Fun day head hunting at the junkyard!

[spikermiker]

Had a nice time at Pick-U-Part in Newark today. Was specifically looking for some 302 heads, but bought some others as well.

302 heads came out of an 86 Dodge full size? The name was knocked off the back. Body and interior looked like the 69K indicated on the odometer; minimal sludge in the engine. Took 3 lazy hours to pull the heads, man that was a lot of emissions crap! No bolts broke, exhaust manifold bolts were loose! rayer:

Next to this dodge was a 67 coronet 4 door with what looked like a low mile original 318LA. Not even a ridge in the bore...minimal sludge as well. The heads were 2658920 castings. The 2bbl manifold and carb were there on the fender with the distributor on the floor pan. Body was trashed, most parts gone. All bolts came out easy on this guy as well...though someone had already broken one exhaust stud.

Question is; I compared the heads side by side. The chambers are both closed but the 67 castings didn't have the dogleg and would seem to flow much better. Is this the case? I plan on downgrading to a summit k6900 cam and would clean the ports a little, sound like a good mild street recipe? Or are the 302's the way to go?

Pic 1: 920's left, 302s right/ Pic 2: 920's/ Pic 3: 302's/ Pic 4: 302's/Pic 5: 920's/ Pic 6: 86 dodge/Pic 7 & 8: Coronet/ Pic 9: Heads I bought plus a carb for a friends Mazda

By the way: Was 75ish here in our California winter!

 

[oldkimmer]

......302s r by far a superior head...........flow way better........kim.........

 

[dustya_383]

i was just up at that one couple days ago, was the duster still there??? someone got all the good stuff

 

[spikermiker]

Wanted to walk around but didn't do much of that. I did see a 64ish valiant wagon rusted to crap but mostly there; I didn't see the duster. I may go back in a few weeks.

Kim- seems you like the 302's! I was leaning towards them for the hardened seats as well.

 

[MopaR&D]

Yup 302 heads are the best factory 318 LA heads, the dogleg doesn't have as much of an effect as you might think and the ports are much more modern with a 'swirl' design. The closed chamber also gives you a little extra compression and a quench pad if you have zero-deck pistons.

Before you do anything have the heads checked for cracks between the valve seats, they are notorious for this and I had it happen myself to a pair I pulled off an '86 truck. If they check out good I'd also recommend going over the chamber edges with a grinder to at least smooth them down especially that point between the valves.