well if your not going TPI then your options are open as far as heads and cam goes. but for a lower rpm torquey street friendly setup, i guess you dont want to make power over 6000 rpms and keep good torque in the 2400-3600 range. With 2500 stall thats the torque band you want... Keep peak torque in the low 3000 range and probly hp peak by 5500. With those gears you can get away with a more aggressive setup that peaks torque in the high 3000 rpm range and stilll have PLENTY down low.

Miniram/HSR intakes tend to make a flat torque curve so you can make peak tq at like 4000rpms and still have over well over 80% of torque at 2500 and 5500. thats flat and makes for a driveable fun car on the street.

Let us know what you decide on for an intake.

As far as heads, i still suggest 200 cc heads for that 383. Let it breath. I like the Race Rites over the IK's but both are more than ample for your goals. Race rites are abit more pricey tho and just a 100-150 more bucks could get you a set of AFR's Dart Pro 1's aint bad either, the new platinums are nice heads.

i'd look for a cam thats close to 220 or so on the intake and run lift that will peak the heads you choose. if it flows to .550 lift, run .550 lift.

 

I understand Brodix's reputation, and have known this for many, many years..... most of their cylinder heads are pretty good, and the ones they have ported by M2 are outstanding. But, that has nothing to do with the cylinder head posted here in the original post.... .the 180cc race rite they sell is average at best and more along the lines of a stock replacement type head than anything else, which is probably what they intended it to be is my guess.

As a note, the motor article that made over 500 HP with the 180cc race rite is a 427 sbc, same as yours, with a hyd roller cam 234/238 with .574/.584 lift......it made 515 HP with the race rite heads, which is literally in the neighborhood of 30-60 HP short of what that motor could make with the right set of cylinder heads on it..... if anything, that article is a detriment to the 180 race rites..... although its a guessing game, if they had used the 200cc or larger race rites instead of those 180's, 550 HP could have been realized..... which is more on lines of what that motor should make with that cam and those cubic inches.

To the orginal poster, I ran a 383 for many years in my C4.... daily driven and raced every weekend for years.... my first set of cylinder heads flowed about what the race rites do ..... I then had them ported and got flow up close to 260 cfm, which for the time wasn't too bad...... and the performance was night and day.... car picked up everywhere on the et slip. My point, learn from my mistake and jump right over the poor flowing cylinder heads and get something that'll flow a bit better.... I guarantee you will be much happier short and long term with the right set of heads.

good luck with whatever your decision is !

 

Beach. What heads do you recommend for him, and what heads would you go with? Something that won't break the bank.

 

Keeping the intake I'm already using. Just have to tweak the tb's a bit. It will give me plenty of cfm for the 383 so that isn't a concern.
I also use EBL/Flash for the tune.

I'm pretty much set on using that brand head. I'm gonna have to go with at least a 200cc head like you guys suggest.
I'd like to see this motor build in the 400 hp / 4xx tq range after the tune.

 

This thread isn't about you. Stop being so annoying. Talk about trying to get the thread off topic. Brutal!

This is my reply back to your silly comment that had absolutely nothing to do with his thread.

If you have something to say to me. Email me, private message me, phone me, or write me a letter! Actually do none of the above!

But please leave this thread alone.

Back on topic!

qws

I don't know much about your intake? How well does it flow? How long are the runners?

 

Right now we are figuring about $3500-4000 for the build. If it ends up a bit more then so be it. It will have the roller cam for sure.
Most turn key strokers are around $5k or more, and the zz's are about the same. But with us building it ourselves with save some bucks and since I've never done it before will be a great learning experience.

 

I agree. I enjoy building them.

 

I was thinking about that but our shop that has the tools to do the job is 2 hours from where i live. I would love to do it but i dont have the time or the money for gas HAHA!

 

You should be using the head that meets the needs of your engine best and clearly those 180cc heads are not even close.

There are many quality heads to choose from out there: AFR Trick Flow, Dart etc etc... and besides your not building a motor to handle a 300+ hit of N2O so really you should be looking for a head that will maximize flow, not structural integrity and fit and finish.

In a blind test of two leading cylinder head companies which 210cc CNC ported head would you pick?

Brand A Brand B

148 200" 147
217 300" 206
260 400" 257
278 500" 290
284 600" 306
285 650" 311
287 700" 312

 

Questions:

1. price difference?
2. Lift of the cam? If lift is under .600 doesn't seem to matter a wit. Again, in the vacuum which you posted.
3. Exhaust?
4. Compression?
5. Guaranteed HP gain. Not on paper, not in theory, GUARANTEED based on the rest of the build.

Get back to me with that and we can deal with the question.

Numbers in a vacuum are meaningless.

Let's focus on point 1 and 5 for now. If you're spending $700 more and gaining 10 HP....is that worth it? You can't answer that, nor can anyone else. That's strictly up to the guy who owns the car. But I for one would like to know specifically what the real gain would be before I made any of those decisions. You're asking someone to make a decisions based on a bunch of numbers on paper with no real value to their setup. Maybe.

