What is a good casting number for heads?

 

there are lots of good ones out there and it depends on what your doing with the engine and car. some good ones to look for are 416,601,062,906,462's all of these numbers are the last 3 digits of the casting. search the site for info and check mortec as well. hopefully some more knowledgeable people can give thier advice also

 

There are some decent factory castings out there, but there are a lot more really bad ones out there.

One important thing you didn't tell us is what you expect out of this engine.

Of the casting #'s mentioned above, 416 and 601 are 305 heads with 58cc (or smaller) chambers. If you put them on a 350, you will need to watch compression ratio. 062 and 906 are 350 Vortec heads, arguably the best factory production casting heads ever; but, you need a Vortec-specific intake manifold to use them (don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise), and valve lift can be limited (depending on your cam, you may or may not have to do something about that). 462 and 461 would be the old "camel hump" heads without accessory holes and with soft valve seats - not recommended. Don't spend extra money to get them - just get Vortecs. Vortecs will make more power, anyway.