more SB head questions.....

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streetdak

streetdak

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So here is my dellima.... I love my Mopar stuff a ton, don't get me wrong, but its going to take some coin to get my dart to come close to as fast as my Camaro. For well under $2000 (that mostly went into my transmission) my 96 Lt1 Camaro was a reliable mid 12 second car. The only "internal" work I had done to it was 1.6 Crane roller Rockers. So Im all about budget racing, however looks like im gonna have to shead some cash for just even a set of cylinder heads and wonder what people think would be the best option.

The 318 in the car now is to just run around in till i get the motor built.

What I have waiting is a 340 Block .30 over with Speed Pro Hyperutetic Flat Tops, shot peened stock rods and a .20 over steel crank. All it really needs is to be hot tanked and checked, crank has been balanced.

So now for the heads.

I do right now have a set of J heads that are bare. They will most likely need damn near all machine work, guides, valves, springs, locks, retainers, and so forth. But i do have them.

So my options, get my J heads built, buy a set of the hughes iron heads, or grab a set of the edelbrocks. What do you guys think would be the best move?? Right now cheapest will prob be best, but im open to opinions. I know most likely the least im going to spend is $1000 so im aware.

I know the eddy's are just bolt on (beside the option of getting them checked first)

The Hughes to what Im reading are going to require a set of rockers ($325 i think)
 
The RHS/Indy LA-X heads will use your stock rockers and shafts and go for about a $1000 ready to bolt on. The Edlebrocks will be closer to $1500 but still will use your stock rockers and shafts.
 
dgc333 said:
The RHS/Indy LA-X heads will use your stock rockers and shafts and go for about a $1000 ready to bolt on. The Edlebrocks will be closer to $1500 but still will use your stock rockers and shafts.
Click to expand...

I will 2nt that! :supz: :-D
 
Buy my extra set of 308's and do a little work to them....should cost less than $600 total to go through them....then, smoke your slomaro.
 
If you go with closed chamber heads and you have pistons that stick up above the deck like the '68-'71 340s do you need to run thicker head gaskets.
 
Yeah, need a bit more info on the car, your plans, that 340 short, and the budget.
 
I've run 12's with stock J heads w/2.02's in them. Give it gear and a cam and you should be good. The J heads should work out realitivley cheap.

Chevy = cheap

anybody else = expensive, except...

Caddy's and Buicks, which equal more money than expensive.
 
dgc333 said:
The RHS/Indy LA-X heads will use your stock rockers and shafts and go for about a $1000 ready to bolt on. The Edlebrocks will be closer to $1500 but still will use your stock rockers and shafts.
Click to expand...

I'm liking this solution !

Yeah, need a bit more info on the car, your plans, that 340 short, and the budget.
Click to expand...

Car is a 73 Dart Swinger

On the 340, to be honest for the last 5 years that I've had it in my garage I was thinking it was a 360, then come to find out when I moved into my House and grabbed it from my parents house I then noticed the numbers and sure enough 340. 2180930-340-5 is casting and date is 6-15-71. All i know is when I got it, it was assembled and had been for quite some time, when I pulled the pan off there was some rust flakes in the oil pan but everything else looked clean. I ran the number on the speed pro hyperutetics. Number on piston is 332P .030 shown here:
340piston2s.jpg

340piston1s.jpg


Crank has been balanced but seems to be .020 over and stock besides that. Thats all I know about the short block.

I'm looking to go 10-11:1, I have a summit performer RPM style intake at the moment, will prob buy an air gap, and I'm a holley guy so I will be running a 650 vacuum secondary carb. Looking at either the roller muther thumper cam, or for budget purposes a .509 purple cam (which I may allready have, there was a purple cam in the motor, I just need to have it measured.) Of course long tubes with 2-1/2 full exhaust

Im going to get a 10 in' converter for the 904 prolly 2800-3000 stall, hoping to grab a rear end at pate and run 373-410 gears. So, yeah thats my plan besides the cylinder heads.

I miss the camaro, cause it was cheap and fast, however the older cars are just that much cooler. I missed my old 74 Dart Sport, so now the Swinger takes the place ;)
 
oooh wait, update....

bottom casting number on piston seems to be 266-99 which with some google research may lead to be a older TRW piston, forged!

TRW - L2316 F 30

bottomcastingnumber.jpg
 
More than likely the tops of those pistons will be slightly over the deck, I believe .018" is the spec. But you'll have to check if the shoulder's are at zero deck for that, mine are just below (.005"), so you may have a little more room.

You'll definitely want to check the clearance of things if you decide to go with a closed chamber head (RHS, Iron Ram, or 360 Eddy heads). The edelbrocks will cost at LEAST $1,500 once you've bought the rest of the stuff you're going to need for them, more if you have them cleaned up.

I went with 308's on my 340, went with 2.02/1.60's and had them ported, they now flow 264 cfm at .500" lift. I have about $1,500 into them with the porting, but I paid too much for the the cores. Prine's are cheaper, you'd be under $1,500 no problem. Not quite as much flow as the RHS's, but they're open chamber, around 65cc's usually. That said, I'd definitely look at the RHS's now, as they were not available when I had my heads built. Clearance will be the only issue to investigate.
 
I was going to say they look like the oldschool battelship forged units. Good parts. The roller deal is pricey. I deal more with numbers so if you have a dollar figure, that would help. You're going to spend somewhere around $1000-1300 to get Js up to speed. However you need to know where the piston is in relation to the deck. Those pistons are supposed to come out of the block if they are installed properly. Most are not and end up flush or below deck. If they are above deck you may need to ru the open chamber heads. If not, I'd go with something like the EQ Magnums or the RHS LA-Xs.
 
If the pistons are above deck Edelbrock makes the "340" version of their aluminum head that is machined as an open chamber. But then you are stuck with an open chamber head forever.
 
If they stick above the deck .018-.020, get closed chambered heads and run a .060-.070 thick head gasket
 
If they only stick out .015" he could run the standard Felpro head gasket which is .054".
 
well i guess my first step will be to hot-tank the block, and reassemble the motor and look at the height of the pistons. Im hoping I can run the close chambered heads, knowing that its a forged/steel crank setup i'd like throw a 125 shot over the top. Guess we'll have to see how it goes, thanks so much for all the info guys!
 
You would would want to use either the Indy LA-X heads. About 1400-1500$ and you'll be able to boltem on. (that price includes shipping fees) or the aluminum edlebrocks, cost around the same either way i suppose once you figure in the shipping of the heavier LA-X head vs the aluminum edlebrocks.

And if your talking about getting into the 12s, you can just use a fairly aggresive hydraulic flat tappet camshaft.. you would be able to use the OEM (non adjustable) shaft rockers just fine.. very inexpensive and very lite rockerarm setup. So that $325 wouldn't be nessecary for those rockerarms from hughes. Take that $325 and buy a set of 10:1 - 10.5:1 cast pistons for your 340 LA-X indy combo.. just my .02 cents
 
Build the 340 really mild.....a step or two above stock with FACTORY un ported heads to save that coin you're hollerin about (I'm right there with you) then spend 399 bucks on a plate nitrous system and go run some 12s. Done. Over and out.
 
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