ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Hi, those of you who don't know my old lt1 had a catastrophic rod failure at the strip, sending one of my pistons out the block and breaking 3 rods Oh, and did I mention, this completely fucked up my stock heads beyond use I just found out today.

I already have my forged 383 short block ready to go, and have been planing to drop off my heads at Ai next week for the 200cc porting....looks like I'm dicked however because now I have to choose whether or not to buy some stock castings (usually $200-300 a pair) and get Ai to do their magic or just get some AFR heads complete off ebay for approximately the same price.

Options:

1. Buy stock castings ($200?) + $1300 (Ai quoted reusing my springs) + $91 NC sales tax= $1591 Total

2. Buy NEW AFR SBC LT1/LT4 195cc off Ebay ($1700 Total?)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/AFR-S...item415790044e

3. Buy new Dart 200cc SBC LT1/LT4 heads off Ebay ($1627)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dart-...item2c5df22e09

I need some honest opinions here on what you would do if you were in my shoes. Discuss.

joelster

You can get AFR heads much cheaper than that. Shoot me a pm and I will tell you how.

Puck

iTrader: (17)

Since you don't already have usable stock castings, and are building a 383, AFR's would be the most logical choice to me.

You can run them out of the box for now, and then have them ported in the future if you want to step up the cam and make big power.

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Cool ...PM sent

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

The description on these says they are 100% CNC ported already...would they need to be ported MORE to make decent power (420-430 rwhp goals)?

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Damn...just read the AFR 195's require a LT4 intake...what AFR heads are best for a LT1?

RamAir95TA

iTrader: (2)

I'd run the AI heads, but of course that's me.

355z28

iTrader: (8)

Theres a few sets of stock lt1 heads in the midwest classifieds for $100 for the pair. I guess you could go aftermarket castings but they won't perform as well as a stock ported casting. But then if you go to a aftermarket casting you'll have decent performance and room to grow. Im a believer in stock ported castings myself, Its just nice to keep the extra compression.

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

DAMN!....just read this GMHTP article that has me heavily leaning toward AFR 195 CNC street head....they mention it was tested with a ported LT1 intake (which is what I have) and they dominated all the other heads tested: "On the dyno, AFR sealed the deal, taking home the honors of both highest horsepower and torque. It would be very interesting to see what the "Competition" CNC heads would do as they outflow and outperform the "Street" castings on the bench."

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...n/viewall.html

I'm just confused on why the seller says a LT4 intake is needed and the GMHTP article says it does not....somebody please clarify that has these heads!

speed_demon24

iTrader: (6)

Beating the heads in that list is like winning the special olympics.

96TransAmboosted

iTrader: (8)

I don't see any AI heads or LE ported heads in that article. I have a set of LE 2 and 3 heads and have been more than impressed with results. Plus looking at them most have no idea what there in for at the track.

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

True....point taken, I can tell people they are "stock"

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

I know...for some dumb reason they chose Golen ported stock castings to compare the rest to...Everybody in the know either gets LE or Ai if they go stock castings it seems. I wonder where the 200cc Ai's would stack up? Looks like the Ai's have 10 more CFM on the intake side but 10 less on the exhaust.

93Z2871805

iTrader: (5)

AFR 210s

Sc0tt30

iTrader: (6)

What size cc do you need on the heads. That may tell you which ones you can go with.

merim123

iTrader: (11)

you won't see heads in that article that don't advertise in the magazine somewhere.

OP - how much power do you want to make?

speed_demon24

iTrader: (6)

Buying heads based on flow #'s is as smart as speccing a cam based on DCR.

bowtienut

iTrader: (1)

The AI ported stockers will blow your other two listed options into the weeds.
And........no I don't say that because I chose AI heads; I chose AI heads because I wanted to be the fastest stock bottom NA B-body on the planet

Camaroking1996

What cc are the LE2 heads?

am_muscl

iTrader: (19)

You can have my fully assembled stock heads for $150 shipped.

Just an FYI if you're interested in the stock castings