What's a good small block head these days?

[rUNCHARGER]

Great info Chryco, Thanks! I agree on rocker shafts, old habits maybe.. The Indy/IMM might be just what I need, I think I'll call him tomorrow. After dealing with Hemis for decades I don't want anything too exotic this time$

Sheldon

[Chryco Psycho]

Well I would do a W9 / R3 if I was racing , too exotic for street use IMO
 But I would surely build a W5 stroked monster in a heartbeat .
Airwolf or LA X would be the next step down .
 I did a 360 stroked to 408 with W2 heads a while back in a Lil Red no less it sounded like a full race engine , just vicious during the cam break in probably over 600 gross HP at the flywheel , I have never heard another small block sound like that .
 The Magnum seemed to be ok never seemed to have a lot of failures but to me rocker shaft oiling seems far superior to pushrod oiling & ball stud rockers so I generally stick with the LA heads unless the customer is dead set on magnum heads .
 Jimmy cuda may have exactly what you need with his 360-1 pkg

[crash340]

Neil, what where the spec's on that hot 408 W2 do you remember?

[Chryco Psycho]

Specs as in what , the build / compression  , cam , dyno #s ?

[crash340]

Engine build, compression, cam, head mods etc if possible, just curious.
As you might remember Neil I'm putting a 408 W2 togeather and am hoping for around the 600hp.
Block is 71 LA half filed and girdled with added front oil feed similar to the R3
W2 closed chamber (53cc) race heads 2.08/1.60, HS rockers, minor bowl and port clean up, intake flowing 305 at present at 700.
Forged crank and H beam rods,
Forged Pistons 11.25 CR
Solid roller cam 254/262@0.050, 630 lift at valve with 1.5's
Victor intake with FAST XFI 2.0 TBI
TTI 1 7/8" headers
Rollerized 727, 3.73 Dana S-Trac

Stall converter ?? Not figured that out yet.

Sorry to OP for hijacking post,

[Chryco Psycho]

It was similar , this was 7 years ago now
 408 ci , 10.5 compression maybe
 unfilled block
 Mopar heads & intake , these were the latest casting
TD rockers
 Lunati solid flat tappet cam .580 lift 250* duration split profile
 forged crank
 Not sure on the con rods
 750 HP carb or Proform
 TTi headers connected to the stacks through turbo mufflers
 I bought the heads from a race shop , the guys there told me they were well over 500hp with only a 500 cfm 2bbl which was all the rules would allow in the track racing they were doing .
 The truck never made it to the dyno unfortunatly

[crash340]

Thanks Mate

[barnett468]

What's a good head for a 400 inch small block, I would probably build it to shift around 6500 or so. Aluminum is preferred for weight but an iron Magnum based head would be a second choice if it flowed well. I would use a solid roller camshaft in it.

Sheldon

Edelbrock victor heads if they fit the block you use . For stupid hp, have them lightly pocket ported . You can use ferrea hollow stem intake valves also.

unless you are racing, a solid roller is way overkill.

[EbodyMod]

if you go with indy heads deal with Mancini racing not indy directly. you will be sorry with the customer service if you do.  I have the indy t/a on my 418 build, should be on the dyno in about two weeks if you want to wait for comparison numbers

[rUNCHARGER]

Yes please Ebody. I conversed with JimmyCuda and he does indeed have a setup that would work great for what I want to do. I didn't realize there were so many choices for the small block. The car I was going to buy turned out to be junk anyway but I am going to keep looking for another one with the same overall plan.

Sheldon