solid roller in his car so it would be easier on his valve trane not have really high valve spring pressure on his lifters so it would last longer. He put 25,000 miles on another engine 406 cam and lifters did not even have lifters that oil the needle bearings still ok when he pulled them out.

You don't know him come on here accuse him of nothing but a high rpm gear Jammer to somehow discredit him. Gkull has had a tube SBC dragster, works on Classic ferrers some of them several million dollar cars does the engine work dyno's them, helps set them up for the track. He's not working on just simple two valve per cylinder push rod engines.

A closed mind i'm going to use a PAC behive spring on a solid flat tappit cam pro 55 cam core will have 904 dia. overkill tool steel lifters stil want to keep the open pressure down want the lighter valve spring weight and lighter retainer weight will also have a lighter ferrea intake valve. Im somehow told a behive spring is no good for this.

There are people that like there power higher up and people that don't.