906 or Stage V heads

[ehostler]

Which is better - getting the P5249112 Stage V heads for $1,036 each or building up a pair of '68 906s to the same specs?

[340king]

Hi Hoss, welcome aboard! I would look into several of the heads on the market today. Indy has several models with differing performance and price ranges. Brodix also has heads worth looking at. In order to make specific recommendations more info is needed. As my name implies, I'm not an elephant motor expert, but there are plenty of them on the board. Give us a little more info on planned use and vehicle and I'm sure that you will get plenty of response.

[Chris A]

It all depends really how far your going with the engine. Personally I would get the 452 castings with the hardened valve seats. As much as I've heard these flow all the same as 906's, but the hardened valve seats are already installed, there also probably mor readily availiabl( I bought a Junkyard400 short block with these heads on it, never torn apart, .002 bore wear for 125 bucks! From the biggest mopar only jukyard in the northwest convienlantly 30 miles from my house . But before this find I ordered a set with 2.14int and 1.81exh , 3 angle valve job, dipped checked ex. from AEROHEADS a division of Indy cylinder heads with pocket porting for 700 bones. good company. You can find them in mopar muscle magazine. Or if you know of a set of heads you can get, you could send them to Hughsengines to get porting/resize/valvejob. This is more expensive but they have 3 stages depending on your combonation(this will give more flow than the stage 5's. There address is http://www.hughesengines.com, I ordered my whole engine kit from them, also a great company good luck and post your combination.

[This message has been edited by Chris A (edited January 07, 2000).]

[Moparlar]

Here is something else to consider on using older heads. They have been heat cycled Thousands of times and are old castings. My racing partner has had 2 older heads crack in the last 2 years. After thinking about that I think next time I do a new motor I would consider buying new heads. I also talked to our porting guy and he said that older heads are much harder due to the heat cycling that they have been through. Just food for thought

Larry

[DartGT66]

The Stage V heads are good heads. They have a much better exhaust port than the older heads, the intake is pretty much the same. All that was said about the older heads about is true, they sometimes crack in use, especially if max ported and used hard. The main problem of the Stage V's is their price. They are way too expensive to really sell well. The differnce to the better aluminum heads is too small, and I don't mean that the aluminum heads should be more expensive.

[ehostler]

The question about my application has been asked.

I am getting ready to start the restoration process on my '68 Charger. I've had her since '87 and she has been parked since '92.

The engine is a 383HP 4bbl. I intend on keeping it mostly stock, however, I wanted to give it a couple upgrades. For fun, I was going to get a 383-6PAK kit for it along with the P4529270 Purple shaft 6PAK cam. I know that the old 906s don't have the hardend valve seats. I am wanting to step up to the 2.14/1.81 so that she can breath better. Just looking for the best head for the job.

[ehostler]

For some reason, I cannot get to the hughes engines web site. As far as companies that recondition heads, who is better Aerohead or Muscle Motors.

[TD]

There is a typo error above. try this one: http://www.hughesengines.com/

Bang for the buck.......Hughes is the only way to go for me.

[cruzerjd]

Hey Chris A, where is this Mopar only junkyard, I live in Eugene and would be interested in finding a place like this. cruzerjd

[PRO]

$1036 EACH !!!!GOOD GOD!!!! I can buy stage VI aluminum for $699ea.!!! so can you(JEGS or Summit)If your really want heads that will out flow stockers Hughes fully ported 452s w/big valves cost me $1150pr 1 1/2 yrs ago I gained about 100 hp based on ETs it took 1.0 sec off 1/4 mi time.A better choice and a little more expensive would be stage VI aluminum,P4876311,closed chamber,big valve,no intake adapter required,can be milled,works better w/inexpensive flat top pistons,you can run a full point more of compression in fact dont run less than 9.5 but 10.5-11.0 works well on 92 oct.Just be sure to clean up the bowls and port match,youll consume very little time doing this as their aluminum not cast iron,you save 40 lbs on the pair,they come with valve job and hardened seats for $699 ea. just add valves retainers and springs,youll gain about 50hp from the added flow and about 30 for each point of add'l compression and dont forget to reduce your et .5 because of reduced weight,if you have them ported you can gaine as much as 125hp,I dont think you can beat them for the $$......PRO...

