What AFR Heads for My combo?

90LX306 · Sep 16, 2003

I will be buying new heads sometime in the near future and i am unseure of what i wanna go with. i know it will be an AFR head but i dont know between the 165's and the 185's. My combo is a balanced 306 w/JE/srp flat tops,trick flow street heat (eventually will go to track heat/systemax) 1.6 rr's,24'lbers, 76mm C&L, 1 3/4 longtubes, and im gonna go with a steeda #19 for emissions reasons. Last season this combo with a comp xe 274 cam, ebrock performers w.56 cc chambers (angle milled) cleaned up ports and worn out valve guides put out 285 rwhp w/4-500 miles on the shortblock.I want to make over 300rwhp this year which i had thought would have happened last year but i want to do it emissions legal this year. Also next year i will be adding an S-trim or P1sc and will run around 10-12 lbs. Which head to go with? the 165's or 185's? I know i will loose a lot of lower end with the 2.02 valve's on the 185's but will they be better for my future blower combo? Thanks to everyne in advance.

5.0GT-Neal · Sep 16, 2003

I would prolly go with the 185 60cc b.c ur goin FI

neal

90LX306 · Sep 16, 2003

yea im thinkin of goin with the 185's. While they will still be too much head for my 306 the 165's dont leave quite as much room to grow since they come cnc ported and with smaller valves. And as we all know, motors only stay as long as they dont blow/ and this stock block has allready had a crack fixed prior to me soo i think it would be better to plan ahead and give me more room to grow.

PURESTREET5006 · Sep 16, 2003

KiD_5.0_StAnGa said:
yea im thinkin of goin with the 185's. While they will still be too much head for my 306 the 165's dont leave quite as much room to grow since they come cnc ported and with smaller valves. And as we all know, motors only stay as long as they dont blow/ and this stock block has allready had a crack fixed prior to me soo i think it would be better to plan ahead and give me more room to grow.

The 165's would be nice for that small block...How much compression are you gonna run

90LX306 · Sep 16, 2003

Im pretty sure its 9:1, i know im torn between the 2 but me shelling out all the money here i only wanna do this once and i think if i go with the 185's ill be set for a long time and they will still give me good power

PURESTREET5006 · Sep 16, 2003

9.1 comp..Get the smaller heads 165's

90LX306 · Sep 16, 2003

what about in 2 years when i split the stock block and then build a 331? Then i have heads that might be too small to support a blown stroker? thats why im trying to weigh out my options here because the heads wont be strictly for this n/a 306 that i will run for 1/2 a year, im just lookin for what will be my best investment since theyre around 25$ different. i have heard soo much good about the 165's on 302/306's but i have also heard that they dont give you quite as much room to grow as the 185's

guerro · Sep 16, 2003

KiD_5.0_StAnGa said:
what about in 2 years when i split the stock block and then build a 331? Then i have heads that might be too small to support a blown stroker?

In 2 years ?? Hell, there will be something a lot better than the AFR's out 2 years from now.

5.0GT-Neal · Sep 16, 2003

if ur gonna get the 331 espeically blown get the 185 ported

they may be a little over blown for the 302 but...

i dunno u can always sell them if you go with the 331..

neal

90LX306 · Sep 16, 2003

umm yea in 2 years? how long have twisted wedges been around? what about performers and rpm's? a helluva lotta people are running those heads and people are still buying them. unless you wanna jump in and give me some more money in 2 years to buy another set of 1k plus heads? Im tryin to do this once and wanna do it right. Im 17 now, and in 2 years i will still be in college and still be making basically no money so im tryin to find what will best suit me both now and in the long run. Maybe if I was out makin 40k plus a year i could think about throwin a grand every 2 years on a new set of heads, but i dont think i could do it w/my 300 dollars every 2 weeks! lol Im thinking why not get something now that will perform good, and will perform even better with each new mod, then getting sometihng that makes my current combo great, but runs out of room as each mod comes.

guerro · Sep 17, 2003

****, then it sounds like you answered your own question. Get the 185's and be done with it.

ScatStroker · Sep 17, 2003

If I were you...

I'd buy a set of 165's w/ small chambers and bump the compression as high as I could for the time being. At the price that AFR's are reselling at I'd buy a set of 185's and sell the 165's when the time comes.

For people on a budget and planning a blower 'down the road' the now solution for at least a year or two is the way to go IMO.

$.02

Brian

donsbad68 · Sep 17, 2003

185's are too big for that setup stick to 165's and love the torque.

Dustin

Unstable racing of OKla

QDRHRSE · Sep 17, 2003

165's or 185's

I've heard that the 165's and 185's are the same head/casting. The 185 has more material taken out of it. You could always open up the 165's in the future. For now 185's would hurt you. No matter what, even if I'm wrong about the castings, the 165's will work much better. If your car is not a dedicated race car and sees most of its time on the street a 185 is definitely the wrong head for you.

PURESTREET5006 · Sep 17, 2003

QDRHRSE said:
I've heard that the 165's and 185's are the same head/casting. The 185 has more material taken out of it. You could always open up the 165's in the future. For now 185's would hurt you. No matter what, even if I'm wrong about the castings, the 165's will work much better. If your car is not a dedicated race car and sees most of its time on the street a 185 is definitely the wrong head for you.

I have a dedicated race car and i have AFR 165'S we run great as per class rules.

Dark Knight · Sep 17, 2003

165 abd 185's are the same casting.. the exhaust ports on both heads are the same.. the intake shouldnt be that bad since you'll be running boost... and you can open them up to the size of the 185's if you want..

drgn5.0 · Sep 17, 2003

185's are definitely NOT too big for that setup. They will help for the charger as well.

90LX306 · Sep 17, 2003

ok some think 185's many think 165, baasically i am not really thinking of the power with this combo, im not gonna bump compression cuz my last heads were 56cc chambers and on sunoco 94 in the summer it was pingin like a basterd. I see that you can open the 165's up later. But then im paying more on something that i could get for 30 dollars if i buy the bigger ones nowmore instead of paying over 100 or however much it costs to port, then im not even sure if i can add bigger valves to the 165's but then im paying for that too. How much will I really lose with the 185's? I mean ive seen the 185's with the stock cam on a 302 it was like 2 hp less than the 165's, i didnt see the torque which im guessing was a bigger seperation. Some people are saying the 185's will be ok and I honestly dont wanna go through taking off the heads in a yr or 2, rebuil;ding them, then trying to seel them and buyin another set of used 185's, i bought used before and got screwed so i dont tihnk ill buy used heads again. Thanks for all the help guys

MillCreekMafia · Aug 22, 2004

you know i was just wondering this same question, but it seems like no one can agree on what is right. However i'm going to be going with a Twin Turbo setup. I'm gonna get the 185's. Don't be scared haha

What AFR Heads for My combo?

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