I have An 86 Z That has a Carbed 350 in it. I bought the car with this engine in it. when i checked this thing out is had 882 heads on it. roller rockers, mallory ignition, Shorty Headers, Edelbrock performer intake, flat top pistons with 4 reliefs and a .008 deck. the cam was broke when i got the car. i feel like this is a decent start to get to my 400 hp mark. the cam i have chosen is the Comp Cam XE274H. the only other thing i really need to decide is whether to home port and polish my 882 heads, And mill them to 70cc Chambers, Or look for a decent set of aftermarket ones, im looking for the cheepest way to get to my power goals from where i am now. and help would be appreciated

 

Aftermarket heads. Porting 882's just won't get you very far when it comes to your goals. If it did, you'de see a whole lot more people running them for the cost it takes to modify them (kind of like some of the stock 454 castings, for example...) Not cheap overall to buy new cylinder heads, but it IS cheap dollar-per-HP.

 

i understand completely. but where can a guy pick up a set of aftermarket heads for decent money? those things are expensive

 

Pick them up used, just make sure you look them over carefully. Craigslist will have them, but I'd say Ebay if you want a good way of making SURE you're covered. I picked mine up for $590 off Ebay fresh from the machine shop and ready to bolt on (minus rockers, studs, pushrods, etc). This question has popped up quite often, and here's my advice:

Vortec heads + a vortec intake for it. You figure $300 for the heads and another $150 for the intake on average assuming everything is ready to bolt in and in nice shape. You could probably get them in good shape for $350 for the pair if you know where to look (I personally bumped into a pair for $320 a few months ago). So let's just say on the average side once everything is said and done, $450 right?

Well, how fast do you want to go? Want more? A nice aluminum AFR/Trickflow/Brodix/DART/ set goes for about $1000 used on a decent deal; sometimes a little more depending on what all goes with them. You will be able to keep your old intake though, so that's more money in your pocket there if you go this route.

What am I getting at? You're halfway to an AWESOME set of heads @ $450 (or actually, real close if you're interested in the DART Iron Eagles like I went with which are also awesome heads to use). Unless you're just wanting a quick street cruiser, I heavily suggest aftermarket heads so you're not backtracking and potentially wasting money that you could've spent on something nice. Waiting sucks, I know. I'm still a college student, and I barely work part time these days so I know how it goes.. but I still saved my pennies because I definitely did not want to waste the little money I do have.

 

the problem with vortecs is i would have to machine the heads for screw in studs and guide plates to use the roller rockers that i already have on the engine because they are not self aligning. Then i would have to buy a different intake to bolt to them. Then i would have to spend another 150-200 to get a decent set of springs to handle the xe274H cam

 

What about these? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PAR-2151/ . I know 735 aint cheap but its the cheapest new ones i could find... i could keep my intake and roller rockers and still get the vortec combustion chambers and bigger valves. Anything cheaper that ive missed?? any better deals out there?

 

Or Maybe these? http://www.ebay.com/itm/327-350-CHEV...sories&vxp=mtr . These look halfway decent and if i treat the ol lady to dinner she said she would give the go ahead to buy them... LOL. what do u guys think? Worth the money?

 

195-200CC heads are a better choice. I wouldn't go with 185's if it were my choice. Can't vouch for PROSTAR heads, and I've heard good and bad things about Patriot. I've heard more good things about their Ford heads (I play on both sides of the pond) but I don't know anyone who's used them on a sbc. There's a few guys on here that have, though. Try searching PATRIOT HEADS and see what you dig up.

I still vote Dart Iron Eagles if you want to keep cost down. Dart makes great heads, just make sure you get the 200CC design if you decide to go with one of the older castings. The newer designs are better though, so I wouldn't worry so much with them.

Just for reference: I'm also running the XE274, a Edelbrock Airgap RPM, and Dart 200cc heads with 1.6 roller rockers. This is on a 355.. so I also had the same questions as you at one point.

 

I have decided on the patriot 2151 heads. I have heard good things about them in my reading thru this forum. plus they should work great with the XE274 If i buy them assembled. should make good midrange power and the shorter runners on the 2151s should keep my torque curve a little lower in the rpm