I just built a very similar 355 with the AFR 195 heads. I couldn't be happier with the results. It revs like a sports car should. I have forged crank, rods and pistons with 4 bolt mains and quality fasteners, so it can live in the higher RPM range.

 

Well since you asked...

Its a 355 with forged flat top pistons/rods/crank. Someone in the past put in a nasty isky 292 mega cam and stud girdles and from what I can tell, actually balanced the bottom end well. I took off the GM phase II heads with leaky valves and busted valve cover studs in favor of these aluminum 195cc blue print units. They have a 2.02 intake valve and a 1.6 exhaust valve.

I went back and forth quite a bit among all 3 heads that I was considering. There was a direct correlation with price and flow numbers. At one point I figured that the AFR heads could get me another 40-ish horsepower at a $700 higher price tag. I decided instead of spending that money on the more expensive heads, I would spend it on a conversion from flat tappet to a roller cam/lifter setup.

That decision was made strictly on the HP per dollar figure without taking into consideration differences in quality. What tipped the scales for me was Scott over at Blue Print actually responding in a reasonable amount of time to my questions via email. Made me feel that if something went wrong with these heads, I could get a resolution.

I really hope to recoup some of my costs by selling the old heads, but I'm not holding my breath. Not sure that anyone wants that old technology, even though they were the best you could get (or so I've heard) in the 1980s and maybe early 1990s.

 

Nice engine, it's a lot of heads for the $ for sure.
My engine, is almost the same thinking, my engine is also a 355 with 195, and Comp Cam 12 466 8 hydr cam with Comp Cams 853 hydr lifters.
My intake is Edelbrock 2701, to be sure I can stay under stock hood.

 

Nice. Blueprint recommended the XR282HR for my setup but I scaled it back a notch with the XR276HR. I don't recall the numbers off hand but I chose something like an additional 40 ft lbs across the low end at the loss of 15 hp at the top end. This is mostly a street car that will see some autocross time and some time at the drag strip.

 

Yes.

 

I reconditioned my L-82 forged crank, reconditioned the L-82 forged rods, 4 bolt main L-82 block and went with JE forged racing pistons. I went with the 180's since the roller cam I chose is designed for strong mid range street performance and my builder agreed that if I was spending most of time under 6,000 RPM (2,500-5,000 RPM) that the 180's would be the best choice since they supposedly would better complement that engine range. I occasionally rev to 6K and the L-82 355 pulls like a freight train to 6,000 RPM. I purposely went conservative with the heads and cam since I did not want to over cam the engine or have heads that may have been too big for my motor. It seems that the engine is spot on for what I was looking for...

 

The AFR heads are hard to beat out of the box because they come cnc'd. However, you can get a set of Pro-filer heads that flow nearly as well out of the box starting at about $1,000. You can take the money you didn't spend on AFR heads and have the Pro-filers worked and they will perform better. Check this link out.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/13-p...w-numbers.html

As others have mentioned, there are other things besides flow numbers. I'm seriously considering these for my build. Good luck on your search.
MajD

 

A wise man once said mid-flow numbers matter because the valve passes that area twice

 

You're right. The forum link I posted only discussed peak flow numbers. If you go to Chad Speier's website, you will see all the mid-flow numbers for the heads he does. I'm not recommending him. I'm just saying that the pro-filer is a good head that responds well to some work.

 

there is a used set of trick flow 175s with .600 lift springs on c4 for sale section for $875

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-corvette.html

 

thanks for the great info i have alot to think about and pick a head