In my switch from the SuperRam to the HSR, I decided that I would port the HSR a little and do a match port job. I was very surprised when I put the 1205 gasket on the HSR, how off the casting was. I have to remove 1/8" of material from several walls of the HSR. Not a happy camper right now.

 

I agree that out of the box there is work to do to get the ports to match up to a 1205 gasket. On the other hand I had a Superram that I never installed. I read several stories about people that couldn't get the SR to seal correctly because the lid was warped and the screws that held the lid on would strip the threads on the plenum really easy. Plus I paid about $700 for a used SR vs $400 for the HSR (used but never installed). I'll tell you what really burned me is when I snapped a rocker stud on my AFR heads after 150 miles just getting to work (doing 35 mph). Of course AFR sent me a replacement set no charge but that didn't help with the tow or the time lost at work. It may not be right but to me most aftermarket products are not on par with factory quality. Just like after I had my motor assembled I read about the melling oil pumps that had a casting flaw and were prone to cracking or the fel-pro 1010 headgaskets that were failing due to some change.

P.S. Install the plenum on the base and see how the opening for the plenum matches up to the top of the base (with no TB installed of course). I also did some grinding on the flat lip at the top of the runners.

 

I removed about half of a 1-pound coffee can of chips to get my HSR matched to the 1205, and straightening out the 4 offset runners. Probably had about 6 hours of die-grinder time invested. Was it worth the effort performance-wise? YES.

I also had a rocker stud failure with my AFR heads. They sent me a new set of ARP studs the next day, but of course I had to do the installation (remove all spark plugs, loosen intake runners to get access to remove valve covers, adjust valves....)

Bill

 

burnout91: straightening out the 4 offset runners.

what do you mean buy that? I havent purchased mine yet but am planning on it soon an plan on porting it out and gasket matching it.

 

What he means of offset runners is what I've been trying to fix. The runners seem to be offset to one side, whereby the runner meets the 1205 gasket dead nuts on one side, while the opposite wall needs to be moved over 1/8"; kid you not! As you hold the base upside down and look up the runners, you can easily see what the issue is.

I have probably removed half coffee can of aluminum chips in my endeavor to port match the HSR to the 1205s. I have put in maybe 8 hours on the head to intake matching and 6 hrs on opening up the top of the runners and port matching the plenum to the base/runners.

 

Yep, i ported mine to my AFR's port size which is almost like 1205 but not exactly.

Just about all manifolds need some clean up work.

And yes 4 runners are straight into the head, and the other 4 are curved. I may report mine some more this year to clean it up more but i was thinking of going to a single plane EFI setup for better distribution

 

What single planes are you looking at? The professional products super hurricane looks interesting to me although it might be alittle big for a 383. What do you think?

 

i was looking at the victor E, but FAST also has one but its abit more money. Holley has a decent one too.

I think they would be a good setup for a 383 with a decent cam and good compression.