anyone out there ever use 64 aluminum heads from a 300 on a 215 ? I was planning on doing this but I just noticed that the 300 heads have less head bolts.
Lots have, and most don't use or tighten the outer bolts on a Buick 215 or Rover V8 either. Uneven head gasket clamping. The large chambers will drop compression quite a bit. Lots more info on the BritishV8 site.
Ta performance has hi performance heads and edelbrock intake for 215. Could be a better option depending on what your goals are
I’m going to run a blower, and the engine is a stock 9:1 , so the drop in compression is what I was counting on, also better breathing due to the bigger valves and ports. So, 300 heads will work on the 215 ? Even without that bottom row of bolts ?
Pull the heads , measure and use a compression calculator. Just because the factory “rated” the compression at a certain number, it’s definitely not. The 10.2 to 1 350 and 455 measure up closer to 9.5-9.6 with steel shim head gasket at .020, and replacement gaskets average .040 . So thats 9.2 actual. So you may want to find your final compression as it may be much lower then you want. And 9.0 is not too high for boost. Makes for more torque. E85 is the cooler running fuel for boost with a higher octane.
I used the 300 heads years ago with the 11-1 200HP factory pistons. Probably really 10 something. Steel shim gasket. I didn't calculate compression then but Dan Jones figured about a 2 point drop. Rover did away with the bottom bolts in their later motors. The T/A heads are the best but big bucks. One problem with the 300 heads is the rocker stand bolts pulling out. The aluminum they used was soft. All threaded holes can be an issue. Use steel inserts for the rocker stand bolts especially.
