Reconditioning Used Fe Heads?

[RICK LAKE]

428street Take the heads to an FE builder to be checked over. Have them checked for cracks between the valve seats. straightness. I good pressure test for internal cracks. As far a other work on the heads like bigger valves, porting It would be cheaper to go with a set of heads done. To make 400HP it would be easier to get a set of Edelbrocks with the porting and valves done. You don't need a large cam for this kind of power. You could sell your heads to offset the price of the Elebrocks. Are you going to paint the motor? You can fill the edelbrock logo in with epoxy and sand it. I couple coats of paint and nobody will know. The hydro cam from crane ,.533"-.563 Will give you a nice sound and running car. Don't worry about HP. Build a torque motor with 500 ft.of torque. If you don't have the short block built, STROKER it with a 4.25 crank and rods. Barry R sells a great kit that is balanced, comes with a crank, rods, pistons, rings and bearings. If you go with a little bigger motor, a cam can be larger. I have gone from a 452 with .501-.533" hdryo cam which made 360hp and 458ft. of torque with 9.2 compression. I now have a 482 with a small hydro roller cam at .587-.607" and 10.2 compression. I can't give you the dyno numbers, but they are almost the same as Chaplin in motor in his car. I am guessing in the 450hp and 550-570ft of torque. The other 2 notes I will give you is going with a set of Erson roller rockers. Best bang for the buck. I am very happy with mine. If you are looking for a little more power and have the extra money, a set of beehive springs from comp cams for the heads. The motor is stronger and has better valve and rocker control in both the low and upper range of the motor. Real world numbers is 15-23 HP at 6,000 rpm. Picks up 4-8hp in the low range. Add a 6K chip to you MSD for the rev limiter. If you want to talk about this, call me or give me a number to call you at, 732-254-3536 Rick L. Ps what trans are you going with? What rearend ratio are you going with? You might want to look into the superstreet richmond 5 speed with the 2.87 first gear and the .77 overdrive. This trans is good for 600HP and torque. ERA sells the correct handle for the orginial look. Keep the rear gears in the 3.07 or 3.31.