Help Me Pick New Heads/Cam for 383

[Spot1984]

Well I got a 383...Here is the specs:

Crank- 4340 Forged Steel Crank
Rods- H Beam 4340 Rods 6.00 inch
Pistons- Keith Black Icon Forged Pistons Flat Top with Two Valve Reliefs(+4.90cc Head volume) 4.030 Bore
Cam- Comp Xtreme Energy Hydraullic Roller( Intake @ .050 248/Exhaust @ .050 254) Intake lift .562/Exhaust lift .580, Lobe seperation 110
Heads- Be nice, I got WAY cheap on heads (ran out of money) Aluminum ProComp 64cc Combustion Chambers, 210 cc Runners/ 2.02 Intake, 1.6 exhaust
Rockers-Roller Shaft mounted Rocker System by RPM 1.5 Ratio
Valve Springs- Isky(Dual Spring) 275 lbs/inch
Carb-Holley 750 Street HP
Intake-Hurricane Single Plane 3000-7500 RPM

I want to spray at least 150 shot of NOS and this thing will be street/strip. I am not too concerned with how street friendly it is

I am currently looking at AFR SBC Competition 227cc Heads:
SB-Chevy Competition Cylinder Head
227cc Intake Ports
Standard Port Exhaust
Angled Plug Type
65cc Combustion Chambers
80cc Exhaust Ports
1.550'' Roller Valve Spring
225 lbs. Seat Pressure
.710'' Max Lift

I would like to grow into the heads. I'm not sure if the cam I currently have is up to the task of how much these heads flow. I appreciate the help fellas!

[Marv D]

I have ran a set of cnc ported / angle milled, over the top AFR 210's on a 12.5:1 , 6" rod 383 with a Lunati 50134 solid roller (262° 274° @ 0.050 with .625 lift) Supervictor and Prosustems custom 900cfm dominator. The heads were milld to 54cc so it had 12.5:1 compression with a zero decked block, 6cc for the valve relief's.. She made 580HP and was nice and consistant mid 10's in a 2900 pound door car in the heat running c-12,, 10.3's in the cooler winter air (winter for Az is like anything under 100 friggin degrees)

I am running a set of AFRs 220's on a 434 with just under 13:1 with similar cam only a Crower with 264/278, .660 lift with a Holley ProRam and 2 4150's.

Your big issue with the 220's and 227's is going to be the specific .45 / .10 offset shaft rocker system they require. If that happens to be the offsets you have,, cool!! but I'd suspect not. A decent T&D / Jesel shaft system for the AFR's runs in the $1400 range, and Crower has a stainless steel kit specifically for the AFR 220-227's for right around $1100

Now that sticker shock has set in,, and considering your going to spend $2200+ for the heads and the additional for the new rockers,,,, I would think this through if it were me.

I really don't think the 383 (even one spinning 7500) can make good use of a head that large. And second, without a piston change or some massive $ put into angle milling and corecting the bolt holes, intake face etc,, your not going to have the compression to support the cams that have lift up in the .65+ range that would be 'normal' with a investiment of a $3500-$4000 heads.

If you must, and are dead set on a large cc head..... the Brodie STS 233 head is pretty impressive on a 434 I built for my buddy's 74 Nova. He has been tickeling the 10.0's with a pretty budget setup. High lift / short duration cam, 12:1, single 4150 carb, 1-7/8" headers and a 9" slick. He's just over 3200 pounds in race trim. We set it up with a stud mounted rocker and it's not beating things up at all.

[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

I would leave the heads alone for now and see how it does.. I am running the 220 on my 408 but I went shorter on the duration.. my build specs are listed..

The new comp CNC 227 is a killer head I know who does the CNC work for RHS and I thought about going that route.. lots of options.. I would think You need more CI to really get that type of package to work.

[Spot1984]

I'm inclined to agree with both of ya guys. I will have to do a little research about the heads when it comes to sprayin NOS. I hope they can handle the extra flow. Do you guys think think the cam is the right one for the heads/intake I got?

[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

"right" is a odd word really as there is no right .. I would not say that the intake is wrong I run one myself and they do work well for the money. Always better stuff but that will work fine.. It does have the boss's for nozzles as well ( a plus in my book)

The cam well again what one cam does for one guy and to the next is just that.. Meaning that one guys may love it and another pulls it and swaps for another..

I am running a howards retro roller.. and it is very close to your specs.. are you sure about the cam specs as what you have listed looks more like a solid than a hyd roller.. one thing is that you may run into issues trying to spin that engine to 7500 with the hyd rollers.... Thats a long ways you may end up dumping the lifters flat.. if it falls flat for power on the high RPM that would be a place to look at.


Over all its a nasty SBC.. run what you have and see where it takes you.. You own the parts, not the time to be changin up a ton of parts at this point you spent the money already.. Unless you are racing to make a living does it really matter?? I would think not..

We have all built combos that should not have worked and did and vise versa.

I think the big thing I see is the RPM you will need vs the hyd roller.. unless I missed something?

