What are the best heads for a hot street 383?

[FM3V6M]

906? 915? 452?

[sleepychallenger]

i want to know as well.   

[Chryco Psycho]

my choice woiuld be 915 or 516 ported with 1.81 exhuast valves

[72hemi]

I have a set of 906 heads that I bought from a friend whos' brother ran them on a Road Runner with a 383 that ran 10's. Not sure how the rest of the car was setup, but pretty sure it was a street car.

[1 Wild R/T]

If your gonna run iron heads at least the 915 & 516 are easy to setup for quench, the 915's have better ports & some have bigger valves...

If your not familiar with it, quench is a close clearance in the combustion chamber that creates turbulance causing a more complete burn with less likelyhood of detonation...To make it work properly with 906's requires machining the combustion chambers & special pistons that also need machining...

http://racingsecrets.com/article_racing-10.html

[Chryco Psycho]

I always install hard exhaust seats in the heads so modifiying the 516 to take 2.08/1.81 is easy , I do not recoomend using 2.14 intakes for a 383 though, so the only real difference between the 915 & 516 is the small hump in the intake port floor 

[440Charger]

I always install hard exhaust seats in the heads so modifiying the 516 to take 2.08/1.81 is easy , I do not recoomend using 2.14 intakes for a 383 though, so the only real difference between the 915 & 516 is the small hump in the intake port floor 

Hi Chryco - why do you not recommend 2.14 intakes on the 383?  Just curious because I put 2.14/1.81 on my 440.

[Chryco Psycho]

it takes a lot of engine to really Use the 2.14 valve in Iron heads , the gains on the exhaust side are there no mattter what CI the engine is but the intake doesn`t gain much unless you are stroking or taking the engine far higher in RPM

[440Charger]

it takes a lot of engine to really Use the 2.14 valve in Iron heads , the gains on the exhaust side are there no mattter what CI the engine is but the intake doesn`t gain much unless you are stroking or taking the engine far higher in RPM

Interesting.  Well we're trying to pump more a/f down the intake...bought a 120gph mech fuel pump that we'll be installing in the spring.  We're running lean (you may remember me) and we're working on a solution.  Hopefully we'll take advantage of the 2.14 intake by the time we're done modding.

[Chryco Psycho]

I hope you can get it solved as well

[moper]

All depends on piston choice. 383s are farily limited as far as street type flat top pistons. They are all low compression when installed int eh block. I have built several with open chamber heads, all have 2.14/1.81 valves for several reasons. If I was planning a build this afternoon, I would go for 915s if iron heads had to be used. But, it will take a bit of $$ to make any iron heads brand new again. So looking at it from a growth and expense direction, the new MP aluminum (Edelbrock produced but straight plug) heads, or the Edelbrocks themselves would be first choice.  Edelbrock RPMS are cheaper, and once an iron head is done properly and ready to run, they will cost within a few hundred of the RPMs.

[Tubbed440]

All depends on piston choice. 383s are farily limited as far as street type flat top pistons. They are all low compression when installed int eh block. I have built several with open chamber heads, all have 2.14/1.81 valves for several reasons. If I was planning a build this afternoon, I would go for 915s if iron heads had to be used. But, it will take a bit of $$ to make any iron heads brand new again. So looking at it from a growth and expense direction, the new MP aluminum (Edelbrock produced but straight plug) heads, or the Edelbrocks themselves would be first choice.  Edelbrock RPMS are cheaper, and once an iron head is done properly and ready to run, they will cost within a few hundred of the RPMs.

    Listen to this man.  He's hit the nail on the head....so to speak.

[FM3V6M]

Thanks for the info guys!!!

[1 Wild R/T]

   Listen to this man.  He's hit the nail on the head....so to speak.

I agree as well, basically what I was saying in my above post, just didn't spell it out so clearly as some here seem to oppose running Edelbrock heads...Best bang for the buck you can do to you big block IMO

[Tubbed440]

as some here seem to oppose running Edelbrock heads...

Man, that's a shame.  I guess it could decrease the value if you're going for that "concourse" restoration though.