What cheapish head should I slap on a 383 street beast? Also, I'll probably need new pistons. What should I get in that as well?

Thanks guys.

What cheapish head should I slap on a 383 street beast? Also, I'll probably need new pistons. What should I get in that as well?

Thanks guys.

Can you give us some more details? Do you have a cam in mind? What CR are you targeting? Iron or AL? What is your budget (beer or caviar ;) - cheapish is relative to most of us)?

Kind of difficult to think of something as a “street beast” when you use the term “cheapish heads” in the same sentence. ;-)

There are many choices out there depending on your budget and the intended purpose of the engine. If you can find some performance Chevy heads from the early ‘70s and have them worked over a little, you will have a potent engine with the right combination of other parts. Many will offer Vortec as a good alternative, and with a little work they can be made to run as well as most of the other choices. Finally, there are aftermarket heads that can be found in a variety of configurations and prices. Iron will be cheaper, aluminum lighter. Finding a good set of used aftermarket heads might be your best bet if cheap is the major factor in your decision. Good luck.

Iron probably. I'll need a new cam as well. Not sure what Compression I want. Probably reasonably high, but I still want to run pump gas. I'm also planning a shot of nitrous later on.

Targeting for about 450-550 HP, and maybe 600 TQ? Do able?

And some where between beer and caviar. :rolleyes:

These links should give you some ideas & help you with your expectations:

http://www.ryanscarpage.50megs.com/combos1.html

http://www.enginecombination.com/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=9a005f636061e3859c031dcbc97d258e

Keep in mind the old rule of thumb 1 hp = $10 on average, YMMV. That doesn't include the fact that you can easily shred any stock GM transmission with 600 ft*lbs of torque and you'll have to upgrade your rearend.

dart iron eagles are a good iron head, I just got a set from summit for my 388 I expect around 500hp with a crap load of porting im going to be doing. my compression is alittle more then 10.5:1 with the parts in my sig

I assume a Muince or Warner 4 speed isn't going to grenade behind the block?

How reasonable is 450 RWHP on these cars through a fourspeed?

Oh and I'm not too up on my head/valtrain knowledge.

To match a 30 over 383.

I'm not sure what:

Intake port size
Combustion Chamber size
And
Valve size

Would be best.

Also what needs to be done to an "assembled" head before it goes on the block?

Bump :(

Brodix IK-200s are cheapish, about a grand.

How about vortec's... That should be about 800? And alot of people here like 'em.

Patriot Performance just released a new lower-priced alloy sbc head for I think around $795 complete.Check 'em out.

www.patriot-performance.com