Small Block Perf. Heads (Edelbrock etc.)

[Dart]

Has anyone seen the new "Commando" heads for the small block? Or the new Aluminum Magnum heads?

I am looking at a set of Edelbrock heads for my 360, but want to know as much as possbilr before I buy them.

Hughes has the stage III Edelbrcok heads for $1999 that flow 300cfm on the intake side at .600 lift. Those look like the ticket to me but I want to be sure. Any info/suggestions would be appreciated

[71 scamp]

I run fully ported edelbrocks from Hensley and they flow 277, Hughes tends to talk huge numbers. Mine were a nightmare but dropped 3 tenths over my ported iron heads. I didn't realize my pistons stick up out of the deck so I had to send them back to be cut for clearance, they have an edelbrock part number that comes cut for clearance but they're hardly ever available. My ross dome pistons hit to so they cut the heads to clear the domes. Then my intake wouldn't drop down and bolt up so they had to cut 100 thou. off each side of the intake to get it to drop down and line up. They also put big 625 lift springs in the heads that hit my ductile iron adj. rockers so I had to grind clearance on the rockers(probably weakened them). These heads run awesome but make sure you talk to them and know your clearances, my block and heads have been cut on alot so thats why I had alot of problems. Now my only problem is traction!!!

[Dart]

That is exactly what I wanted to know.

My pistons come out of the hole .020 and a friend with the same combo has .033 piston to head clearance with the .040 thick (compressed) head gaskets. Hughes said they can counter sink the heads on the dome side to get .035 with the .039 copper ringed (compressed) gasket. I am planning to run the .509 with the stock rockers for now, so the rocker clearance is a non issue for now.

The next question is on compression numbers. This same combo on my friends motor has 175 cranking compression (5000 ft elevation). Hughes suggests around 185. He suggested I go with their cam which will open and close the intake valve faster, giving it more cranking compression (180 is what he thought). The cam he suggested is huge and I would have to go to the better rockers (alum roller or ductile iron) so Ithink it is out for now.

'71 Scamp: What kind of compression/cranking pressure do you have on yur motor?

[71 scamp]

Don't use copper head gaskets unless the motor is o-ringed, use the felpro blue's. How big is that cam Hughes was suggesting? Cranking compression is a touchy subject, my cam has 557 lift (solid) so my numbers might be lower than a smaller cam, mine are around 180. My father in law has a 495 lift cam and has about 180 also but he runs 13.0's and I run 11.70's, both are street 340's. If your starter spins real fast it will boost your numbers also.

[Dart]

The cam was an HE4449 (hydraulic):

.540 intake .290 duration
.557 exh .298 duration

108 Deg. Separation

I wonder why he wants me to run the copper ring head gasket?

Aparrantly the cam he is suggesting opens and closes a little faster than the .509 so the cranking compression will go up. I think I can live with 175.

I don't like their cam becsue of the additional cost of the rockers ($379) and the lifters they suggest ($85).

[71 scamp]

A copper ring gasket may be different than a copper gasket??
Another thing with the edelbrocks is that they come with heli-coiled header bolt holes but the intake manifold holes are not. I stripped my intake holes out like cheese so I had to heli-coil them myself, they wanted $200 to do them on a patterson machine.
You should be fine with the 509, I ran it but had nothing but problems breaking lifters, alot of people use it without problems though, i put the solid in a few years ago and couldn't be any happier with it, I'll never run hydraulic again, even the 495 cam in our dart is a solid. They're noisy though and you'd need adj. rockers ($190).