we crank 6500 with a blower. only issue in 4yrs is a blown head gasket. just forged piston and rods with the 1.88 bearings. would I recommend everybody does this combo.. no way. when I did this combo, I hugged and kissed and loved and talked to the block. I was going to unchartered territory. that said, you can buy your forged slugs, rods and crank and whatever else you want, but the BLOCK will be the determining factor. I don't think great blocks are that common. the block is/was not made for extreme performance. just too thin in a lot of places and no way to add metal, (so-called 'add on wheel') to help it. adding a girdle does nothing really when stress and vibes and other factors are traveling thru-out the iron. could spend hours talking on this piece of metal, but don't want to. maybe I'm wrong, but I look at it according to my r&d machining background. just my .02
Yup, I was able to save it off Facebook, and then I uploaded it to my Youtube account. Didn't expect to be able to do that, but it worked.
So back on topic, the sbb 350 aluminum heads. Here's some of the challenges we are finding out with the factory iron heads; The factory port is a sort of a swirl port design that mostly flows on the shrouded side of the valve. If I were to start from scratch with a sbb 350 aluminum head I would NOT start with the factory designed port and then try to make them flow like a race head. What I WOULD do is get the air to flow on both sides of the valve like most other successful flowing small block aftermarket heads available do. Starting out with a blank slate and slightly changing the valve angle to get them on the centerline of the cylinder would be the first thing. Then I like what TA did and move the ex. valve over so bigger valves would fit on both sides and the intake wouldn't get to close to the edge so it doesn't get shrouded with a bigger valve.(is what I understand what TA has done) Then I would go one step further and open up the port on the side close to the center so the air flows more so on both sides of the valve than just the shrouded side like the factory heads do. Getting rid of that swirl port design should help them flow possibly over 300 cfm like the other 14* small block aftermarket heads available do.(some of the 14* stuff flow 340 + cfm right out of the box! for anyone wondering) A symmetrical port usually will out flow a swirl type port because the swirl port will go sonic WAY before a symmetrical port will. Which basically when the air speed goes sonic means that its all done flowing anymore air because its already flowing as fast as it can at that point. Swirl ports are great for low end torque, not so much for high RPM HP though. A symmetrical port can be dialed in to give both low end torque AND high RPM HP if done correctly for its application. But it is still a trade off if someone would want more high RPM HP they would loose a on the low end(unless they were to add cubes). Not that big of a deal if you know the gearing will be changed so its optimized for the combo. That is what I think the challenges have been to get these puppies to flow! That stupid factory swirl port design that it looks like TA possibly carried over to their heads.
Hey folks I am going to rebuild my SBB, very mild build w/ fitech F.I. for street use. I will need to go through my heads, costing some money. I am constricted to using factory cast exhaust manifolds. In the board's opinion, other than weight & the 'cool factor', would I see any benefit to these aluminum heads vs. my stock ones? Thanks -
Hi, the fact that you are using manifolds, and being such a mild build I would say no to the alum heads. It shouldn’t cost much to freshen up your iron heads.
Depends on your build. Are you gonna run 11 to 1 compression or higher?and how big of a cam ?overlap/duration ? And what is your goals on power ? Mild is a blanket statement. It can mean anything. And alot of pistons are much lower in compression then rated. You can be way off on your estimates. They will gain some power. But you would be better off with atleast 10 to 1 and a cam with atleast 500 -550 lift with the aluminum heads
I have a bone stock (manifolds, intake, heads, bore, everything) '70 SP 350 with thicker headgaskets (about 9.25:1 compression, give or take .25), and a crower level 3 cam. Scoots pretty good, 211hp to the wheels. about what an average 86/87 grand national in dead stock tune puts out. 9.5:1, crower level 3 cam, some headwork, and a good quadrajet will do wonders, no need for fitech. set your qjet up right, runs like fuel injection. I daily drive my car, it starts perfectly fine in -20*f weather. It'd start better but the battery don't like it that cold lol.
Id like to see THAT engine dyno'd WITH the aluminums. Then bolt on the irons, to see how much of a cork the irons are on that particular combo.
They won’t dyno that engine... It would be silly anyways it would loose about 80 Hp with stock heads... The next step is TA sending me my heads bare and non machined. Then my head porting pro will do his thing. We will be doing lots of dyno testing. Scotty brown will also get a set so he can begin the CNC porting program. The best determination of actual HP is a quarter mile run and then calculate the HP needed to run that MPH. I know TA will run the car at the track, they just don’t typically dyno thier engines.
I thought Jr. ported those irons that ran the 12.62 I dont think you'll get 80 hp over ported irons, would be nice though..... Thought Jr. said they were going to dyno it at end of video?
there you go all a secret and how do we know it will lose 80 hp unless it is a dyno not hard to do pull off stand and stick it on
I/we aren't concerned about THAT engine and the power it produces, were just interested in HOW MUCH the difference is between irons, and the new aluminums on the test mule (TA's engine) That engine could produce 150 hp with irons and 200 with aluminums, THATS what I/we are curious about.
At least if Haydn ever gets a set, we have dyno results from his engine now, albeit running pig rich...we could still compare the old iron to the new aluminum. He plans on dynoing again, once we get the FI Tech installed...then, if he ever gets a set of aluminium heads...do it again.
"Well I guess you guys need to get in line for a set of heads and start doing your own dyno testing............" I knew a billion dollar company that went from hero to zero all because of the same attitude. they lost billions in sales. I worked for that billion dollar company. a lot of people got laid off because of that attitude. also hurt the local communities and the state. you probably have used their product if you fly. that company is still in business, but not like it use to be. that company is pratt and whitney jet engines. now what attitude do we use and whom do we buy UNTESTED products from.
