Well, after pondering the possibilites of WorldTorquer 305 heads, and saying "what the hell was I pondering about", I am now in possession of a 350 long block that could use some (lots?) of freshening up, but runs quite well, and is bone dry. Mileage unknown.

Anyway, the heads are 882 casting.Not the greatest I know. I'm sure it's got dished pistons, a lame cam, etc.

Someone around here is selling "194" casting heads for $60/set. I can't find anything on these heads on Mortec. Does anyone know? I am looking to build a modest 325horse motor.
I am using the Qjet with new rods and an Edelbrock performer manifold, /w TES headers, catback, etc. I will probably go with a Comp XE (268?/262?) grind. This will be mated to a T5 trany, and now that I am outta school, I have time. Anyone else have any [junkyard] head suggestions? I would go Vortec, but I'm [attempting] to work within peanuts.

Later.

Hype,
1983 Pontaic TransAm.

 

Hype,

The "882" castings aren't all that bad. They have big chambers (76cc), so the pistons might be flat-tops with reliefs. You're probably right about the cam profile - most factory grinds are pretty lame.

I've never seen anything on "194" castings. Are you sure the seller didn't mean 1.94" valves, and didn't really know what castings he/she has? Just a guess.

The 882 heads can be good flowers with larger valves and some deep porting. If your heads are nominal (without a lot of core shift in the casting process) you can do some significant improvement with the mill/die grinder in the valve bowl area and the port ends of the runners. Trim the valve guide bosses to a taper and remove as much of the short radii on both intake and exhaust. Match the port openings and relieve the walls of the port back proportionately. If you can manage to get port volumes of about 160cc with 2.02" valve and deep bowls, you've probably taken about as much as you can for restriction without welding the castings for more machining. If you can manage to get the port openings to 1.850" x 0.950" and blend them back well, you'll have better heads than the S/Rs - better, at least, for higher RPM operation. The 350 should make adequate torque on the low end with the smaller port volumes, and removing the obstructions should make a noticable improvement at higher RPMs.

Of course you'll want to install screwed studs and enlarge the spring seats and springs for the new cam you're going to install, right? When you're all done, you'll want to clean up the bottoms of the heads to the tune of about 0.030" to get the compression up where it should be, around 10:1 or so.

Before you put the die grinder away, you'll probably want to get the ports on the manifold opened to mathc the heads as best you can.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

I've also heard the 882 casting works pretty good for a street engine buildup. Another good recommendation for factory heads is the 441 castings. I ran a set of these on my 350 and was quite happy with them. They came on a lot of 350's from about '69 to '72, so they're fairly easy to find. All I did to mine was install 2.02/1.60 valves, and had the intake ports matched to the intake manifold. You'll also want to run a flat top piston that will put you around 9.5 to 10:1 compression.



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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

 

Yeah, the guy probably meant 1.94" intake.. that would make sense, which would leave the heads open to be pretty much anything.

I think I will try a hand with the 882's, they are dime a dozen. Even so, I am a little weary of picking up the grinder. There is a place near me called "Heads Unlimited", my guess is this is their specialty, just a guess though. =)

I'm wondering if the intake leaves something to be deisred, the Performer. I rarely hit 5500RPM on the street, so it should suffice.

As for my cam, I was thinking the XE262 might be more suited to my RPM band then the XE268. (1200-5600?) as to (1600-5800). But once it's in, if I switch up to a RPM manifold... Maybe I'll play it on the conservative side.

I also have the opportunity to pick up a low-mileage 350horse/327 cam (I know, I know) for $25 bux! Canadian! That's like, 5 bux US! lol. The Compcam and springs will easily run me 500 bux here, so to be quite frank: Why is this cam garbage in so many people's minds? 25 bux! Common! It can't be that bad?!?

Right now I have to take care of little things, tires, clutch, a 3.73 open rear isn't gonna help. (sigh)

Thanks Vader,
Hype 1983 Pontiac TransAm.