Was reading on Ultimate Buick Performance and info group a member there got one of the first runs of aluminum heads with a level one porting job and only got 395 hp with a TA 310 cam. I’m sorry but for thousands less you can get the same with ported irons. Seems like people aren’t pushing the 350 hard, like more compression to go with aluminum heads. It’s like they’re throwing aluminum heads on a 350 with 10 to 1 comp. ratio and the poor engine falls short on power.
I have encountered this many times and with many different brand motors with aftermarket heads ( larger port area) and with many different CID motors! People always talk about how important air flow is, but fail to understand that for air to flow/ move it needs velocity. 395 hp means the motor was only making 49 hp per cylinder and using only 192 cfm@28" to make that 395 hp. Yup, only 192 cfm out of whatever that aftermarket head flowed per cylinder, which is a sure sign of too much port area and not enough velocity. Had that motor been revved up another 800 or so rpm then the owner would have had the port velocity to start to utilize the increase port area. The average torque would have been a lot higher also. Another way from looking at a dyno sheet if you have too much port area or are under utilizing a head ( by means of not enough lift or rpm) is that you will find the rpm of peak torque to be very close to the rpm where peak hp comes in. Always keep in mind that as rpm goes up you need to move a given mass of air faster and faster from outside the Carb into the cylinder, so if your already starting off at any given rpm with less velocity out of a aftermarket head as compared to a stock one then you have set yourself up behind the 8 ball and with your wallet drained out!
people ask me how much the dragster engine makes. i tell them 2 more than my lawnmower. et/mph tells it all
I asked how fast in the 1/4, he said he didn’t know. For the buy in of aluminum heads I would expect more than 395 hp
i like to look at it a little different. hp per cubic inch. a mild perf street engine {no power adders} with aftermarket heads and todays tech you should be at least 1.25 hp per cubic inch. if not something is wrong and you are wasting your time.. though you can consider diminishing returns on bigger ci engines. charlie.
Unfortunately therein lies the problem with the 350.. how much money spent to make 395 horsepower, when a basic iron headed 455 will make more power at a more useable rpm for much less.
395 is pretty decent for IRON heads, but yes, not even 400 hp with aluminum heads with a level 1 porting job is abysmal. This guys torque of 444 ft lbs is decent, but……………… What I’m basically saying is I haven’t heard or read anything earth shattering about these new heads
They flow just about the same as the 96 and up vortec SBC heads. That was the best factory sbc head, including the old school "double hump" stuff. But thats not a real high mark by today's standards.. of course the small bore doesn't help.
The first statement is exactly why I did not buy the heads for the 350. With them ported they made same power as my ported iron heads did 395 hp from 5900-6100 using the TA 510 cam. The trick I think is setting the engine up with light rotating like Mart did use the roller cam and spin the engine to 7 grand then you will have some motion. Mart is going to set the record with his 350 when he goes to the track and all you all will be wondering... gsjohnny already did it with the rail and blowin it in.
Put that comp at 11.2 and put a little race gas in going to cost a pile anyways might as well make it scream!! you can't beat too many 455's being weak on the motor unless they are somewhat stock you need to run a 12.50 ET to hang with the hotter street ones. So you need a 410 gear over 3000 stall and some real balls on that little 350 and a 4 speed auto which helps too with lower 1st gear than a turbo 350, this is no bull here.
and I didn't throw Demko under the bus either since I know he has some surprises too and if my solid lifter cam goes in good I don't know what is going to happen. I right now have to get yard, mower sorted out before I can get back to it lol
I know you didn’t throw me under the bus I called Michaels Thursday to see if he called me at all, you never know who calls when you get “potential spam” calls and you hang up Anywho, he said he didn’t, and probably next couple weeks he’ll have my heads done. Good thing I called cause the number he calls from is not the front counter number that I use to call him, so I put his number in my phone. Yes, the 350 needs and wants compression, either by boost or N/A with like 11 or 12 to 1 If you look at the Turbo 3.8 the stock power output was over 1 hp per cubic inch with 13/14 lbs of boost thru STOCK iron heads, even more with higher boost through STOCK iron heads. Add ported heads either iron or aluminum and the output really increases. In a nutshell, compression covers a lot of deficiencies, it doesn’t cure them, but masks them, I don’t know how well stock iron 8445 V6 heads flow, but the turbo makes up for any flaws. That’s what I couldn’t wrap my head around is finding out how well the new aluminum heads work with a turbo on the 350, of course the power will increase, but what is the biggest contributor?
Actually, got we 400 out of my 350 with iron heads. Just sayin'... *and we being JW; heads had a mild port job by Greg Gessler.
What do you know about the build other than the TA 310 cam? TA "claims" 30 hp out of the box for their AL heads so a level 1 porting gives maby 10 cfm intake and 20 cfm exhaust, so maby 40 hp. more plus the 310 cam claimed 30 hp. Thats 70 hp. Do you add headers in the equation? I don't know? 395 hp seams about right if the before engine was making 300 hp? Your right, this build didn't take advantage of a fully ported set of AL heads and around 1.5 points of more compression. Only good thing is the level 1 porting is a heck of alot easier than fully porting steel heads.
