Pictures would help get more people to want them. My money is down for a set, and I have no idea what they look like...kinda like a mail order bride in a way...
I had been trying to upload pictures from different computers, but I kept getting an error that the upload failed. Jim, is there something up with the file manager on the board? Sorry for the hold up.
Fantastic, so can you tell us more info about the valve sizes and rocker setup? About 55 CC for the chambers right, I know you said.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the file managers.. But you hosted them elsewhere and just copied the links.. that's the best way to put pictures on the board, and how I have done it for a number of years now. Looking good.. JW
I know that the new SBB aluminum heads are going to optimized for the SP3 intake. But what about us poor slobs that want a engine with street manners. Are the new heads going to work with the Stage 1 intake. Or should I just do some work on the irons for street use with a stage 1. Will the new heads work with standard SBB headers? I would hate to have to get a new set. Tim
Tim , I'm sure they will work fine for a street car. It's just like bolting on some great ported heads. It's all going to be the cam and rest of your combo that makes up whether or not you can use them . Headers should be direct bolt on since there wouldn't be anything custom for these Nice job Mike from TA
You don't lose much for street manners until there's a fairly horrible mismatched combination of parts.
I am of the opinion that the alum heads and stage 1 dual plane intake will be awesome for the street! Sure the TA stage 1 intake have very little gain on a stock engine but with good flowing alum heads the stage 1 intake will be great with a Q jet. An intake swap alone won't make a donkey run like a horse and an idle to 6000 rpm engine may not have any real street gains going to an SP3. I predict the stage 1 intake is a great match for people wanting the low rpm grunt and it won't give up too much high rpm power unless the conbo is wild. And yes the standard 350 headers will work perfectly, same with the roller rockers, this was important to them to make sure that we could easily swap our combos to the new heads.... Of course I am happy about this as I have a few turbo kits that will bolt up well.
How many heads for first production run? And of that run how many are spoken for? What about valve size? Will stage 1 valves still be about as large as we can go due to bore size? Loving that these heads are closed chamber. Makes the extra effort of getting my motor to 0 deck worth it. SBC guys look out. A block with near ls strength (okay I may be exagerating a bit...) and now the parts to build some big power setups. As the community grows I'm sure our options for pistons, rods and stroker cranks will grow with it. Let's show TA that we aren't all talk and give them some support as they truly have come through in a big way for us. Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk
I am pretty sure that the valve sizes will be close to what we are currently using for oversized valves since they kept the buick roller rocker spacing, but I am sure they will let us know soon about those details. Not sure how many people have deposits down on the heads, I may buy a second set as you never know how many will be made and it would suck to have to wait for another run later on.
Edelbrock actually did make a set of Buick 350 heads back about 8 years ago. Edelbrock reps flew to New york to witness dyno testing of the 1021 HP Buick 350 with just 355 cubes, ported iron heads, ported iron intake, and supercharger. Scott ******** built the engine. Edelbrock reps were impressed and made a set of prototype heads and shipped them to scott, Scott and his team looked at them and suggested some changes based on the flow testing and other testing they completed with the prototypes they provided. After the suggested changes were conveyed back to Edelbrock they decided not to bother doing the heads and that project ended. TA has always been and always will be a family run company, they even had Mike Jr go off on his own to build his career and that shows they wanted the best for him. I am sure later on Jr will join the company again but the skills and experience he gains around the country will help. We need to support TA because they are the only ones supporting us. I thought for years that TA was never going to help us 350 guys but they came through and now I have to eat a bit of humble pie and say sorry..... I complained about the lack of parts TA was producing now that they are doing the intake and heads for us this is really going to come together! Now I will buy any parts I can from TA and help fund the promotion of the Buick Torque domination. Be it high compression 455 or boosted 350s lets keep our Buicks all Buick and our LS engines in the daily drivers LOL!
Just now waking up to buy parts from TA? I spent 5 grand there 20 years ago and have been spending with them ever since. If these people here would have been buying parts from TA instead of hem hawing about building a 350 engine the heads would have been done a long time ago. I know, lets support the TA intake instead of telling people to use the stock intake. just think how many people would have bought the TA intake if everyone here had not said the stock one made a whopping 5 more horse. Putting on the TA intake will at least let you put ANY carb you want to use on it... That 50 lbs off the front end is bigger than you think. BTW TA can make a custom cam too.
In defense of the TA dual plane intake, you have to flow more air for it to be of any real benefit, which is one of the main reasons the stock one did so well when compared to it. With these heads, I'm pretty confident that TA's dual plane will outshine what a stock intake on stock heads can do, saying nothing about what the single plane on a set of these heads will be capable of. ...not to mention all the weight savings. Aluminum intake AND heads will make it lighter than the Buick v6! Stock blueprint and history preservation is cool and all, but the idea of an intake, heads, headers, and roller cam are so tempting as to lure even the most staunch die-hards away from their 455s (and whatever else), many of whom only went to the big brothers because of aftermarket support. The heads were always the 'weak link' on these engines in terms of air flow potential. No more stock cams or low lift profiles with these. It's time for some serious air movement. Some of the more extreme effort builders (bless them all), have shown us what this engine is capable of with more air, so it's no mystery as to what lies on the horizon. Gary
