Surprise under the valve covers of my 383...
 

Well, today was the first time I've ever pulled the valve covers off of my 81's 383... I had to change the valve cover gaskets. But when I pulled off the valve cover, to my surprise, I found Crane Cams 1.52 Roller Rockers. Also, there was some sort of little bracket on all the pushrods. It says Manley on it, and there's a number on it. Not sure what it does though... Maybe to help prevent deflection? Nice... Then I looked at the casting numbers on the head, thinking I could figure out if these are stock heads or not. The casting number is 333882. Does anybody know if these heads are stock for an 81, and if not, are these heads any good? I looked on a website that said they were for 75-80, and had 76cc chambers. I'm not sure if 76cc chambers are good or bad though... Any help is appreciated...

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

Just found out those things between my pushrods are Manley Guideplates. Part number 42151. It keeps on gettin better...


[Modified by Jasonty, 4:58 PM 5/15/2004]

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

Corvette black book says not the stock head.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

It appears someone did some work to those heads, guideplates require screw in studs, stock is pressed in. Might have been resized for 2.02/1.6 valves if you are lucky although a cheap set of aftermarket heads would probably still flow better.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

I did a google search on your head #'s and found this on Chevy talk forum http://www.chevytalk.org/threads/sho...b=5&o=&fpart=1

"333882 70-80 1.94/1.50 150-180 HP 76 CC Chambers Intake flow 137.2 CFM Exhaust flow 95.4 CFM "

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (gdh)
 

So, not terrible heads, but not great either... Is that the conclusion?

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

I tend to agree with your comment, but to really bring your vette alive do as fevre states and look into getting an aftermkt set of heads, wether it be World Products, Dart, AFR etc. they will really awaken that stroker. :cheers:

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (gdh)
 

not top of the line but certainly better than the 462624s that originally belong on it. These are the same size chambers and runners, valves depending on L82/L84,L81,L83 for the 462624s but the 882s probably have larger valves. The MAIN benefit of the 882s is that they don't crack as easily as those junk 624s..they are terrible.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

I ran 882's for several years after I port matched, cleaned up the bowls and runners and added a three angle valve job with SS valves. My valve man put them on the flow bench and was surprised at how well they flowed.
Decent head for street use on pump gas that requires a low to middle compression ratio.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (flynhi)
 

the 882's flow pretty decent for a stock head, more than a lot of the double hump ones but that doesn't make them good, the chamber shape (open style 76cc) is what makes them poor, that shape does not make very good power at all.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Twin_Turbo)
 

So what's a really good head that would make excellent power for my 383? Money isn't really an object unless it gets past about $2000... I want something really good that will unleash my engines potential. When I put the true duals on my car, I realized how many factors there were that were holding my engine back. Somebody did an excellent job building some parts of the car, others were overlooked. Why would you add a 2.5" carb spacer to a 383, then throw on a 14x2" air filter? Kind've starving the engine, but that's what I'm working with. It's fun though, pulling things apart as I replace stuff, and finding out what was done to the engine to enhance it. It's definetely been gone over, just very inexpensively.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

afr 195 or 210s depending on rpm range (valvetrain, bottom end, intake & exhaust related).

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Jasonty)
 

I ran trick flows on my 355 and they performed very well. Probably not as good as AFR but a good bit less expensive.

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (flynhi)
 

Where did you find Trick Flows that were less expensive??????
I want some :banghead:

Re: Surprise under the valve covers of my 383... (Desertdawg)
 

dawg, those are the regular 23deg. trick flows, they are prtty darn cheap compared to others.