The 487 heads are much better than the smogger 624 heads. Sure they are not Vortecs but they are what you have got!

 

Would the 882 heads be better for the OP? I have a set I just took off my motor, and would like to see them go (cheap) to a good home.

 

487 heads are good heads for what they are. I have a set of 487X heads that I would be willing to sell once I got some new aluminum heads for my 383 so unfortunately I have to use them, but they are nice heads for sure. I say run the 487's.

 

Sounds good guys I will take the 487's down to the machine shop and get them checked out but I can't imagine there is anything wrong with them the truck was running like a champ when we took them off.

What do you all think of that intake? Would it be money well spent to upgrade to a performer EPS or the RPM? I see that that intake gets some pretty mixed responses from people online.

 

The stock cam is VERY mild and a little more cam would give the biggest increase for the money.

 

I have ran many different heads and all the 76cc stuff runs about the same.
To me there is no gain in swapping from 624 to 487.
Now I have even ran 487x heads that had a great 3 angle valve job against some bowl ported 601 305 heads with factory valve job and 1.84-1.50 valves..

The 601's ran circles around the 487X I have ran ported 76cc heads milled to 72cc...these are ok...Sure like the smaller chambers though..Chambers are always modded.

Now I took apart a rebuilder 350 last month and it had some 1.72" intake valves and a dish piston with a huge dish and no valve releifs...looked like an olds piston.
Actual compression came in at 6:1...he had installed a 268H comp cam and rpm intake and many different carbs...headers were full length....Nothing he did made any difference in power VS the stock cam and intake and stock manifolds...
Heads and compression were just a big blockade for that build.

Now it has flattops and ported heads...The heads measure 67cc..
If you run the 76cc heads i say do a simple bowl port and mill .030" from them.
Curve the distributor and tune the thing...
A smallish cam in the 218 @ .050 range would be a good start ground on a 110 or 108 LS if you can spare a few MPG.


I see you say without touching the heads...
Too bad...That is always the first place i go.
But still the above cam and a rpm intake would be a good start.

 

Jeff,

I know the heads will be a killer, I was just wanting to stay on the cheap side of things. I was worried though that everything I did would do little to no good with these heads. If the best way to spend my money is heads than so be it I am willing to hold out for a set of heads I was just hoping that I could atleast pull a little power out of what I had with some of the cheaper components. If I do end up getting some heads what would you recommend? If I were to get the cam you recommended would it still be a decent cam if I replaced the heads at a later time? I called the company that manufactured the reman engine but they couldn't give me any information on it other than it was a 350 meant for a 1982 pickup and was sold in 2009.

 

Some numbers for you..
I like numbers they help grasp the situation..
early 70's chevy short bed truck 373 gears TH350 350" with 487X stock with 3 angle valve job and Z springs Performer rpm and recurved distributor ..It ran 14.50 at I forget the MPH I want to say 100 ..Now it had a 268H comp high energy.

Was a buddies truck..Would not spin tires well..He wanted more power..
So i told him to find some 305 heads..he got 601's and the machine shop told him they sucked and he needed to add 1.94" intake valves. I said FOOEY
Bring them to me...I ported them and installed a set of Z springs..
He bolted them on and could not make that truck hook up at all..Much different.

With the 487x heads he shifted from first to second at 5500rpm and second to 3rd at 5000.
Then with the ported smaller 1.84" intake valve heads his shift points are now 6500 rpm and 6000 rpm...the et stayed the same 14.50
BUT>>>> his MPH was 5 MPH more...He stated is was spinning 1/2 way down the track now...
I have ran the 624's in 3 builds one was a 388" all heads got the same treatment..bowl port and .030" mill
All would run in the high 13's to mid 14's. Daily drivers with 3.08 gears

I currently run 601's my favorite in my truck..with the 268H but it is ground on a 106 LS and i only get 12-14MPG Pulling trailers or not...
It runs a best of 13.51 with stickies and 14's with street tires at the track.

On the street it hooks with street tires...
I would use what you have...
Buy a valve spring compressor remove valves and blend the bowls..
There is an easy 30-40HP right there...
I did my first set when i was 18 with 1 hard stone and a black and decker drill
Gained 4 full car lengths on my buddie's trans am..We used to run even steven.
That was a smogger olds delta 88 1977 indy pace car that i had..but was powered by the sick 350 olds.

Later i got some books on porting and started playing with chebbies..
Gave up on those anemic oldsmobiles.

But i have not ever bought aftermarket heads..I can make the stockers flow just as much as most cheaper ones...
When i do have the need on other builds for great heads i reach for the AFR heads.
Oh buddies nova i built runs high 11's with ported 601's and another truck i built with 601's will spank that nova.
The nova runs a comp magnum 292H and the truck a 252@.050" solid flat tappet.
Just stating that as worked over factory heads will support some power.

I have had friends run large cams with stock heads in a 350.
And my smaller 268H cams would spank them really bad with my ported smog heads.
One friend finally changed his cam to a 268H in a stock headed 350 in his chevelle..he stated that was the smallest cam he ever ran and it out performed all the engines he ever built.
There are better grinds today than that old one but i am old school and just hate to change things up much...
I like the MPG and power i get from that 268H so i keep running it.
Normally i will get 18-20+MPG with the 268H ground on the as delivered 110 LS.

