stock heads worth anything?

its been said many times...put 302 parts on a 347 and it'll make 302 power. If you can afford 700 now, save up a little longer and get some heads that will flow much better. You'll be a lot happier in the long run than if you got the gt40 heads.

trav_19 said:

700 huh...wow im getting a GREAT deal then...which would you recomend for a 347..with a 100 nos?..cam undecided..maybe custom?

Click to expand...

If you're leaning toward a 347 then AFR185s, Edlebrock Victor Jr or a set of ported TFS heads are the key. All the heads I have been talking about are 302 based. Except the FRPP Z304 heads which would work on bigger displacement engines.

JJ95GTID said:

Grady,

Turbo Swirl is associated to the Y303 heads.

Turbo Swirl 'Extra performance' are the X303/305 variety.

I will agree that the FRPP GT40 aluminum heads are dated.

The new FRPP Z304 heads (not a GT40) will perform with today's aftermarket offerings.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!

Several offerings in the Aluminum GT40 series
More options are always better

Now back to the original posters Question
and
better choices with a consideration of "Value for Performance"

1) You put $$$ into E7's ... springs and porting
2) You put $$$ into E7's ... springs and porting and valves
3) You put $$$ into GT 40/40p's springs and porting
4) You find used Aluminum Y or X heads and have them freshened
5) You buy new AFR, TFS, or Edel ... stud mount option only

I say you gotta be careful when doing 1-4 or you will have ...........
too much $$$ tied up in them
for
too little of a gain
and
you still got .... ped rockers

or in other words

Not good value for the amount of performance gained
IF
You sink too much in those heads

I see it as if you can get 1-4 for 50% of 5 ... consider it ... Maybe

If money is all that tight .................
I'd even consider AFR's with oem ped rockers to compare to 1-4

ALL THIS SAID TO SHOW!

OEM Iron heads can not always be a ..... "Good Value"
if
You consider all the options

Some may point out the option of Used AFR/TFS/Edel heads
but still .....
You most likely are gonna have to pay to have them freshened

Heads ... such a KEY part in a good combo
and
A whole lot of work to put em on

I say do all the research necessary
so
You only have to do it once!

You ought to do your cam of choice only once as well
You can always do the other stuff later if $$$ is tight

Grady

trav_19 said:

so you think i should start with a cam and go from there grady?

Click to expand...

I would not do a cam and later on do some heads

Too much work that way

Just do em together

That way you tear into the motor in a big way only once

The other stuff is no biggie compared to that job

I would rather do those two mods first
rather than
The tiny gain stuff most do at first like exhaust, tb, rockers and the like

At least that is ... if you're gonna commit to do the complete h/c/i thing

Of course if you are on a budget
you gotta man up and save up
or
You'll find you have spent a lot
and
then discover to your surprise .......... You're Still Slow

So many mods are so tempting
but
just don't make any power

I'll let you guess ... how I learned that

Grady

trav_19 said:

so you think i should start with a cam and go from there grady?

Click to expand...

My feeling was always this... you should start with a set of goals. Expectations you want with the car.

Then, if you're going custom cam, you call up the cam guy, tell him your goals, requirements, and expectations, and then he will tell you what to buy and grind you a cam to achieve said goals.

If you are going off the shelf cam, then the first thing I would buy is a nice set of HEADS! People will tell you to send your E7s to TMOSS... yeah thats cool, but I'd rather send a set of twisted wedge heads to TMOSS!!!

The valve train / head flow will determine cam limitations, and the intake choice is easy from there. Supporting goods are a piece of cake. It all starts with the heads though, IMO.

Adam

trav_19 said:

i like the intake grady is running but i looked up the specs and it said hp range was 4500 -7000...i want a lower hp band...i think the more reserch i do the more undecided i get.

Click to expand...

Well Trav

Those rule of thumb sayings are ... not always as they seem

At face value ... that statement looks like .........
the power band is gonna be between 4500 and 7000

I selected that intake for its ability to hold the power up in the higher range

however

1) I went self tune to help offset things
2) I selected LT's over Shorty's to help offset that intakes soft low end
3) I went custom cam to have a choice of efficient power band

At the time of all those decisions ..........

Most of the internet peeps poo pooed the Edel RPM for street use
also
Very few peeps at that time were using LT's for street use
also
Self tuning was all but unheard of as it was in its infancy
also

AND... IMHO ... This is the most important ... also

I had Paul Riva's dyno curves plotted in an Excell file

I've tried to show peeps over and over ............
The ability to compare dyno curves allows you to easily see ..........
Just how the combo is gonna behave

Sure, at that time ..........
there were several combos that were at 300rwhp give or take
but
only a handful had torque curves that looked like Paul's

The common trait of those few combos was a cam by Ed

Please, Please understand my meaning here Trav

I ain't trying to brag or show I'm smarter than most
but
If your do what most do ... you'll get what most got

Each decision had some logic behind it based upon .....
things I knew to be true

as for the things that were unknowns ............
Like why Paul's combo showed more desirable torque curves

A bit of research on my part
and
Then those unknowns were moved to the list of knowns

That way .... ALL combo decisions could be based upon knowns

How great is it to have other's results
good or bad
easily available to you with a simple search :
you keep the good
and
avoid the bad

Hope this makes sense

Just to show that while my intake choice was intended for higher RPM

A plan was put in place to lower it a bit
thus
Allowing me to take advantage of its top end
and
NOT suffer all that bad ... if any on the lower end

In the end ... the plan turned out better than I expected

Grady