69 Buick 430 heads. Stage 1 conversion or porting?

So I'm about to drop my block and heads off to the machine shop. I'm stuck because after doing research people are saying don't waste money doing stage conversion (bigger valves) they said you can get good performance with just porting the intake and exhaust ports? What do you guys think and also if you recommend porting what specs do I use or have them port it too? Thank you!

 

X2 if your after a real performance increase, don't waste time and energy on irons

 

i thought i had generally heard that the Edlebrocks were "junk". I am guessing that is compared to T/A's?
So the weight saving and flow improvement while not up to snuff out of the box compared to competitors is still a justifiable expense over irons?
Thank you for your thoughts, I could quit looking for these darn 70 iron heads then

 

Thanks for the info fellas. I will look into some ta heads then. So if I get the ta aluminum heads then I'll have to use Chevy rocker arms? I got a comp cam kit. 296-95t the cam is Huge. 494 & 490 lifts. Just trying to feed that cam as best as possible.

 

Ta heads use stock or TA, or TD rockers

TA's are $900. TD's are $700 last I checked

 

Support TA as much as you can , but as Larry said stock steel rockers will handle 530lift aluminum will handle 550ish

 

Fritz, what am I going to do with my 5 extra iron heads, 7 after I get the Alum ones?

 

For a tiny cam like that I'd have your iron heads mildly ported.
Hopefully the machine shop you are using is capable of flow improvements, maybe even has a flow bench?
If you are spending the coin on aluminums and roller rockers, go way bigger on the cam and more serious with your engine to justify what the overall project is costing you.
If your heads are going to require a thousand (very rough number) or more to get back on the road, then consider the aluminum heads.
Bigger valves without porting and the appropriate geometry valve job is usually a loss of power.
It 'can' be a useful tactic to keep from cutting seats deeper and screwing up pushrod lengths, etc.
I see plenty of heads cut for bigger valves by reputable places that do not do anything to increase power, and then again...there are plenty of places that can make power with every engine they work with.
Your questions and concerns will now shift from this thread to many more.

 

The more you know the less you know is one of my favorites.

 

One thing rarely mentioned anymore was evidence that the Stage 1 head had limited effect until the bore size grew sufficient for the extra 25 or 55 cubic inches.

 

[Edited because I think I completely misinterpreted the above post!]
I suppose we can all presume to know the OP's goals, budget, and expectations?
All of the opinions here have a positive and negative side...all intended to help the OP.
As mentioned, any breathing improvements is going to have limited increases the milder the engine stays which lends to the mindset of a budget build.
OP should have heads crack checked before putting any other efforts into them, but the forum is filled with that info too.

 

My 2 cents worth? if you are going to spend the $ on bigger valves / porting put that towards the TA heads. I dumped 3K into porting and valve mods on my iron 430 heads. not saying they're not awesome, they are. Many have seen my big ole boat move. In hind site I'd have been $'s ahead to buy the TA's In fact, I'll be shopping for a good set of take offs in the near future to put on the Riv.

 

I don't know what finish lines cnc cost for eddy heads, but for my te2 heads it was only 1100.

First what are the goals here, I ran a mild ported iron 73 head w big valves on stk bottom end 430.......when I mean stk I mean right from the yard.....swapped pan, my top end and a custom cower cam that had about 500 lift, ran upper 11.20s to lower 11.30s. My 464 at the time was 10.90 on its best outing. Head flowed 250/200ish. We focused more on air velocity that big cfm numbers if going to run only 500 lift, spending money on porting AL head's that flow till 700 might not make sense since you will leave so much on the table. TAs as cast stage heads flow almost the same number as my irons did......if enough power to run low 11s is good enough for you then it is.

I would get an estimate to see what having your iron heads ported, big valves in and resurfaced should about be, then compare that cost. As stated Buick rocker arms are good for the lower 500 lift as long as they dont go crazy with spring pressure.

We ran stk 430 arms with the wrong 455 pushrods, with TAS stage 1 plus spring on top of a 308s cam to 6500 rpm with no valve float......knowing now they make a hybrid pushrod. Maybe I was lucky on the springs.....but I'm sure they are enough spring for .575 lift and won't cause too much presure to break the 430 style rocker arms.....seeing you gave 430 heads, maybe you already have these shafts? The spring when I bought them were about 90 bucks, I think a set of TA's valves are 225. I ran these for many years with no issue.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Buick-455-St...159599?hash=item280f95ae6f:g:KWoAAOSwuTtZxCzd

I don't know what the hybrid pushrods cost,

Just get a total price picture both ways first. And see what fits your budgets and needs, in that make consideration if you may go bigger later or not and figure that in

 

^^^Excellent posts!
I must have previously missed how inexpensive the Eddy's were...
Revise my previous appx. dollar figure down about half or more.

 

A pair of eddy heads are about 2275.00 the needing rockers about 200 for decent arms......so a purchase price of about 2475 there is a 50 dollar rebate at summit right now on a pair.

Ta heads 2520 for 11/32" stem big valves

Both will require different pushrods. So that's a wash.

If those were my 2 choices I would go ta. I think the stock shafts arms are more stable than stud rockers. Used roller rockers do show up, but unless going big lift they are not needed

Fully cnc port eddy heads from Scott Brown appear to flow about 320/220, but thats an 1100 dollar progrsm plus shippinh. TAs as cast 290/205.......eddys as cast 275/185. TA for the win again.

But you heed to see what the irons would take to get done figure out how much you think you need then compare and pick which route fits today's needs and maybes tomorrow's future needs

 

Thanks for the clarification on price. More in line with expected.
You were referring to the porting, oops!

 

Yeah I have Tim a call at Ta he explained to me about the heads and stuff. Recommendee I let them build the heads since he said some machine shops don't get to much bbb experience kinda made sense. I'm thinking about just jumping up to Stage 2. I have to get my pistons notched so I won't have to worry about valves possible hitting pistons. Now just save up 2500 haha. Closer than expected though! What you guys think?