Yes you may feel porting is not going to happen because it is voodoo..
But a bowl blend and removing and installing valves and springs is not voodoo.

The voodoo starts after the simple bowl blend when you are trying to eeekkk all the power from the heads...
I can bowl port iron sbc heads in about 2 hours each.
If i want a bag full of voodoo i may have a little over 80 hours each.
But the majority of the power is in the easy bowl port.


Sorry so long:boring:

 

I actually already have a valve spring compressor so that won't be a problem. I have rebuilt a ton of heads on old tractors so I am comfortable with tearing the heads down and putting them back together. I never have done any porting or polishing before but it doesn't sound to bad, I guess worst case scenario I ruin a set of already poor performing heads. The main reason I was trying to avoid heads originally is I didn't want to drop the money for a set of heads so reworking the ones I have is not out of the realm of possibilities.

 

Awesome...If you have done heads then you know,,
Now the first few i ported never went to the machine shop.
I just blended the bowls where all the sharp turns were and lapped the valves.
Funny thing.
A set of 601's that had 1.84" valves stock i had the machine shop enlarge to 1.94"
He did a 5 angle valve job , preached to me that 305 heads were a poor choice.
And everyone that used them that he knew was pulling them off and getting some 64cc heads,,,They could not make any power and were detonating like crazy.
I told him a few weeks later those heads in that Nova run 11.94 at 116 mph.
He asked what i did with them...Those got a good port job and chambers were modified..and i blended out all but 3 of those 5 angles he put in them...

He just shook his head..and said well it works...
I say take the 487's apart and reach your finger into the bowl area and feel the sharp edges...on the short turn and long turn... blend them.

get this book if you want to make power. one of My favorites for sure.
Read it then get after some head work.
I will not suggest any larger cam for stock heads then something in the 218@.050...But for ported heads I have a favorite and that is the 280H that makes 15MPG and have put many 350's in the mid 12's or better..In fact i am really thinking of that one VS my current 268 on a 106LS..

How to Build and Modify Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Cylinder Heads (Motorbooks Workshop): David Vizard: 9780879385477: Amazon.com: Books

 

Ok Jeff I have a few more questions for you. First off this is going to be in a car that is mostly for cruising not racing so with that in mind the transmission is a TH350 and the rear end is 3.08 10 bolt posi unit. I do atleast have the posi going for me but I really don't want to change gears because the car does see some highway and even a little interstate driving each year. You mentioned the 280H cam is that going to be ok for a cruising car with power brakes and an automatic transmission or should I go with something else?

Also I realize that this is first time I listed the rear end ratio or even the transmission that is in the car, does that have any effect on what you have previously recommended? Eventual plan for this car is 5 speed manual and at that point I will change the rearend since I will have an overdrive but for now that is WAY on down the line, right now I am stuck with the th350 and the 3.08s.


Thanks for all your help Jeff, its always nice when someone with your kind of knowledge is willing to help out someone just getting started.

Oh and I just ordered that book from Amazon so I will do a little reading once it comes in and see what I can do with these heads.

 

If i was using those heads you have i would use the 268 size cam
no more than 224@.050" in my book. when you get the compression up to a true 10.5 then the larger cams will work great.
Trans and gear is ok..in fact i have ran much larger cams with less gear
BUT i had a bunch of compression..That builds LOTS of TQ
I actually always try to get 10.5
I have 10.4 in my truck with the current 268H on a 106LS the 106 closes the intake valve much earlier than a 110 and builds even more cylinder pressure.

But for your deal a 268 or should i say 218@ .050 or so on a 110 to 108 would work really well..Because you will not have the compression.
With my ported 601's 1.84" intake valve i can shift at 6500rpm with the 268
I actually tested shift points at the track and there is 1 tenth difference between 5500 and 6500 rpm shifts..Really flat TQ curve power does not drop off quick...My cranking pressure is 210PSI..

My old nova had 624's bowl ported cast iron intake and cast exhaust and those were ported..a Q jet and 308 gears and a 268H on a 110
It got 20.5MPG driving for mileage 18MPG otherwise(TH350) and ran 105MPH in the 1/4, 14.50's with uniroyal tigerpaws stock converter and peg leg.
Later i installed 370 gears in a 9" ford and went 13.70's clutch posi.
Then later some ported double humps angle milled to 54cc and a 270H
still the uniroyal tigerpaws for bite..my first 12 second pass was in the 12.8's at 110 mph. and i could not floor it till 1/2 way through second.
Lot's of TQ in that build over 11.25 compression and 245PSI cranking pressure. I had found the limit for my setups for compression and small cams and pump gas...
Then i went solid lifter herbert circle track grind..and a tunnelram..It would spank my buddies Vmax and my 11.51 second V65 magna..

So there you go from mild to wild...OH the solid cam got 8 mpg driving for mileage....Later installed a 280H and different heads and got 15mpg and sold it to a buddy.
Hope you enjoy all the numbers...And you may get an idea why i do not get into the after market heads much..and when i do it is AFR.

Get the book and PM me on what you think after you read it a couple times.:thumbsup: