To answer some questions.....

As for 59* limiting RPM... I'd say somewhere around 8200-8400 would be about as high as I'd want to turn a 59* motor on a consistent basis.

How much RPM would a 394 need? I dunno, What bore/stroke? I assume a 3.79 crank? It would depend on the whole combo not just the CID. These heads certainly are not for evryone.... Actually I won't sell a set of -1 245's unless I believe the combo they are going on is correct for them. I don't want someone putting too big of a head on their motor and be unhappy, when the 230 or even the 210 Oval would have been a better choice. These heads are mostly for pure drag engines, not really a great street head unless it is a BIG CID engine. The 230 will be a much better choice for most 408-416 street/strip motors with limited compression.

Quicktree: the 245 is quite a bit bigger than what you have on there now, so a 366 would'nt be a 7000 RPM piece anymore with a set of these on, the cross section would move the TQ and HP band up quite a bit, and not everyone wants a 6200 stall converter....

OriginalB1: yes theya re sitting on shelf at ICH, so that is the #1 advantage of dealing with the INDY stuff. Everyone (including myself) knows they (ICH) have "issues" and I'm not saying they are greatest compny in world, but it is nice to actually have some killer parts that ARE available whenever you want them. No offense to MP, but the ICH stuff in terms of power (both intakes and heads) is light years ahead of what is available from MP for 59 degree heads, plus there is no back order to deal with and their QC is getting better as far as surface finish of the decks, and guide sizing. Plus you don't have to deal with the 3/8 guide pain that most MP heads make you deal with.

I don't have my #'s for the 230 CNC here, they are usually in the 320's, it's killer head for alot of engine combos.

As far as these heads being $5K to bolt on.... well that's true, but so is a really good set of W5's to be honest. By the time you buy a set of cstings for $1000-$1200, have them ported, guides changed to 11/32, honed, surfaced, VJ, drainbacks done, INDY intake, milled to fit, port matched, and all good retainer/lock/spring/valve/seal/rocker combo...... It's right around $5K. I mean to be honest, most of the guys running 10.20-9.50's with a 59* SB in a 3000+ lb car do not have cheap induction systems. Some guys get lucky and buy a used set of W2's or something for $1500 and go out and run 9.90's etc but you can't compare a used set of iron heads to a brand new set of aluminum CNC heads. It's apples and oranges in terms of almost everything.

As for putting 59* heads on a 48* block.... it's not that big of a deal, and unless you are using a J head, intake sealing is not a problem. Liek I mentioned on Vic's set I'm going to angle mill them (for several performance reasons) but also the added benefit will be helping the pushrod angle out since they are going on a 48* block with Jesels.

On teh right combo, there is no reason this 245 head converted to 255, can't match or beat the preformance of alot of smaller (more common) W7/8/9 heads. Now granted they will never match a big W7/8/9 in terms of power, but those heads are hard to locate and buy cheaply. The big thing these new heads will do is open up a new generation of what I call "cookie cutter" engines. Anyone on this board can now sit in their home, open a catalog, and basically order all the parts they need to just bolt together a very basic no frills combo, that should push any A body into the 9's without much effort at all. The only "hard" part to aquire right now is a good race block. Other than that, throw a 950-1050 carb on an ICH intake, with either the 230 or 245 CNC head, a decent size roller cam, a callies crank, a set of CompStar or Eagle etc. H beams, an off the shelf Diamond Flat top, and put at least a 1 7/8 header on it.... very basic 416 motor, that will make 630-680 HP on ANY dyno and run in the 9's in an A body. You don't need custom headers, external water/oil lines, dry sumps, belt drives, custom oil pans, sheetmetal intakes, multiple carbs, nitrous, blower etc anymore to make the power to run mid 9's @ 3200 lbs like you used to. Are they cheap to build? No... a Big Block is certainly a much cheaper way to do it, but if you want to do it with a SB, all the parts are now in place in the aftermarket to make the power, and make it safely. It's just something that has not been available in the past. It's just unreal how far the aftermarket has come for SB Mopar parts in the past 5-10 years. Now if we could just get some new race blocks....