[68 TT]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Dad and I pulled the bb yesterday and it is now on a stand, headed to the machine shop. I am going to go completely back through it (like I probably should have to begin with, but I just took his word for it) The end result being better than it would have been before anyway. Had I finsihed the truck, had it all painted then spun that main I would have been upset. I'd rather find it now ..

While it's apart (?) Who knows .. maybe some more goodies will find a new home. I have been eyeballing aluminum heads, maybe the Brodix or Dart top end kit. It's hard to say. It has the '290' 454 heads on it now which will flow pretty decent but just for the sake of weight on the nose and overall efficiency I'd really like to go with them. I just need to get the blessing from the wife.

We'll get it. One thing is for sure I'm not giving up.

Hope nothing is too screwed up in the engine.

The 75 pound weight savings of the aluminum heads is really nice, especially on your back when you are putting the engine together.

I like the Dart Pro 1 heads. We put a set of the 355cc CNC heads onto the dragster along with a huge .800" cam to go with it on the 496 over the winter to replace the smaller 049 oval port heads & .650" cam. Dropped two seconds in the quarter mile. It was obviously restricted heavily by the stock casting iron heads even though they had been professionally ported.

Our machine shop got the heads for 2/3 the cost of Summit or Jegs. You might want to check with yours too. At $4200 list that is a big savings.

The 355cc CNC heads are way too much head for a 396 powered street truck. I would look at the 275cc aluminum oval port Pro I heads. Oval port are much better on a street vehicle. The $2800 price is much easier to swallow too. You could keep your stock intake with these so that drops another $400 off the cost as well.

I ran the 310cc rectangular port Pro 1's on the 454 in my street/strip 70 Chevelle for years. They don't do too bad with a 4000 stall and a .713" solid roller.

I tried running less of a stall and a smaller cam with the 310cc heads but it just didn't build much torque down low. The car was faster with the modified big valve 049 oval port iron heads and the same smaller .600" cam & lower 3000 rpm stall I tried with the 310's.

The 310's could be too much for a street bound 396 as well. It will be a better street engine with the 275cc oval port Pro 1 heads.