C4AE heads
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C4AE heads
i'm trying to get more performance out of my 390, it has C4ae heads, prolly stock, i know it does not have the hardened exhaust valves, my quetion is, are these heads worth trying to maximize or should i go with the edelbrock heads, by the time i have the springs changes the valve seats changed and port matched and such, would i have the same dollars?thanks for any suggestions. ps im going to have new pistons, flat top, and cam,prolly a 901 crane. and thinking about new rpm intake also, the intake i have is a C5AE.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Charlotte
Just my opinion, but I have thought about this as well. Edelbrock heads are 1200 for the pair w/o the rocker assembly. You might get the headwork done for less than that but you gain the weight advantage of the aluminum Edel's. But again, if I was going to go Edel's, I would also do the Erson rocker roller setup, and that is another 800 bucks easy.
Depends on the depths of your wallet I guess. My budget would dictate staying with the same heads. Get a die grinder and try your own porting/polishing and you would see a huge improvement, in addition to the head rebuild. The machine shop will charge you big for the port/polish, so try it yourself on a spare set of heads if you can.
Depends on the depths of your wallet I guess. My budget would dictate staying with the same heads. Get a die grinder and try your own porting/polishing and you would see a huge improvement, in addition to the head rebuild. The machine shop will charge you big for the port/polish, so try it yourself on a spare set of heads if you can.
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I ran edl 6006's out of the box with no probs. I use thorley 1 7/8 headers with the "bite area" shaved off on a table sander, stainless bolts, stock manifld gaskets.
Only takes 30 ft./lbs. to seal forever.
The edls are a pretty good match with the pref rpm intake.
Then I upgraded to a solid comp 282 magnum and erson roller rockers.
The thing about aluminum heads is that aluminum conducts heat faster and has less heat capacity than iron. This means that you can run about a half point higher compression with your fuel of choice.
If you polish the head chambers and piston tops I don't believe you lose much of the combustion energy. I would guess that at 5k rpm your firing a cyclinder over 1k/sec and thats way out of even aluminum's range of heat transfere.
It would be good to do some research on your pistons and try to get the comp ratio where you want it with about .040 head clearance. This is about right for good squish and quench,which is an advantage with wedge heads that we should make use of.
Only takes 30 ft./lbs. to seal forever.
The edls are a pretty good match with the pref rpm intake.
Then I upgraded to a solid comp 282 magnum and erson roller rockers.
The thing about aluminum heads is that aluminum conducts heat faster and has less heat capacity than iron. This means that you can run about a half point higher compression with your fuel of choice.
If you polish the head chambers and piston tops I don't believe you lose much of the combustion energy. I would guess that at 5k rpm your firing a cyclinder over 1k/sec and thats way out of even aluminum's range of heat transfere.
It would be good to do some research on your pistons and try to get the comp ratio where you want it with about .040 head clearance. This is about right for good squish and quench,which is an advantage with wedge heads that we should make use of.
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Oh, also, I used the stock hydrolic valve train for a couple of years before going to the erson roller setup. There is no problem doing that, except you dont install the splash guards because the edl heads are designed to not use them and the oil splash on the springs cools them and if you use them (the slpash guards), it opens the lash preset by the thickness of the splash guard metal because they are installed under the pedestals and you have valve tapping noises.
One other thing is that the valve spacing is just slightly wider with the edl heads and you should install the proper shims on the rocker shaft as explained in the instructions.
Also you can use the stock head bolts. You just have to take the approprate size socket to a grinding wheel to fit it in the boss.
One other thing is that the valve spacing is just slightly wider with the edl heads and you should install the proper shims on the rocker shaft as explained in the instructions.
Also you can use the stock head bolts. You just have to take the approprate size socket to a grinding wheel to fit it in the boss.
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Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Iowa
Originally Posted by jethro bodine
i'm trying to get more performance out of my 390, it has C4ae heads, prolly stock, i know it does not have the hardened exhaust valves, my quetion is, are these heads worth trying to maximize or should i go with the edelbrock heads, by the time i have the springs changes the valve seats changed and port matched and such, would i have the same dollars?thanks for any suggestions. ps im going to have new pistons, flat top, and cam,prolly a 901 crane. and thinking about new rpm intake also, the intake i have is a C5AE.
I'd go with a 941 crane cam. It will match the high compression flat top pistons and good flowing heads well.
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