I'm building up an all forged iron block 370, I already have the JE pistons and the callies crank/rods...I'm trying to decide which way to go with my heads. It's going to be in my 4200 pound B-Body, so I'm going to be beating on the engine pretty hard to go as fast as I want (as I don't want to gut the car to make it lighter). I have a brand new pair of Turbonetics 60-1 HiFi's that I think will do a decent job...I guess I'll know how they do when I see some numbers.

My original plan was out of the box Dart 225 CC intake runner heads...but I'm beginning to wonder if they're a good choice or not.

I haven't machined the block yet, so I have room to play with deck height and gasket thickness to get to the right compression ratio (I'm thinking I want like 9.0:1 or so...but I'm open to suggestions there too), only thing I'm really limited to is my 4.030 bore and my pistons are cut for 15 degree heads (I don't really see either as much of a limitation though).

I'm not as concerned with getting every last bit of power out of the setup as I am with having cylinder heads that will hold up to the abuse of boost in a heavy car. I already have a huge cooling system and a large intercooler, and I don't have a meth system yet, but I'm researching those too...so I don't think heat is going to be a major issue. I'm just looking at what will be my best options for holding things together. I considered an LSx block...but I don't think I have any need for it, I think an LQ4/LQ9 block will more than suit my needs this time around.

I haven't spec'd a cam yet because I don't know how to...so I'll be contacting sponsors about that too...taking it one step at a time though building it up slowly because I'm nervous I'll put it together and blow it up right away if I don't take my time with it. So please post up suggesstions for heads...$$$ is not an issue for this, I'd rather wait a few weeks and buy something thats worth it, than try to save money now and have problems later on.

 

And I guess valvetrain compatibility is a big thing for me too...I want to make sure I can run a nice stable valvetrain...I haven't decided which shaft rockers yet...but if any specific heads are having major issues with the better shaft setups, then I guess I don't want to bother with them.

 

ETP, TF, AFR, or All Pro. Can't go wrong with any of those.

 

but I am gonna be running ported 6.0 stockers with my 408

 

think deck thiclness first...aLL the power in the world wont matter if it cant stay in the chamber

 

im with him.....did you hear that hunter02ss???...lol AFR or TF.....

 

So AFR and Trick Flow seem to be better for Deck Thickness? Thats my primary concern, keeping the head gaskets together. I don't know if I'll be drilling the block for larger head studs or not...but it'll be ARP's whichever way I go with that. Not sure if I'll be using the GM MLS gaskets or what...guess I need to weigh my options once I select a head and chamber size (and thus put myself in some range for gasket thickness).

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback

 

Not sure if I have the optimal setup but I am going to use ported 853's, GM MLS gaskets, and ARP studs for my 80mm turbo. I've decided this will be adequate in my application.

 

If you're going to be cranking up the boost, then I'd go with AFR's. Bob