I have a set of 241 heads laying around that i was going to have shaved and cleaned up. Is it worth doing that and changing out the 853s that are currently on my car. I can have them shaved down for less than $100.00, through a reputable machine shop. I was thinking of having 0.040 taken off and a good valve job done. I paid 100 for the heads, so I figured for less the $300 with the gaskets the top half engine would be gtg. Any input would be great.

 

it's what i'm doing next friday with my tr227/224 cam . . . but then again i have 169K on my 853's so i'd be stupid not to do change them

 

they'll be a small improvement in stock form.

milled for more compression, and a good VJ would be even better.

while most wouldn't consider it a good bang for the buck and bang for the hassle. its not a bad option for some more power.

realize with milled heads you may need new pushrods

 

I fought this fight. I poured over 1K into doing a set of 241s. Larger valves, 59CC chambers deck milled .030 and I will tell you this it was not worth the time and effort or money. Save your cash and if your going any where do a set of 243s and have either TEA or Advanced Induction do the cam match and work on them. You will not be disappointed.

 

Yeah they can be great heads. I was just reading a post on another site about some ported 853's on a heads/cam car just put down 441/395 with a streetsweeper cam, cheap pacesetter headers, LS6 intake, and ported TB. The 853's had a valve job (2.02/1.60) and blend with a little guide and bowl work.. that's it! I personally wouldn't have gone with a bigger valve, but he did and got decent results.

 

Figure you spend about $400 getting those 241's how you want, but you can find a set of 243's for around $450. I do know some people with milled 241's who are happy with them. Anything is better than 853's

 

i'll be happy when mine are off next saturday

 

the difference between the 853s and 241s is, where they are cast. other than that they are the same. if have heads ported, you can change the runers to how you want them to flow. you can make a set of ported 241s flow the same as a set of ported 243s. where the power difference is, it the combustion chamber of the 243s. it is shaped different. thats just like the 243 vs 317s. if you unport both of them, and mill the 317s to the same 64cc cumbustion chamber, the 243 will will make more power than the 317.

 

ha i dont have before and after but i ported a brand new set of 241s...35+hours...it sucked. BUT i went to strait line perf and on there mustang dyno i put out 431 rwhp with 4 degree timing pulled on top with a ls6 intake and tb.......



..................but then again i now have 4000 miles on the heads and they cracked from the intake valve to the exhaust....but they were very nice for the time being

 

your better off just picking up a set of tsp or one of our great vendors heads for the price youd put into them...+ most vendors heads cost around 800

 

oops maybe a little bit more then that....sorry im bored

 

It all depends on what your looking for as an out come done right they can perform very well with the right cam selection and supporting mods. Ive used both 241's unported as well as 243's the 243's were obviously better than the 241's but not by a huge difference.
Concentrate on power under the curve and you'll have a good all around performer Street and Track it just wont burn the dyno down with peek numbers which dont mean **** anyway.

Have fun

 

look at my sigs. My 241's are p&p and milled .016 Numbers are off a dyno dynomatic.

 

241's are just fine if they're ported by the right person. Of course the 243's are a better casting, but you can make power with 241's regardless of what the internet will have you believe.

 

^^^ I agree that for a budget build there are lots of people making good power with these heads.

 

The 241s are not a bad casting. We have put several sets of our ported 241 castings on cars and have seen great results here is a dyno graph of a camaro with 3800 stall A4, LS6 intake, 23x camshaft,with our stage 2 241 head stock valves.



The car made great power after peak and is still an everyday driver. If you have any further questions feel free to give Matt a call in our cylinder head department at 713-504-8746.

 

The heads are good....in my case I have a friend that gets over 320 cfm out of 241's....so I'd have to say they are a great head especially if you don't have to pay alot for the port work....