SunsetInjected

187's everyone thinks they suck? has anyone ported a set and is there any flow numbers, i only see a set of ported 416 heads making 10 more HP throw out the whole operating rpm range over the 187 castings,
using the stock compression ratio as an example, now with that said would i be better off porting a set of 187's? it seems that they flow
better then even most ported chevy castings under 0.300 lift but ported they should be even better, i understand chevys idea for the swirl ports, but there are companies that make performance heads that have a swirl on the blows and since it adds a swirl to the combustion a 11 to 1 ratio on pump gas is vary achievable....
any ideas on what i should do? i have both 187s and 416's

flaming-ford

iTrader: (7)

416's simply do flow better but, 187s ported can flow 300+hp as shown my a couple users.

I beleive a ported set of 187s someone on here flowed and only had 180cfm intake flow.

A set of 416's was very very mildly ported on her and flowed 220 intake.

F-bird-88 i beleive has said that he's seen them flowing 230-240+ on the intake. In other words the 416 is 1 heck of a nice factory head all considering.

In the same instance though swirlports aren't paperweights like most will tell you though..... They can acheive flow #s that are plenty good for a mild performence motor.

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

Stock for stock the SP's flow more on the exhaust side. That is the more important side. Dewey316 showed an increase in power above 4200rpm when he went from stock 187's to ported 416's. The 187's did make peak torque sooner below 4200rpm. However, I have no doubt that had he ported his 187's his results would have been similar past that RPM point.

Refer to this thread

SInce you have both you will have to decide which head better suites your driving needs. If you run a low RPM motor where peak torque needs to be held at a low RPM range than you would want to run the 187's. If your car will see mostly high RPM's for track duty and or have steep gears with a warm cam, than the 416's would be the wiser choice.

SunsetInjected

What's the best compression ratio to run with 87 octane?

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Swirl does have some major advantages. Ive found my vortecs to be much less suceptable to detonation vs. the older large chamber smog heads.

One thing to keep in mind is that the exhaust isnt the only thing to be worried about. As far as the exhaust side goes, you can run a dual pattern cam with more duration on the exhaust side to help compensate. With the intake, the flow is quite critical because the only thing motivating the air to enter the chamber is the abient 14.7 psi of air pressure at sea level. With a poor flowing intake runner, there will be a good deal of pressure loss across the runner, which will be like running at altitude at higher RPMs. With the exhaust port, you can at least use some of the engines power and a dual pattern cam to help clear the exhaust out. Both the intake and exhaust flowrates are important, but as the 350 HO shows, you can still make a fair ammount of power even if you have **** poor flowing exhaust ports. It certainly isnt helping, mind you. With the intake, though, you cant make the power if the air never gets there to begin with.

IMO, I think both the 416's and the 187's have their place. The 416's will likely have more power potential if taken all out, but the 187's have swirl, which helps boost low end torque and fuel economy.