Stage 1 Heads

[Heg87t]

Hey,

Are 8445 heads without the EGR hole considered "Stage 1" heads?

What are the benefits of Stage 1 heads over stock?

 

[blue-t]

8445 are stock prod head , not shure what you mean stage 1 head, some vendors call there ported with egr filled with lead stage 1 .need more info on your stage ?

 

[Heg87t]

Picture

8445 are stock prod head , not shure what you mean stage 1 head, some vendors call there ported with egr filled with lead stage 1 .need more info on your stage ?

Looks like this. Think you might have hit on it there. Stock with EGR filled

 

[turbofabricator]

The actual StageI casting number is 6293. The 8445 and the 6293 are essentially the same head. Some production 6293 have the bridged end water ports, too. All StageI heads have the bridged water ports, and no EGR holes drilled. The cavity is there, just not finished drilled. Most head porters fill the EGR cavity all the way to the manifold flange with aluminum, and then machine flat.
(disclaimer: some other StageI castings "may" have been released by GM, but I'm pretty sure the above info is accurate. I have personally had all of the above heads on my bench at one point or another over the last 21 years.)

 

[Heg87t]

Thanks

The actual StageI casting number is 6293. The 8445 and the 6293 are essentially the same head. Some production 6293 have the bridged end water ports, too. All StageI heads have the bridged water ports, and no EGR holes drilled. The cavity is there, just not finished drilled. Most head porters fill the EGR cavity all the way to the manifold flange with aluminum, and then machine flat.
(disclaimer: some other StageI castings "may" have been released by GM, but I'm pretty sure the above info is accurate. I have personally had all of the above heads on my bench at one point or another over the last 21 years.)

Thanks Ken.

I was looking at buying these but can't prove there are anything different than stock 8445 heads.

 

[Mike Licht]

There is a stage1A that uses a different rocker and has a larger port but those are VERY rare, as I recall 57 sets made
Mike

 

[WE2Regal]

The photo you attached appears to be a set of 8445 heads used for oil testing in from the mid 1980's through late 1990's. They had the EGR and heat crossover ports deleted. They are very hard to find because GM never meant for them to be released to the public.

 

[ijames]

The photo you attached appears to be a set of 8445 heads used for oil testing in from the mid 1980's through late 1990's. They had the EGR and heat crossover ports deleted. They are very hard to find because GM never meant for them to be released to the public.

Several years ago someone had 75-100 sets of these for sale. I think it was David Chase. He called them "Stage Jr." heads. The real Stage I heads from Buick were cast iron with bigger ports even though they kept the same casting number as the then-stock heads 6293. Buick moved on to the Stage II heads and the specs and tooling for the Stage I's were sold to M&A who cast them in aluminum, and then later they sold everything to TA Performance who improved them a lot and is now selling them.

 

[Heg87t]

Any good?

The photo you attached appears to be a set of 8445 heads used for oil testing in from the mid 1980's through late 1990's. They had the EGR and heat crossover ports deleted. They are very hard to find because GM never meant for them to be released to the public.

To these offer any performance advantage over stock?

 

[WE2Regal]

I have several sets of them. The biggest advantages I saw with them were:
1) They were only used for 60 hours of testing and are generally in great condition.
2) They are cheap to buy and shouldn't cost any more (probably less) than a set of used regular production heads.
3) Most head porters fill in those passages anyway, so a little more time and money can be saved because this is already done.

 

[Mike Licht]

Buick moved on to the Stage II heads and the specs and tooling for the Stage I's were sold to M&A who cast them in aluminum, and then later they sold everything to TA Performance who improved them a lot and is now selling them.

This is not true at all. Buick destroyed all the Stage1A tooling and info. The M&A head was designed by Ted at M&A with the help of Kenny Duttweiler. The tooling would not have worked for aluminum anyway.
Mike

 

[ijames]

This is not true at all. Buick destroyed all the Stage1A tooling and info. The M&A head was designed by Ted at M&A with the help of Kenny Duttweiler. The tooling would not have worked for aluminum anyway.
Mike

Mike, I know that the tooling for cast iron would not have directly worked for aluminum but if you wanted to copy them in aluminum it would be nice to have the iron tooling as an example with all the cores already worked out for the water jackets, etc. I have heard both stories over the years, that Buick destroyed the tooling and that M&A bought it - you were around back then and knew the people so if you say Ted designed his head from scratch I'll take your word for it.

 

[turbo nasty]

Power Source book says the Satge 1 heads have a better Throat cut angle on the ports vs. the stock ones I believe it vs 60 degree as well as some of teh other mentioned stuff.

Mike thast some cool info on the 1A's never knew it