ANyone who would pick a head based on the criteria you listed including the lack of context in which it is listed, is an idiot. Another reference to "should have bought X brand" post... Real subtle.

done.

 

Just a word here. i didn't ck the headers and heads interface at all, got straight plug darts. Changing plugs is a nightmare. Welcome to the '84 stroker club

 

You're the one who chimed in with a thinly veiled reference that he should be looking at AFR. You think i'm stupid? We know what it is..and the leghumping starts.

Stop disrupting threads with your product pushing and leg humping. Funny how you want someone to be "open minded" about heads until they disagree with you. Hypocrite.

Now, back to the topic, how do we get you to change your mind on those Brodix heads? Say what you mean son....say what you mean.

 

Here we go again on the cylinder head debacle....

 

They're here!!

 

Absolutely right!! Change 2,4,6,8 from the bottom. I've made this a annual winter project for me.

Back to the heads.
Yes there are a lot of nice heads out there and plenty that will do the job.
Right now I'm using dart iron eagle heads. They've worked well and no real complaints. (except changing plugs,but oh well). It seems like dollar for dollar the IK200 seems like a good product and will serve its purpose. I'm not going with a real wild cam.

What real gains will I have using the AFR,Trickflow,or Dart over the IK200? I'm already saving a few hundred by using these. And this motor really isn't all that big. (not being sarcastic, but show me the advantage and why they are worth the extra bucks)
I only use the car on weekends and twice a year at the track for a test and tune session.

 

God I hope not. If ricky can curb his overwhelming desire to push a product, it will go fine.

 

If the straight plugs are not an issue, it is my opinion, and the opinion of many experienced engine builders, that for the money you can not get a better head.

I'd consider getting the bowls worked from Brodix for $200. Here's a secret, find a local shop, don't buy it from summit, local shops will work with you on price, there may be a few bucks in it for ya, I'm thinking you can get them for $1100 with the worked bowls from someone locally. PLUS you won't have to pay shipping..tax, yes, but no shipping.

Short of posting flow numbers, no one is going to be able to tell you how many HP you will gain you will recognize for your dollar. People will throw numbers ranging from 20-50 HP depending on how badly they are losing the argument, but you won't know for sure.

 

Dont forget about the intake you use.... 300 cfm head with a 260 cfm intake is wasted money.... gotta feed the heads to get your moneys worth out of them

 

I don't know much about his set-up other than its a 383, so I can't really say how much more HP you will make with a cylinder head that flows more, but what I can guarantee without a doubt is that you will definitely make more HP with a better flowing cylinder head assuming similiar sized runners..... I think in the racing industry this has been very, very clear for many decades.

In fact, this is why a whole industry has appeared called the cylinder head porting industry..... which comprise of dozens of companies all around the country who's sole business is to port cylinder heads. But, "why" are they porting the cylinder heads ? I think the easy answer is to call any of these cylinder head porters and ask them what are their tools of the trade, in which 9 out of 10 will have two items at the top of the list.... 1) Grinding tools 2) Flow Bench.

Why do they have a Flow Bench ? Those darn things are expensive! They have a flow bench because they want to measure the level of their success in how much they have improved cylinder head "flow"..... Why are the trying to increase the flow of a cylinder head ? And why are engine builders, cylinder head companies and private individuals paying them hundreds and even thousands of dollars per set of heads to do this ?

Its simple...... more cylinder head flow equals more HP and not just necessarily at the peak, but everywhere in the torque curve..... there is no other analogy or hidden agenda for this, its simple, the most important aspect for like sized runnered cylinder head castings is airflow.....everybody wants it, and if they don't have it, they'll pay big bucks to get it.

Thus, my only recommendation to you is to chose the cylinder head with the best flow that meets your budget...... and if thats a brodix, dart, afr, trickflow or whatever, so be it.... just do your homework.


Good Luck !

 

thanks guys I appreciate all the replies.
Intake (in my sig) will supposedly flow 1000-1400 cfm, up to 250 cfm per runner according to there website.
By adding 90lb injectors, Boring my TB's either 2 in (700cfm) or 2.13 in(750-760 cfm) in, and increasing fuel psi I should be able to handle a motor in the 450hp range. Some have even bored larger. The carb on most crate 383's I've seen are in the 750 cfm range. This is why I don't think I'll have to much problem feeding it the fuel. I also don't think I want to go to much over the 200cc head. And I'm thinking the 64cc chambers will help with the tq I want. Please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong on this, since this is why I'm here, to learn what I want.

I have always had what I think to be reasonable goals for my engine and still utilizing the CFI. Worse case scenario I have to change the intake setup in the longrun, but I don't see that at this point. This build will go on a dyno and tuned once finished.

I'm not committed at this point to any one particular head, but just felt that the dollar for dollar value of the IK's was a fair priced head that would work for my goals.