18* is the way to go to build big power.. but it is a costly deal. Good luck with it.

here is the cam I am running ( same but on a 110)

110275-12 NA 294 300 241 247 .545 .565 112 108 Hyd. Hyd. 1,2

I drive my on the street so I back way off on the cam.. but CI is always going to be helpful when it comes to TQ!!!! in my book I would rather have more TQ and give up on the high RPM power..

A engine that makes a big tq curve is a blast to drive and much easier on the engine than spolling it up all the time.. let the engine do the work..

Marv will agree on this.. hes a pretty smart guy.. LOL other than the fact he bought a sand rail LMAO huge hole in the sand.. Kevin M is his new best fried ..to give money to that is..

[Spot1984]

I hear ya GMR lol! The cam specs are spot on ie..cam card. This the first higher performance small block I have ever built and am so damn worried that the recipe I thru together is gonna work lol! I have always wanted to get in to drag racing or rather street/strip stuff. I restore cars for a living but have never been around this high performance stuff. So I am learning here lol! I'm gonna call it good with the motor and take your guys advice and run what I got. I really appreciate the help guys!!!! Next step...anti roll bar, rear coil over, mini tub. So be prepared fellas...lots more questions coming about anti roll bar and rear coil overs. I just finished up the body work on the cab and front clip this last weekend so I need to get this back half in shape so I can re-work the bed. Thanks fellas!

[POPO1984]

Id talk to chad speier about his 220 profiler head
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[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

Well drag racing vs street are not the same, and really i think it gets hard to have the best of both worlds.. you will always have to give on one side or the other.. My old drag truck ( 85 gmc S15 back half and front tube set up) was a SBC engine that I ran a 8 inch convertor, 5.56 gear 18 X 30 rear slick, and a turbo 400 with t brake etc.. that was a wheels up truck on the leave.. best ET it ever ran was a 9.98 ( i forget the mph but in the low 130 range) I did in fact drive it on the street.. was not a nice afair to do so.. overheating was the big issue, trans temp a close second and street manners well it did not have any..

Being that as most of us have built something that was just over the top and street use was the issue.. we are much more careful today than in the past. It costly to have to re do these in any area.

I wanted more thus I built a larger engine.. much easier to do with more cubes than the smaller side.. like I said always a give and take..

the old engine was just a 355 CI roller that I revved to 9200... yes it was hard on valve train, good PSI springs only lasted a short time. In a race season I would go through 5-6 sets of springs. 2 sets of bearings in the lower end etc.. And that was if I did not really break something.. I windowed my share of blocks, broke cranks, rocker arms and lifters.. when you build an engine set on kill ..it does. The parts today are better and the choices are greater..

If you are building a race truck do so if not just enjoy the great low end power and fun factor..

my little cammed 408 is a blast to drive and makes huge power any time I want it...


Pm sent

[Marv D]

Your worry of head not flowing and working with N2O is a bit of a moot point. Same as concerns of how big of carb, etc, octane on top of a N20 motor. Talk wit the guys that run a plate system and they will all tell you,, he N20 and fuel injected UNDER the carb replaces the volume drawn THROUGH the carb. So less CFM carb helps keep signal up for the volume that IS drawn through the carb.Same sort of thinking applies to the octane of the fuel in the cell for the motor, and the octane in the cell for enrichment fuel on the hose.

With N20 carrying it's own atmosphere,, the cfm that goes through the heads is continually expanding as it passes the valve and enters the chamber. So a 200cc port that flows 290cfm may provide the same volume of 'fuel and atmosphere' as would have gone through a n/a 350cfm head.

N20 is some serious technical stuff. Steve, Shaun and plenty of others here can offer more / better experience on its setup and keeping a motor alive under the hose. I never hurt parts running a 250 shot plate system, but I never found the consistancy with it either.
Just something to think about

And Steve,, I already made my first donation to Kevin Jr's colledge fund.

(note to self,, no reverse,, NEVER use reverse, no reverse, NEVER use reverse)

[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

LOL too funny seems I was able to see the future on that issue!!


I am running a comp big shot two stage kit.. NOW if I where really going to be taking this to the track and serious about it I would be running nozzles hands down. However I am not thus the plate kit will work just fine...

As for the NO2 thing I just passed over that being that once hit the go go he would understand it first hand.. Kinda like a guy that is really worried about how well the heads flow or is the cam spot on and then hit it for 12 lbs of boost .. Power adders will make poor kits run very strong, and stong engines a beast.

I am hitting 100 1 stage and 125 second.. so really a very mild set up. Again for me its just plain fun, and I dont care if it could be better..

Fuel system is another HUGE deal .. some state you must have two pumps and then there aothers that have run one huge pump and had it work just as good with less parts. I went with one large billet pump , garden hose in size for my feed line twin billet regs, etc. If done right you will be fine either way you choose to go.

It is not about pressure but volume.. Many that state you must have two pumps maybe have not done the math, I dont know.. and everyone gets a opinion.. there build and money all good by me.

Now you are in NE so what fuel are you going to run?? E85? if so pump or drum... race fuel, pump fuel E 10.. it all will play a part in this..