Can anyone tell me how much faster will the stage 1 track eliminator heads be over my ported and polished big port 430 heads?
Is this a trick question?uzzled: Out of the box they will out flow your ported 430 heads. They generall flow 270/200 intake/exhaust. With port work you should be able to get 650-700 hp out of them. Faster? Definitely. But I have a hard time believeing that what you have wont do more unless your heads are really screwed up or you have a bad cam or something. What type stock rockers do you have? Are they aluminum, stamp steel, T/A Stamp steel with the beefed up shaft? Are you sure your rockers aren't bent in half or something? I didn't think any type stock rocker would take the spring pressure from a 408s cam valve spring. YOu could be giving up alot of HP from running a stock rocker set up from rocker arm and shaft flex. .
The head were ported a exs and flowed in the 290 area and the rocker arms are the original ones off of the 430 motor.
If your 430 heads currently flow in the 290 range, then it would make no sense to not do any porting on the alum heads. The alum heads out of the box flow right at 280 on the intake and 180 on the exhaust, but is very easy to get the heads to 320 to 330 on the intake and 220 to 230 on the exhaust. They are way better heads than the iron stuff. Jim Burek
I second that,BUY SOME ROLLER ROCKERS! Or go to a smaller cam. I can't believe you haven't broke them already. The steel tips that contact the top of the valve break out from the high spring pressures needed for that big solid cam you has. Not to mention shaft flex from a stock shaft. TA makes a stock replacement HD stamp steel rocker setup w/ a thicker walled shaft thats cheeper than roller rockers but I don't even think that will take the abuse for long. 290 cfm is awsome #'s out an iron head. You should be able to make some good power.
Check the post by Buick Power in the link below: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33549&highlight=Aluminum+Cylinder+Heads He says that he saw some Track Eliminator heads flow around 370/250-280 (I think). Since he works at TA, I wouldn't doubt it. While these are probably Stage 2 heads, they aren't much different than Stage 1 Heads. And my engine calculator shows that 370 CFM can support 762 horsepower.
That's Fully CNC ported Track Elim heads.. We have achieved similar results with hand porting. Not to be confused with "out of the box, no portwork" But it is where the heads can go, with enough of the green stuff invested.
Why can't aftermarket heads flow as well after the factory casting/machine work as do the hand-ported heads? If you're hand porting with good results can't you copy the same runner size and shape and cast a direct copy? It's always seemed strange to me to see fairly large jumps in performance after porting an aftermarket head. Seems it ought to flow well right out of the box. Color me confused....
My guess is that to keep the heads marketable to both racers and "streeters", they keep the runner volumes low to keep velocity up, which means better driveability. They cast enough meat in there to hog 'em out to what they're capable of. It just allows many users to buy the same head and customize them as needed. Otherwise, the number of buyers would be too low to justify prodcution costs. Again, just a guess.
Well, i don't know about some of these flow numbers. I got a set of TA STG 2 track eliminator heads and I am not too impressed with them. I ported my ass off on them, switched to 11/32 2.19 1.86 valves undercut stem valves, installed sleeves where the pushrod went through the head, (as they covered up too much of the runner), back cut the valves, and spent about 30 hours on them. I not saying I am some prodigy head porter but I have done enough and flowed enough that I am fairly decent. at .600 I got 329.5 and 258.6. Avg cfm of 224.2 and 204.2 Using my stepped exhaust pipe I got 331 on exhaust at .700. (Intake flow fell slightly after .700) I am pretty sure there is no way in hell that these things could have got 300 out of the box. (I wish I would have flowed them stock) And sombody got 370 on them ??????? What vacuum were they pulling? 28 inches the norm. I am working on my own flow bench and should have it done by the end of the year as I do know peoples benches vary from one to the other. Blair
Since we are on the flow topic. How much does temperture affect the flow of a head on a bench? I'm sure there is a conversion chart or something.
Air temp and barometric pressure do affect your numbers. Alot of guys that flow heads do not know that you need to correct for altitude. Just because you are flowing at 28 inches of water don'r mean squat if your air temp is at 90 degrees and the barometer is is low and you are at high altitude. On the other side of the coin, if you happen to be at sea level and your air temps are cool, and the barometric pressure is high, your reading will be very good. Jim Burek P.A.E. ENTERPRISES.
762 HP??? Hope your right. My Stage 1 TE heads flow at .700 lift on the intake .360 and the exhaust .258 Goal on this long awaited project is 750 HP. All the best stuff went into this engine minus the billet crank (way over budget with the crank) I will definitely know by this Friday once the engine is set on the dyno.
heads Well guys i would love to see the flow bench that every flows there heads on.CUZ MY IRON STAGE 1 HEADS FLOW 277 AT .650 LIFT. SO WHEN I HEAR THESE GUYS SAYING THERE HEADS FLOW 290 AND BETTER I CANT UNDER STAND WHY THERE CARS ARENT FASTER THEN THEY ARE. NOT TO THROW STONES BUT MY CAR RAN A BEST 9.57 @ 138.95 thats at 3250 # and theres only one guy with a stage 1 thats ever ran faster than me that Rob c. he went 9.43 @ 140 so unless you are trying to run these kind of numbers i would stay with your iron heads, and if you lose the 408s and put in a 308s i think you might pick up some E.T. JOHN
Your right John on the flow #'s and the 308 cam. But with spraying as much nitrous as he is wanting too a 308 cam does not have nearly enough exhaust flow to support it. A 408 might be a little weaker on motor but it should run right past a 308 on spray. The LC should be 110 or 112 but it will still work ok.
