For my stroker build I am about to start, I need to get a set of heads. I have a set of C1AE's and C4AE's. Which would be better to have rebuilt? Can I have bigger valves put in? Would it be better to buy a set of Edelbrock heads?

 

As I understand it those C4 heads are the same as a Cobra Jets except the CJ has 2.09" valves vs 2.03". Grind off any burrs in the chamber and they are as good as Edelbrocks.

Puttster

 

By the time you add up what those old heads will need, you could have bought a set of Edelbrocks for about the same price. Add to the cost of a valve job, new valves, seats, guides, springs, retainers, etc. I did a set of CJ's twenty five years ago with new seats and guides and that alone added up to $600-$800 without new springs and valves. You can sell the heads you've got now and that'll give you a good head start towards the Edelbrocks.

 

I couldn't agree more with this assessment. I too spent a lot of bucks completely redoing a set of C8AE-H's. And I knew the machinist, and we traded work and materials back and forth, I did half the labor, and I still had to lay a bunch of money out on parts, not to mention that the stuff I traded was worth a bit too...

Unless you need a real "numbers matching" (casting numbers, anyway) set of heads, you can't go wrong with the Edelbrocks.

 

Don't get me wrong, you can sometimes come off cheap with stock heads, it just depends on what you want them to do and what all needs to be done (in machinework and parts) to do it. Last 390 I overhauled (not rebuilt), all the 40 year old heads needed were new springs and valve seals, these heads only had 60,000 miles on em in all that time. Let your machinist do an assesment on the heads you have, and let him know where you want to go with em, before spending money on them. There are no bad FE heads (to start with)

 

I thought I read that you can have Cobra Jet valves put in stock heads. How much performance would I gain?

I also have a big ported "S" 4bbl. cast iron intake. How much performance would be gained by a Performer RPM?

 

To put CJ valves in, you must also have the heads ported to match the valves. And building a stroker but thinking on using the stock iron intake ? Not much point in doing that. The RPM would be at least a minimum requirement in my opinion.

 

Buy the Edelbrock's, you won't be sorry.

 

Performer RPM or other hi-po intake is a must. The S will really choke it. You'll need the larger CJ sized valves too to get the most out of it.

I'll play devils advocate here and say that Edel heads aren't always the best route and they aren't always the same price as a set of reworked irons. I got a great deal on mine. My C8AE-Hs with 3 angle valve job, new guides hardened seats etc, CJ valves, ported to 275/205 @.600, cost me about $1400 total and because they have the C8/D2 port location mate up just fine to my headers. Eds cleaned up the same would have cost me at least $600 more and I'd have to grind the slots on my header flange to try and make the ports line up.

Don't get me wrong there is much more POTENTIAL in the Eds than the stockers. If I was building a stang or a fairlane then I would have gone that route for the reduced weight over the nose. Plus, it would be set up more for high rpm and I'd need them to keep from running race gas with a high CR. For me, in a truck there wasn't any point in spending a few hundred more when the only benefit is that they're aluminum. JMO.
Get a real quote and make your decisions from there.