Originally Posted by 99 Black Bird T/A

FWIW as I understand...
With a set of properly ported heads you'll make more power with forced induction as to is it worth the cost only you can decide. Picking up an extra ~ 50 cfm or more of air flow with a ported head should allow for the same hp at lower boost levels or more hp at the current boots level. Flowing air with less restriction should help with managing heat to some degree.

Actual experience...
I've dealt with Darin Morgan at Reher - Morrison and he's fantastic to work work with on projects. He spec'd the cam for my 416 and did the heads. The curve is exactly what I told him I wanted.

So my best advice is call up Reher - Morrison and talk to Darin Morgan about what you want and what your budget is for the project. Darin will NOT sell you stuff you don't need. I know this from first hand experience. Darin is very cost effective in how he helps you plan and select parts.

BTR and TEA are outstanding. I've had two sets of TEA heads and would happily buy them again.

What I believe based on reading, experience, research and limited interactions...
I've not bought heads or intake from Tony Mamo yet but he is is top notch and I think he would also be an excellent choice. I have tested an intake Tony ported and it was everything expected and more. Tony knows his stuff.

Mast, I talked with them before my last project and was impressed. Then I did lot of research. Keeping with the politically correct nature of forums, I will say Vengeance Racing gets excellent results with MAST heads. I'd go with MAST heads if Vengeance did the build. Always found VR to have excellent quality, outstanding customer service and outstanding communication when I buy stuff from VR. I'll pass on drinking directly from the Mast kool-aid fountain.

All Pro makes a truly outstanding aftermarket head if you have the budget.

The SPS Haymaker cylinder head is an excellent aftermarket head. Gavin is knowledgeable and a School of Automatic machinist graduate. He designed the head and it had a lot of excellent design features. I've talked with him before and was impressed. He's open and honest about lead times and turn times.

Originally Posted by wannafbody

I thought in a NA engine the piston's downstroke sucks air into the cylinder. With a blower or turbo, they push the air into the cylinder.

Originally Posted by 00pooterSS

The more I think about what I already know (the above about there already being pressure in the atmosphere) and how engines respond to head work without additional boost from a blower/turbo, the more i'm starting to sway toward heads being as important or more important than without boost, where I was kinda down the middle. I knew it was important but I was also of the mindset it's not as important with boost. If there is already 14.7 psi in the air and engines respond so much from head work, why wouldn't they continue to respond as that pressure goes up.. I'm starting to picture restriction in flow under pressure, since there is always pressure.. I think we get caught up forgetting to remember there's already pressure there. This isn't a no pressure vs pressure situation. It's a pressure vs more pressure situation. And since boost is a measurement of restriction, reducing restriction is key.

Originally Posted by ddnspider

I agree with all of this. For my part, I was never arguing if heads were important or as important on a boosted setup. The best you can make at 1 bar of boost is NA power X2 so the more power you make NA, the more power you make under boost. The fact is that most people skip them because if you pick up 50rwhp swapping to a set of ported heads.....90% of the people say, "Big deal, that's literally 2 psi." In an NA application, gains that people get excited about from swapping things like FAST intakes and UDP's, etc.; nobody cares about in the boosted world unless its max effort because they can always turn that little boost ****. Obviously things like compressor efficiency come into play as well as controlling IAT's and back pressure. There are other benefits to cylinder heads in high HP applications, like a thicker deck which will help prevent pushing water under higher boost. Another benefit is a less restrictive exhaust and larger headers in the case of a blower, because they will typically drop the boost made, while keeping the power the same, increasing efficiency. All good stuff.

Originally Posted by G Atsma

Good thinking, Pooter! Food for FURTHER thought...

Originally Posted by 00pooterSS

mmmm foood

Originally Posted by ddnspider

You can convert from mass air flow to CFM's for a given air density, so that is really semantics.

Originally Posted by ddnspider

I'm interested in how the vendor handles a situation when something DOES go wrong. As you said, all vendors have failures, but its how they handle said failure that defines them.

Originally Posted by 99 Black Bird T/A

Check out this thread on the CTSV forum. See post #9.
Dyno graph, only change going from LSA heads to Trickflow

~50 whp & ~50wtq through out the entire range & curve.

LSA CTSV dyno gains from head swap only

Originally Posted by 99 Black Bird T/A

You don't need good heads with a boosted engine!!

Tony's ported heads gained a 100 ft pounds of torque, see dyno graph in thread.

"So what is a clean sheet premium head really worth on a boosted engine with a sizable blower and an appetite for some air??.....on this one well over 100 ft/lbs of torque at the exact same boost level) and close to that in horsepower as well!!"

Originally Posted by snapdude

I appreciate all the comments, I have gained a lot of insight from all of you.

However, there has been little in the way of hard data. Does anyone have any real world performance data (particularly on smaller bore engines) from switching from basically stock heads to an aftermarket casting on a supercharged application? Any information or links to data that shows the difference between different aftermarket heads brands/sizes? I've scoured the ls1tech forums the past few days and found precious little info on small cubic inch supercharged setups and gains with aftermarket heads . I've seen a quite a bit about turbo setups, is the principle the same or does supercharging have different variables?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Bspeck82

How about an example from a guy who has put together more engines than any of us combined? Tony Mamo...https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamomet...ed-engine.html

Going to tell me he is wrong too?

Originally Posted by 00pooterSS

Post 21 in THIS thread. Click the link

Originally Posted by snapdude

yes, i noticed after the fact.