TTA Heads?

[86brick]

I've heard the 89 TTA has different cylinder heads than the TRs... If so whats the difference between the heads on each car??? Which set of heads has better flow numbers??? Thanks brick

 

[TurboTA3.8]

they are 2 different heads and are not interchangable if u have a regal and u want to put tta heads on it u need a set of tta headers but if u have a tta and u want to put gn heads on it forgetaboutit its custom header time big money as far as flow tta flows better then a gn head stock to stock but a ported gn will kill a ported tta head

george

 

[86brick]

Thanks for the info. TurboTA3.8... I kind of figured the TTA's heads stock flowed better, because guys have gotten the TTA's in the 10's with no internal mods... When I do the heads on my car, which will not be anytime soon hopefully, it will be because the motor went cause I'm having too much fun with the car now with just bolt ons, but it's nice to know the GN heads ported flow better than the TTA's... if the TTA's heads flowed better ported I'd probably be shelling out the big bucks for a pair later and also this would mean you guys would have a major advantage over us when it comes time to rip apart the motor!!!

 

[TTA89]

Why would you get TTA heads? Just buy GN1s, stock out of the box they outflow Buick and TTA heads and for the cost and trouble of converting your topend over to TTA you'd be way ahead with GN1s! And faster too

 

[86brick]

Good point TTA89, however, I drive my car daily and have talked to people who have had the GN1 Aluminum heads and they have told me they have problems with the heads warping and cracking do to the heat and remember I live in Florida!!! Also I talked to one guy at the track and he told me he his car went backwards running a slower 11.2 compared to his champion irons that he ran a 10.7 with!!! What gives man somebody told me before that this was some older design that they fixed, but I just don't know and I doubt I will be doing the heads anytime soon since I put the double roller chain on and don't want to go into the motor until I have to and honestly the car is plenty fast with the little bolt ons I have and I like telling people I just got bolt ons after I hand them their ass and they have heads, cam, intake, and occasionally another poweradder The look on their face is PRICELESS!!!

 

[bsdlinux]

Warping and Cracking

I'm not buying the warping amd cracking theory.

I know people that run aluminum heads on the street with no problems. I'm not saying that the people you know aren't having problems but it really comes down to preparation and installation.

Aluminum heads are the way to go. They give the engine much more room for knock. My friend has a 383 stroker chevy 11.5:1 and aluminum heads. ( this engine puts out tons of heat) No knock, only because the aluminum heads saves his ass.

As far as going backwards: the guy you talked to sounds like he knew what he was doing going 10.7
Probably missed the right setup after installing the the Aluminum heads, might have lost some low-end torque becuase of the better flow.( IE the TTA has less low-end torque because of the heads) Anyway I will not second guess here.

Here is the link that shows both stes of heads:

http://www.li.net/~rsalerno/ttaheads.htm

Good luck, sounds like you are having fun....

 

[86brick]

I'm sure everyone doesn't have these problems I've heard of bsdlinux, but I think when the motor needs a rebuilt in my car I'll go with the champion irons, because I've heard and seen nothing but good results with these heads and with the port matched intake, although I heard champion is a little slow getting the heads and intake sent back... And yeah I am having a lot of fun with the car and I'm sure I'll have more with the cold weather on its way... just gotta watch that boost gauge so I don't blow those head gaskets and have to take the motor apart early thanks for the info guys Brick

 

[bigdwg03]

why would the GN heads flow better then the TTAs when both are ported? do the GN heads have more mean in them????

 

[89ICBM]

they are 2 different heads and are not interchangable if u have a regal and u want to put tta heads on it u need a set of tta headers but if u have a tta and u want to put gn heads on it forgetaboutit its custom header time big money as far as flow tta flows better then a gn head stock to stock but a ported gn will kill a ported tta head

george

Howdy 86brick & TurboTA3.8!

From what I have learned, head performance depends on who did the porting and what they are trying to achieve. I can't argue flow number differences since I haven't seen any from the buick side but, if one is baseing their veiwpoint on numbers alone they may be making an incorrect judgement. It very well may be that the buick has more meat to remove allowing them to have larger ports over the TTA (which are buick heads by the way) but, hoging out the buick heads for high flow numbers doesn't achieve the desired effect (in my veiw). To me, the desired effect is velocity combined with as much volume that can be produced without compromising velocity. This can be displayed by a simple physics test using a childs toy. Take a pinwheel and your water hose. Turn the water on half open and see how fast the wheel spins. Then turn the water on all the way, take note of this. Now hold your thumb over part of the nozzle of the hose and take note of how fast that wheel is turning now? The volume is the same, the velocity has increased exponentially. We run forced induction motors, the faster we can spin that turbin wheel, the more air we get into the motor. JUST SAYIN!

 

[BuckeyeTroop]

Wow, a 9 yr old thread brought back to life. Good info though.

 

[89ICBM]

Wow, a 9 yr old thread brought back to life. Good info though.

Howdy BucheyeTroop!

I rememmber the discussion just not all the names involved but, I do believe Razor was a participent, we called him Julio then. I don't rememmber what handle I was using at the time, hell, it could have been beerman or just Frank. Damn! Now I feel old. HA! For awhile my sig said:
Watch the oil pressure, water tempreture and keep the damned thing off thu fence!

 

[bigdwg03]

so do the GN heads have more meat? also dont the pontiac heads have studs and rocker arms instead of a shaft?

 

[89ICBM]

so do the GN heads have more meat? also dont the pontiac heads have studs and rocker arms instead of a shaft?

Howdy bigdwg03!

Just an observation here. Your handle is very close to the BiggDogg. He's the guy that own's the drop top TTA that was made for Betzel, the head of PAS and 2 of the original mules, well, maybe 3 and he also own's the original TTA display motor that Pontiac used to go from dealer to dealer. When I met him he even had a MSO TTA. Just a point of interest.
Now to get to your question. I can't speak to the Buick heads since I have no experience with them as I have stateted. The comments I made were just a talking point to speculate on a previous statement made by another member. I can tell you that the TTA has 6 studs on the exhaust valves. They are double ended studs that are used to hold the valve covers down. The TTA covers are bolted in the middle and the buicks are bolted around the lip. You are correct on both points that the buicks have a shaft style rocker set up and the TTA's are independent. Both use the same style rocker arms. Both cars can be converted to rollers but, that's another thread.