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If you do a search on the 882 heads, you'll find that they are very prone to cracking and most here on the Forum will pass on them if they require any investment in time or money.
You might check with the folks that did the machine work on them and ask why they didn't notice the cracks.
A set of Dart Iron Eagle heads will add more potential to your engine than anything Chevrolet put on these engines in the 70's and are not that expensive.
Not an uncommon occurrence for 882 heads. Usually why most do not invest much effort in improving them. If it were me I would cut my llosses and get some other heads.
Thank you all for the replies. In these days I found here in Italy a couple of 882, that are in good shape. They have been completely overhauled some years ago and never used. You have 100% reason to suggest to put performance heads, but I think i'll remain on the 882 at least for 2 reasons: 1 I prefer a stock car. 2 my block has over 160000mls, i think that with performance heads, that rises the compression, the block will suffer. To do a great job it's necessary to overhaul the entire engine but for now i'm on a budget. Imposed by my wife!!
On the 882, a porting job to pair the intake gasket, give some advantages or it's a waste of time?
Thank you all for the replies. In these days I found here in Italy a couple of 882, that are in good shape. They have been completely overhauled some years ago and never used. You have 100% reason to suggest to put performance heads, but I think i'll remain on the 882 at least for 2 reasons: 1 I prefer a stock car. 2 my block has over 160000mls, i think that with performance heads, that rises the compression, the block will suffer. To do a great job it's necessary to overhaul the entire engine but for now i'm on a budget. Imposed by my wife!!
On the 882, a porting job to pair the intake gasket, give some advantages or it's a waste of time?
Thank you!!
On the 882 heads, it is foolish to invest time or money into them unless you know that they are not cracked. A good machine shop could conduct a Dye Penetrant Inspection on the heads to check for cracks. This will of course cost money. The test could find cracks. In which case the money for the heads and the test would be lost and you will need to start over.
The point is that spending any money on a used set of 882 heads that have not been checked for cracks is a gamble. Do you feel lucky?
I would not spend any effort to improve a set of 882 heads without knowing if they are solid and worth working on. Keep in mind also that performing any porting work on a set of 882 heads could weaken them and lead to cracking as well.
GM produced these heads in the 70's as an effort to reduce the weight of the heads to ultimately improve fuel mileage. They may have gone too far.
If you want to try the new set of 882 heads I would put them on the engine and hope that they are fine and use them until you decide to upgrade at a later date. There is just too little material in those heads to make any meaningful improvement in them without weakening them further.
I would tend to agree with gusto, if you insist in running old 882's then invest nothing into them.
You can still get 76 cc aftermarket heads as well. Bumping the compression a little on that high of mileage engine will not damage anything, it just may burn oil due to weak ring seal.
If you can do some porting yourself then I would say go for that with some 882's. I would not invest too much money on an engine with that much mileage unless you intend on doing a complete rebuild.
I totally agree with both of you. As I said, for now I have to stay on the 882s, waiting for the right time to do a complete rebuild of the engine. Due to the low cost of 882, I could try to do some porting just on the inlets of the intake ports. Just a little bit, to avoid weakening these heads.
You gave me a great help, I will let you know how it went!
I totally agree with both of you. As I said, for now I have to stay on the 882s, waiting for the right time to do a complete rebuild of the engine. Due to the low cost of 882, I could try to do some porting just on the inlets of the intake ports. Just a little bit, to avoid weakening these heads.
You gave me a great help, I will let you know how it went!
What's the cost of a set of used 882s vs a set of iron vortecs in Turin?
They can't be THAT different. Improve your torque, HP, fuel economy and reliability and just put on a set of iron vortec heads -although then you'd need to get a new intake... Dart Iron Eagle might be the easiest way to go as someone already mentioned. Use the 882s as a cool door stop.
Adam
Last edited by NewbVetteGuy; Oct 11, 2016 at 02:40 PM.
Crack!
