Can anybody ID this head number?

[goose]

It's off a 1960 383, the head casting number is 1851509-3. Does anybody know the performance potential of these heads (i.e. are they really crummy?) They have the 1.60 exhaust valves, which I wouldn't be against switching out if the rest of the head flows all right. Also does anybody have advice on how to remove freeze plugs?

[rumblefish360]

This site should help with there potental prospects.
http://www.hughesengines.com
To remove frezzeout plugs, I just always used a small hammer and screwdriver. With a light tap on the bottom edge to twist them as so to grab them with pliers and pull.

[6pakman]

that freeze plug question, was that real?

[Stoga]

All the early pre-67 big block Mopar heads, not counting the Max Wedge heads, are deficient compared to the 67 915 head, and the 68 and later 906, 346, 452 and so on, large combustion chamber heads. The floors are low, making a sharp angle at the intake valve, and take lots and lots of porting to whip them into decent shape. You can put the larger valves in them, and do all the work, but you won't really have a better head. Only reason I see for keeping them, is to use the early style valve cover on resto type car. Nothing wrong with increasing the valve sizes and putting some work in them, but if you're going racing, get the later heads, or even better, a set of Edelbrocks or similar. Porting and head technology has skyrocketed , even in just the last 5 years. The early stuff is really dinosaur technology, Except for Max Wedge. Now if you have a set of those, you'd be real popular with the stock/super stock guys!

[goose]

Yeah, the freeze plug question was for real; we are having trouble removing the freeze plugs and can't figure out what we are doing wrong... usually I would just drill a hole in the plug and use a slide hammer to get them out. These don't wanna come out that way though, they are pretty stuck so I was wondering if there was something we were doing wrong. I could just bash the snot out of them but my maxim is "work smarter, not harder". We already tried twisting them in the head but they won't budge.


These heads and engine are going in a daily-driver kind of car that has a performance goal of 15 flat in the 1/4. The car is a '77 Monaco 2-door so it's not exactly light. Basically the car should be very reliable and have enough compression to get good mileage, and be able to outrun the typical show-no-go ricer by a fair margin.