Heads for mild 383 rebuild

[1970beep]

I am looking at redoing my 383 in my Road Runner. The engine is not original and I believe it to be a 67 2 barrel engine.
I have a chance to get some 452 heads that have new springs, seals and a valve job for $250.
Should I jump at these rather than having my stock heads redone?

I am not building anything high performance and am just doing fresh bearings seals gaskets and rings.

Thanks

 

[1966satellite]

I would if I were you. You can't rebuild your heads for that since you probably would need to have hardened seats installed to use unleaded gasoline. The 452's should already have the hardened seats.

 

[1970beep]

Yes they have the hardened seats.
Will my stock 4 barrel cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds bolt up without problems?

 

[fuely62]

Yes they have the hardened seats.
Will my stock 4 barrel cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds bolt up without problems?

Yep!

 

[WP29440SE]

the 452 , for all intents and purposes, is a 906 with hardened seats

 

[66chargerpat]

Hell to the NO!!! The 67 383 has lower compression than listed. The 452's are open chamber,so you are going to lose more compression. This not good if you ever whant to change cams. Also forget about the harden seats, they were lost when the seats were ground. I have a 67 383 with the small chamber heads. With a small cam { [email protected] and [email protected], .489 by .504"} super low vacuum @ idle. Also only 145 psi @ sea level with the close chamber heads.

 

[69Bee]

Hell to the NO!!! The 67 383 has lower compression than listed. The 452's are open chamber,so you are going to lose more compression. This not good if you ever whant to change cams. Also forget about the harden seats, they were lost when the seats were ground. I have a 67 383 with the small chamber heads. With a small cam { [email protected] and [email protected], .489 by .504"} super low vacuum @ idle. Also only 145 psi @ sea level with the close chamber heads.

Finally, someone who understands that valve job ruins the INDUCTION hardened seats. You might get one valve job out of it, but not two. I would doubt that after about 40 years, this would be the first valve job. Also, without seeing the work, I would be interested in the quality of the work performed. Hell, they might have just ground a 45, and called it good. The heads should have had valve guides installed, the heads milled, and Exhaust seats installed. It is best to do it right once, rather than correctly the second time. This is the minimum amount of work that should be done to these heads.

You also say that you want to put new bearings and rings in. Are you going to at least polish the crank? How about ball hone the block? These need to be done also to do a proper job. As far as the open/closed chamber head, you could use a Mopar Performance steel shim gasket, and have the heads milled to boost the compression. Run the numbers, and verify the compression ratio. If you mill more than 0.010" off of the heads, make sure you mill the intake side of the head accordingly.

 

[natas33]

put some Brodix B1-MO heads on it, fly cut the pistons with a lindy tool, fit an .800" roller in it and get a new 10,000rpm tach. The sound of it at 9000rpm while the stock rods and pistons are still holding on.....priceless. :3gears:

 

[eric383]

Any idea what heads are on your motor now? How bad is your current 383? I know this is tempting but do you know the seller or is he reputable? Any receipts with the heads? If they are a quality rebuild this is a good deal but buyer beware. I'm not that far from you, PM me if you need a hand.

 

[Cranky]

If you mill more than 0.010" off of the heads, make sure you mill the intake side of the head accordingly.

Core shift plays a big part in this. If the castings came out of the molds like there were intended (no core shift) and the machining was on tolerance, then sure, but the best way to find out if the intake fits well after milling the heads is to do a mock up. I've found some intakes actually fit better after milling the heads than they did before any work was done and this holds true on after market parts too. Never assume that castings will fit like they are supposed to. Today's castings seem to be better than it was 40+ years ago but it's still good to check it.

 

[Meep-Meep]

the 452 , for all intents and purposes, is a 906 with hardened seats

Somewhat true. The main difference is the intake ports. 906's are better IMO but will it be a night and day difference for a street car? I say no.

 

[1970beep]

How do I determine what heads are on my engine?

 

[Seax440Dodge]

Go here and read my post about head ID

 

[sleepar]

Get you're '67 heads done and its $200 if you don't need valves and springs... you can always go bigger later

 

[Meep-Meep]

Casting number on the intake runner under the valve cover tells the story.