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How important are heads with high power FI setups?

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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 06:51 PM
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Default How important are heads with high power FI setups?

now please, dont start a flame war with your gonna kill yourself with your car, and things of that nature.

im just posting to learn, since i am unexperienced.

with a setup, how important, lets say for a turbo setup, would flow on heads be when comparing it to a 550 rwhp setup, as to a 1000+ rwhp setup?

does it not make as much difference compared to psi, compression, and other things like that?
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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 09:11 PM
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First off, Id say you’re in the wrong forum if you think someone is going to flame you for wanting too much power, and a car that could kill you. Id say you’re in the right place.

Now for an answer to your question, mind you I do everything back word *** so take advice at your own risk. Seems what I have learned here on ls1tech is good flowing heads can be traded off for a little more boost. Trade off - you are gaining more internal heat both from the blower/turbo that’s working harder and from the more restricted flow causing heat. I don’t think it matters at 550rw but it’s definitely more so at 1000.
It might take 1# to 2# more to gain the same power as w/ stage 2 heads at the 550 level.
Might be 8# more for example at the 1000 level to achieve the same power
as you could get w/ trick heads and a huge cam and lower boost.

As I said I do everything back word *** so if I could do it over I would have spent my money on a forged bottom end before doing the heads and cam. I think I could have easily run more boost without worrying about those fragile ls1 pistons. I’m doing 572rw at 8#, could be doing 650rw w/ 12, 13, 14# of boost? The stock cam is grate for boost and the stock heads flow plenty, and love being crammed full of boosted goodness.

My thinking for the h/c setup was to lower compression w/ the 6.0 heads, to make it easier to tune, get better low end response w/ a port and polish job to make up for the lower compression, and do a cam specifically designed for boost. I’m still kinda new to boost but as any good N/A motor head will tell you; heads and cam make all the difference.
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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 09:34 PM
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A thicker decked head ( i.e. AFR's) is good for boost because the thicker deck helps prevent the heads from lifting under high boost. If you are going for high boost I advise AFR's. They are what I'm going with because I want every ounce of power I can get, plus, I don't want to worry about my heads lifting when I crank up the boost.
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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 11:40 PM
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better flowing head = cooler charge in the chamber. more efficient power and less octane requires. if the head is a restriction, you gain boost, but it hurts your output. i say it all the time. boost is a measure of restriction. you want the max cfm of air, not restriction at the manifold. so, long story short, as futral will atest, for forced induction, better flowing heads are even MORE important that a h/c n.a setup.

deck thickness is also another important issue. see above.
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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 11:52 PM
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Originally Posted by WS-Sick
A thicker decked head ( i.e. AFR's) is good for boost because the thicker deck helps prevent the heads from lifting under high boost. If you are going for high boost I advise AFR's. They are what I'm going with because I want every ounce of power I can get, plus, I don't want to worry about my heads lifting when I crank up the boost.
ya, with my setup i am having afr heads. they were hand ported by futrals guy, meaux or something to the fullest potential. it was initially done though under the impression i would go NA, and now have decided to go FI.

does it make a difference as how the heads were ported, between NA and FI?
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Old Apr 12, 2005 | 11:59 PM
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Originally Posted by TTSSZ
First off, Id say you’re in the wrong forum if you think someone is going to flame you for wanting too much power, and a car that could kill you.
ya, i guess you havent read any other of my thread

no but seriously, thank you for your input, it does make a little more sense now.
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Old Apr 13, 2005 | 12:29 AM
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I don't think the fact that the orginal plan was NA will make a difference. Like gator said, better flow is what counts. We all know that the AFR's flow very well out of the box. With the hand finishing they recieved they'll definitely be enough for what you need. Man you are set, I can't wait until this project is done for you...like I said before, you are one lucky dude.
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Old Apr 13, 2005 | 01:04 AM
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Originally Posted by WS-Sick
I don't think the fact that the orginal plan was NA will make a difference. Like gator said, better flow is what counts. We all know that the AFR's flow very well out of the box. With the hand finishing they recieved they'll definitely be enough for what you need. Man you are set, I can't wait until this project is done for you...like I said before, you are one lucky dude.

thank you. ya, i am very lucky to be able to do it all in one shot. it took some convincing, but i got my dad to do it

i think its mainly two reasons he did it.

1. im his only child, so naturally, he likes to spoil me, plus he lives in cali, and i live in az, so i dont see him often.

2. you know what they say, parents always wanna give their kids what they didnt have.

i definately think this kit has potential, just looking at the other thread with the 301 turbo mustang dyoing 1100+ rwhp...
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Old Apr 13, 2005 | 05:35 AM
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every little bit helps for getting more power
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Old Apr 13, 2005 | 01:29 PM
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heads aren't necessary for 550 hp, by adding a cam you can get there.

1000 hp, you're gonna need every bell and whistle there is to get there.
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