either that or he put the wrong springs on

 

D3 heads flow alot better than c9s or Dos. also if you simply bolt adjustable studs and guide plates to dove heads without machining the peds down at least .100 you will get a flat cam every time. the rocker hits the stud base

 

Troy, you are going exactly the oppisite that I have had to fight guys with always thinking DOVE heads are the answer the truth is the D3VE and the early heads flow within a couple CFM of each other, not enough to even notice the difference.

 

the floor of the exhaust port is too low on the doves. i have heard of guys using port plates with good results

 

There is no difference in the floor between the DOVE and D3VE heads, but rather than aurgue here is a link to a comparison chart between several different types of heads, both ported and unported, if you will notice the exhaust side is almost identical between the 2 types of heads up to around .700 lift.
http://www.reincarnation-automotive....r-index-1.html

 

Greetings from SmokeyDave

I finally got my 460 back running and it runs great the Dove C heads gave me a noticeable increase in power but hard to tell exactly how much since i changed so much at the same time ( the addition of a barry grant 720 road deamon and the eldebrock performer 460 intake and the GM HEI distributor and a Melling R/V cam

I went with ARP guide plates and studs with .100 thousands longer push rods and every thing went fine ( after I got my spring height set right thanks to a set of Crane .50 thousands offset valve keepers

I would reccomend this set up to any one who needs more pulling power out of a low compression 460 it makes a great deal of difference

 

Nice, man! Glad to hear good updates!

 

The Dove c heads are a better head than the D3 heads on a few aspects. The first is a smaller combustion chamber 75-77cc compared to the D3's 92-96cc. The Dove heads have the same Egr bosses inside the exhaust ports but they are not through ported to the front and back of each head(you'll notice a press-in plug on one end of the D3 heads, the other end of each has an open port to connect both heads together with an external crossover pipe that allowed the egr air pump to be connected allowing the later 460's meet emissions). The egr boss in the Dove heads can be easily ground down to allow better flow because the egr bosses were not utilized and/or ported to the egr channel that runs the length of each head, they are solid cast iron. The D3 heads can be ported in the same way you just have to go the extra step and fill/weld the egr boss's port. The Dove heads have screw-in studs, which accepts roller rockers much easier and are more reliable that the pedistal coversion kits out there. I hope this helps.

 

The D3VE heads can also be machined for screw in studs and guide plates with ease, the emissions ports on some DOVE heads ARE drilled so they also need to be plugged, which can be done with a metal dowel rod pressed into the end to end port. The chamber size can be compensated for with piston choice, on the small chamber DOVE heads you really need to run a dish piston to keep the compression in pump gas range, you can achieve the same compression ratio with flat tops and the D3VE heads. The ONLY time DOVE and earlier heads are an advantage is on a race gas only engine, and at that point unless your class requires the use of iron heads your better off with one of the aluminum aftermarket choices. The best use of DOVE heads is to sell them to someone that believes they will magically gain 100hp with them and use the extra money to upgrade your D3VE heads for better flow.
Now with that said if you do have an emission motor from 72 on, and you are not wanting to actually rebuild it with new pistons etc, then bolting on a pair of early heads will gain you some power due to the increase in compression but that is the only place your gaining, thus if your rebuilding a 460 and have the D3VE heads, your wasting your time looking for and paying for a set of early heads when you can achieve the same results from your late model "smog" heads and save soem money.

 

How can paying for extra machining for screw-in studs and the extra cost in pistons to achieve the same comp ratio be a better way to go?? Yes, some Dove heads were drilled, but most(probably 90%+) were not. I never implicated that these heads were an instant bolt-on 100 hp but the increase in performance is there, OVER the D3 heads. When bolting these Dove heads on as a direct replacement of D3 heads you usually see a full point in compression ratio jump, not much but we can all see this as an advantage if you are willing to look for it. If you have any sets of Dove heads lying around I'll gladly trade you for the D3's that are gathering dust in my garage. I'm not trying to say that the D3's don't have some merits of there own, or that the Dove heads are the best production cast iron 460 heads out there(by no means). I was just verifying that cost to performance issue the Dove heads have the upper hand between the two castings.

 

I had an 11:1 compression Cleveland motor, factory and bone stock, and with the same type of quench heads, ran fine on pump gas. I'm sure the D0VE C heads will do the same on pump gas with stock pistons.
It is the open chamber heads like the D2's that have a hard time running any kind of compression ratio on pump gas.

 

I have it, let me have your specs and I will run it for you.

 

to monsterbaby thanks for the head flow info. the only point im trying to make is that i have built a bunch 460s the d3 head out powers the doves every time compression being = of course. i attribute this to the floor of the exaust port being higher. i know that the port is higher because a set of port plates for doves will not fit in a d3. nor are they needed as much. its hard for me to hate the doves i used to search hard for them until all the d3 guys would out power me

 

I would have to see actual flow data for intake/exhaust ports of both heads before I would just take someone's word for it. Find some stock flow specs for each and post the results here if you can find some.
As far as porting both heads:

Flow figures(intake/exhaust) of 350/185 to 370+/200 max for D3's and 350/200 (small valves) 365+/220 max, 230 with the 1.8" exhaust valve for the D0VE C's is what reincarnation-automotive.com displays on a regular basis for their castings. These guys know their BBF heads.
So, it looks like the exhaust ports of the D0VE C's still rule in ported form.

 

You asked for it, and I have already posted the flow numbers both unported and ported, and my info if you would take a minute to notice actually came from Scott (reincarnation-automotive) I have talked to Scott, and if you do a search he is actually a member of this site and will give the same info and in fact has, but once again here is the flow charts from Scott right off of the reincarnation-automotive website. As you stated this guy knows big block ford iron heads so the numbers from him are right here in front of you.
http://www.reincarnation-automotive....r-index-1.html