[Chris A]

Sorry about the typo. This junkyard is Wildcat Auto Wrecking in Sandy, Oregon. Great place, they do know what stuff is worth and it can get spendy, but they have a lot of cars. They will ship and their address is http://www.wildcatmopar.com/ (I think, don't hold me to it).

[ehostler]

The Stage V heads PN P5249112, are complete and ready to be installed. "They are completely ported and assembled using the best quality parts: stainless steel intake & exhaust valves (2.14/1.81), chrome-moly retainers, dual springs, and PC seals." from http://www.mopar.com

I am questioning the price. If I check for the cost of the bare heads, I have found them at Koller for $390(doesn't specify ea or pair) and at Summit for $420 a pair. Maybe Kollers $1,036(for the finished head) is for the pair. I have sent them an email, to find out.

The Stage VI heads are closed chambered which does pose a problem with the '68 383. The '68 has a positive deck height, which would cause piston to head interfacing.

I wouldn't mind going with aluminum, if it weren't for the positive deck height. Can I possible use a thicker gasket to get around the positive deck height(I forget just how positive the deck height is, and I can't find my engines book, to tell me).

[sf_car_guy]

I was just quoted $860 ea. for the P5007074 Stage V Head Assembly which "Includes valves, springs, retainers, and Keepers", and has the same 2.14/1.81 valves, without being ported. One question, does anyone know the CFM on these stage V heads? I have a nice Dyno simulator, but I must give it proper flow numbers to be accurate. I need CFM for intake/exhaust at a any given lift and it can calculate the rest. reply to mike@flush-music.com with your answer....

thanks...

[Streetwize]

I have a set of mildly ported Stage V's that flow about 285/210 at .550 lift with excellent mid lift flow (due to the short side which is more substantial than most people realize for torque on street motors). I paid $800 for the bare pair and have $600 in 2.19/1.81's Comp 10 degree keepers, springs and retainers and a multi-angle Serdi Valve job. They flow about the same (actually a little better in the mid lifts) as a set of S/R Indys. Maxed out (but not to the point of being too thin) they'll go about 305I/225-230E which they will be seeing before they go on my 508.

The S/R's are nice but the valve job can certainly be improved. For the extra money and not including the external oiling kit, I thought the V's were a pretty good deal. Besides, they look factory which is kind of important on restoration/sleeper cars.

With bowl blending, they are about up to par between Stage II and Stage III Hughes ported heads; when you consider these are brand new castings (not 25-30 yrs old) and have hardened seats and a built-in short side you can't get in a production head, I think they're certainly worth a look. I'd definately buy them bare and do them yourself, the MP machinining is mediocre at best. **** (ok sensors...Richard) Landy seems to like the V's, that was good enough for me.

Wize 1


[This message has been edited by Streetwize (edited January 31, 2001).]

[DartGT66]

The aoon to be come Edelbsocks sell for about 1200$ at JEG's and flow equal to the ported Stage V's out of the box.

[montrose ram]

Depending if you plan on using stock exhaust manifolds the Stage 6 has raised port. With headers this can be a problem. I have two questions, StreeWize on the stage 5s(1)Are the exhaust ports raised any and(2)Are the intake rockers offset? Having the B1-BS heads I know it can be difficult to find these rockers. Crane and MP have them but their always "back-ordered"! I just remembered you have the "low-deck" 383. So if you decide to use the stage 6 you can use a header for "raised-block"(RB)and they should fit-BTW, you also would use an intake(Six-Pack) for the RB block. But if Stage 5 is direct bolt on even if the valve train is different I would go with them,IMHO.

[This message has been edited by montrose ram (edited January 31, 2001).]

[23T-Wedge]

Hey Ehostler,

The '68 383 had a positive deck height of +.020. If you have the motor down, cutting that much shouldn't be a problem, the piston heads are plenty thick. If not maybe you could use the .060 head spacer, personally I would go the first route.

Ronny
Waymaker Racing
John 14:6

[Locomotion]

If a thicker head gasket would help, ROL Mfg. makes one with a nominal thickness of .051". Part # HG31130
It is a high temp. graphite composition gasket with with a steel core and stainless steel "fire ring".
http://www.rolmfg.com/

I've been using them on my bracket cars and now IHRA Stocker with no problems.