Anyone had any exp. with RHS sbf Heads? I am thinking of putting a set on a 351w I am building. I am leaning toward a 180 intake runner and a 64 cc chamber. Any suggestions?

 

On a ford? I have heard great things about RHS heads at the drag strip but I have no experience with them. Do a search on YB.com - Where the weak are killed and eaten forum, you will find a lot.

 

Yes on a 351w. The engine is going in a 4x4 f-150 what size intake runner do you think I am leaning towards 180. I want the engine to make 400+hp.

 

I have not personally used RHS heads..... most aluminium SBF heads are pretty comparable..... RHS are thick deck heads and that means they allow for a good bit of milling if you want to customize your chamber size.

Generally for performance you want the smallest combustion chamber and use dished pistons to keep compression in the happy zone for pump gas.... So look at pistons and heads together. Most piston manufacturers can give you a compression ration with their offerings and a CC of your heads....

The real deal is you want 351W that makes 400 hp...... I would call RHS and ask them what they say on that... You need about a .550 inch lift cam and 650 CFM carb on that thing... you should be close.... do yourself a favor and use a hydraulic roller.... you will also need to spin that motor close to 6000 RPMS to get to that HP level.....

 

I am going with a hyd. roller cam and a 650cfm eldebrock (even though my dad said that is a $%^&* chevy carb) The lift is 541 and the duration @ 50 is 230 I think it will have a great sound if nothing else!

 

The reason why your dad is saying that is that the Edelbrock style of carb is a rochester design and is not as adjustable as a holley.... and therefore less of a performance carb.....
I think you will be in the ballpark even if you choose the more mundane edelbrock victor junior or Ford Racing Z Heads ... TFS heads you need special pistons for... so remember that so you don't make the beginner mistake of trying to bolt them onto shortblock with the wrong slugs in it....

You want to find a head with enough port to flow the air you need, but not too much where your cam cant make power at the rpms you need to turn to get the power from the heads....

When you build up an engine and you start looking for HP you do so by moving around the torque curve.... the more HP you want to make... the higher you have to shift up the torque curve.... which means more sluggish performance in everyday driving....therefore its always better to be err on the side of less especially when you are going to be using the engine in a truck..... Also IMHO who cares if at 6500 RPMS you make 400 HP..... unless are you going to drive that thing at 6500 you are not going to have 400HP.... that is the other side of that coin....

 

Do yourself a favor and go get a copy of Desktop Dyno, plug in all the specs for the whole motor and then start comparing cams, the cam should be the last thing you purchase based on the results you get from the software. It's no problem at all to get 400 crank HP from a 351 but you'll be surprised how many different ways there are to get it. If this motor is for a car or a really light truck(under 4000lbs) you can afford to sacrifice some low rpm TQ for higher peak HP, but in a heavy truck with big tires the same motor will feel lame unless the motor is screaming. A different cam that sacrifices a few ponies for a fatter TQ curve will actuall make the vehicle faster and feel much more powerful.

 

where does one get a copy of the software? Is it availab. online? If so how much? Thanks for the input, I have already bought a cam and pistions. Not to say the cam could not be changed. One more thing I was thinking of using 1.7 rocker arms, is this a mistake, I noticed most for a small block are 1.6.

 

It's available here... ProRacing Sim Individual Simulation Pacakges for $49.95 just scroll down the page.

The rockers you use will depend upon the cam selected and the lift capacity of the heads among other things. If the cam produces enough lift with the stock rockers(1.6) to roughly maximize the flow potential of the heads then adding 1.7 rockers isn't helpfull, but of course if the cam falls a little short then these can help.