Well...I finally have these things done...set of 416's port/polished and I am slappign them onto the car tonight.

From you guys who have done this before, any words of wisdom??? anything which is a little "trickey"?? I wouldnt really think so...but just checking before I crack into her tonight.

D

 

Only hard part is the ground strap on the back of the head. Try to find a cheap old wrench (forgot size) and grind it down so it fits between the ground strap and the head.

 

Hey chuck...so the other stuff I sort of know about are the bolt holes on the front for the accessory brackets (missing 1 is ok) and that the newer style manifold the bolt holes will have to be "adjusted" to make it fit on the older style heads......and then lots of tuning to get it going well . Anyother words of wisdom??

thanks,
Dave

 

Best advice i have, is turn on some good ol' classic rock, drink a couple of beers, and enjoy the wrenching, it will be the fun part of the process.

Best of luck, let us all know how it goes, and I expect tuning results/questions, when i check back in on monday!

 

Lol....the rock and the beers are a given Dewey!!
As for the tuning questions...ya they will be comming but not this weekend...I might try and get some data logs this weekend...but no promises.....I know the tuning/data logging I should have gotten into things before the head swap and Cam swap I did last year...but I will get around to it sometime......this will probably "force" me to get into it......keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get it running well enough just to make it home after the swap.....

Thanks Guys!
Dave

 

Nah, nothing too bad. I went with the vortecs so my manifold had to be of a different bolt pattern.

It'll be fun but just expect complications, which Im sure you are lol. I agree with Dewey, but I usually put on some good metal and then get to work

 

Pay close attention to all of the vacuum hoses when you put things back together. That was my problem.

Are you doing cam? If you are take a good look at the water pump. If it's old, might be a good time to replace it.

Here's a pic for ya. For inspiration.

 

Make sure the plugs are out of the heads, so you can install your fan switch on one and the temp sender in the other one. What thickness head gaskets are you using?

 

Well they are on there.....and things went very smooth other than 1 snapped header bolt. The only thing preventing us from finishing things was that we didnt have a drill bit to re-align the center bolt holes in the manifold to attach to the "new" heads and we were too lazy to head out to grab one saturday....lol

So....thursday night is going to be the "finishing" day where we slap the intake back on her and fire her up....should be interesting....I will post some pics for you guys when it is all back together....but man do those "new" heads look nice on there!

D

 

What do you think of your #416 heads? I've got a set that came off my '84 Camaro 305 4bbl. Would I be better off getting the #416 heads ported & polished, with new & bigger valves OR going with a $500 set of Vortec heads & a Vortec TBI intake(how much $ does one cost?)?
I'm just not sure which way to go? About how much does a good P&P job and new valves cost for the #416 heads?

 

I dont know Chevypower....for me the 416 was a good choice because I already had them...and I ported/polished them myself...then fired them out to have the seals/guides redone etc...so I was able to keep costs down...but its all the little things which add up. I didnt bother with bigger valves simply because I am not going for a "fire breathing 305 TBI"...just something which has a bit more pop to it and runs decent (the 350 in my buddies garage is for that...lol).

All in all from my first rip with the new heads on the car I am very pleased and that is without any real tuning.....it NEEDS computer work and I am sure there are a couple other bugs to be worked out ....but all in all I thought she pulled much harder last night when I took it out for a rip.

 

Hey let's see the pics!!!!!

 

I will see what I can dig up when I get my digital camera back home (its in the car at my buddies place)....I will be sure to post a couple pics