eutu1984

I am putting together a mild 383 budget build, Summit has some good deals on heads right now that I am considering. So the questing is which head would be best. I will be using stock TPI intake and mild cam.

Options
1: Rebuild stock 113 head

2:Summit heads A:170cc intake or B:200cc intake.

3:Trick Flow A:175cc intake or B: 195cc intake.

I will be using a Hydraulic Roller Cam.

This will be with an auto, stock converter, and 2:59 gears.

Kevova

IMO I would redo stock heads and get a better intake with the money planned for new heads.

aklim

From my bad experience with TFS heads costing me a good short block, I'd only consider the TFS heads for 2 things. As a doorstop or if I got it real cheap and bare and I was too cheap to buy the good stuff and wanted to rationalize it by saying "I'm not building a race car.".

IIRC, Lingenfelter had the belief that you should spend your money on heads first although an intake and cam are more sexy.

I'd go for a set of AFR heads. Ask them what is the biggest you can get for your application that would allow growth when you want more. People cheap out and get what they need today. When tomorrow comes along and they need more, they have to spend more to get what they need now.

96 lt-4

I would want a better flowing intake than the stock one.A good valve job on the 113's and some bowl work would be just fine for a 383 with 2.59 gears.You can spend more $$$ on heads if you like but it would be somewhat wasted on a stock TPI intake IMO.

aklim

I'd save money for better intake, headers and good heads. This has to work as a system and not mix and match. Heads I can transfer to something else. Not sure about Corvette D port heads. Is it going to run out of improvement?

cv67

Not a huge fan of sinking $ into old heads but maybe in your app it may work out for your budget ie good valve job, springs some porting. Do the intake or buy a clean used aftermarket like an Accel or Edelbrock runners too. Smallish cam in the 2teens call it good. Those heads xxx sells who knows where they came from that month. Have your heads looked over first before committing though if they are really worn inc guides it will add up real fast

Tried the buying bigger heads for later thing what i got at the time was a pooch of a motor that sounded good. Now that they are on a better motor there are way better heads out. To ea their own

aklim

If you have to look over the heads, buy them cheap. Toss the hardware and start bare. I would not pay you much money for a set of heads where the hardware is possibly bad.

Were they way bigger or just big enough for future growth?

eutu1984

Local Machine shop say's around $600.00 to rebuild stock heads, They have over 189K on them so they will need guide work.

aklim

It's cheap. I doubt it upgrades much

WW7

I have to agree with those saying do heads and intake, at the same time..Just doing heads and nothing else will be a big let down ..The bigger heads need more air to work, and the stock intake just barely supplys enough for the stock heads..I would even go so far as to say do heads, intake and headers at the same time, that way you can just get it retuned and be finished..Im running Dart Pro 1 "180" heads on my 383 and they do a good job, plus they're less money then the AFR heads.....WW

steven mack

WW7 has it right.The Dart Pro 1's are a good head.Depending on cam and intake they are a good all around head.

WW7

The cam I'm using is an Erson custom grind thats close to the LT4 Hotcam in specs..My intake is the Accel high flow runners and the Edelbrock high flow intake, both reamed out about 1/4" inch, then port matched for high torque ..The plenum is megaported and was done by Corvette Plenums when Mike Graycar owned the shop..Exhaust is a set of 1 3/4" Hooker Competition Ceramics going into big duel exhaust..This makes for a real good "light to light" street car.....WW

gerardvg

Unless you upgrade to a mini ram it is a waste putting fancy new heads and performance camshaft on a TPI runner engine.....

Ron B C4

Were you're heads Twisted Wedge?
Been looking at TF heads form LE and AI. Ported new larger valves. I would assume no problems with these. LE said the problems were with the Twisted Wedge and they are no longer made.

aklim

Correct. First sign of a problem was when they sent me a set of guide plates AFTER I purchased the heads and got the upgraded hardware. IIRC, I had to pay for it to be installed. A while down the road, I had an issue and found the spring was broken so I had a new one put in. Later on, I decided to pull the heads since I was fixing the oil leak in the China Wall and decided to see what the heads looked like and if they needed to be refreshed.

Took heads off and found that the #4 cylinder with the broken spring had crashed the valve into the piston, broken off a piece and scarred up the bore. Had to change the short block. Took the heads for testing and guess which side had the wobbly valves? They wobbled around in the head after the spring tension was relieved. It wasn't so much that the Twisted Wedge heads were bad, it was the QC that was bad since the other side was fine.

Yes, I decided to go TFS because it was cheaper and I mated it to the LPE short block which was stout enough. Was happy with the savings from not buying AFR until I got the bill for a new short block and trashed the old one. Kinda was the last straw that soured me on cheap fixes. If it is cheap, there is a reason for the price being low. Thanks but no thanks. I'll go for a middle of the road solution and pay more willingly today as opposed to paying even more tomorrow.

eutu1984

What piston cc and head cc combination are you running on your 383.

bjankuski

I would not rebuild the stock heads, too small of a runner and too small of a combustion chamber. I would use the trick flow 195 heads or something similar. I ran the 195 heads for 20,000 plus miles with no issues at all. I do not know who makes the summit heads, you should call them and find out and then make your decision.

pologreen1

AFR no question.

aklim

Didn't LPE used to make that part of his package? To rebuild the D-port head? Of course he probably worked the head enough to maximize it but would that be as efficient, dollar wise today when we can spend less on fluffing out a set of heads that are at a better starting point than the D-port heads?

eutu1984

LPE still makes them.

http://www.lingenfelter.com/mm5/merc...5#.VlUHwnarTb0