SBC Heads?

[Sal Lubrano]

My friend came across these for his SBC 350 and he was told they were ported but no other information was available. I am not familiar with SBC heads. Can anyone tell me if the bowls are worked, runners were done, ect. Would like to know if these would be a good set of ported heads for a 350. I know the decks will still need to be check and magnafluxed for cracks but otherwise do they look like they have good work done to them. He is looking for some more power.

 

[Sal Lubrano]

one more photo

 

[GNTIM]

The runners have been port matched at least. The valves look stock...not stainless. One bowl looks shiny...maybe blended. Check to see if the rocker studs are screw in instead of pressed. You can search the web with the part # to see if it is a good casting to use. You probably would spend almost as much freshening them up as it would cost for a new set. SBC stuff is cheap.

 

[Sal Lubrano]

These are free. If I go pick them up. Are they worth the effort to install. Thank you for the help.

 

[tommynos]

Well they have screw in studs and guide plates which is good,and im guessing upgraded springs..Post a picture of the front of the heads (where the accesories mount)..

 

[Sal Lubrano]

Thank you for the info. I went to go get them and someone beat me to it. Oh well. No loss.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Don't feel too bad. Those heads are off of a 400 small block. The giveaway are the steam holes between the chambers.

Most 400's came with 882 casting heads, which are most likely what those are. 882 casting heads were built to be low hp low performance heads to pass smog checks during the emissions era of the 1970's.

For a get-you-around-the-block engine they're ok, but they're not really any good for performance. Even better is the ones made after 1974 were notorious for cracking.

Another tidbit....the 350's of the 1970's (except the LT1 Z28 engine) used that very same head, but didn't have the steam holes as they didn't require it. (only 400's did due to their Siamese bores)

 

[Sal Lubrano]

Wow! 87Regal3.8SFI you really know your Chevy motors. May I ask you one more question. What would be a good casting to look for? Maybe, one with smaller chambers to up compression a little?

 

["Turbo-T"]

Depends on how much compression you want to run. Also depends on your piston dome, etc.

A "good" production head by todays standards that works on a gen I small block would be a Vortec. They have 2 castings, a 906 and an 062. I forget which was the better but I want to say it's the 062.

If you want to go a little older, another good head was the 186 casting. They were used on engines like the 1969 302 found in Z28 Camaros as well as the 1970 Z28 Camaros that used the LT1 350.

If you want to go even older than that they used to have a "Camel Hump" head that was commonly found on 1962-1967 hipo 327 and 283 engines. They're casting numbers are usually 461 and 462. They were considered a real performance head in their day, but not so much by todays standards.

Both the 186 and 461/462 heads had I believe a 64 cc chamber, but in terms of flow, the Vortecs surpass both heads.