Unless he MUST run OEM iron heads, there are too many good aftermarket head choices today to bother throwing big $$$ into 50 year old iron passenger car heads.

I don't mind doing a "normal" port job on iron heads....... But if someone is looking for a "max effort" type of job...... I'm not the guy.

Given the core shift issues that the factory heads have, wouldn't a CNC ported set tend to be even more crack prone? Going fast w/ stock stuff is cool and all, but at some point it becomes even more of a money pit than racing already is.

Hey Brad how's the new engine build coming along? But yes my friend is tuning in a class that you have to run stock factory blocks and heads. Kind of like the fast class but for poor guys.lol

I've thrown away a lot of really nice ported OE heads that made pretty good power and the owners were pretty happy with how the cars ran. Some of them I ported, some were ported at other shops.
For big blocks, when they're heavily modified(especially with big intake valves), the two most common places for cracking is across the intake seats into the bowls, and externally under the two center exhaust ports.

Of course, if you're racing in a class where they're required, you don't have a lot of options;
-Port them less(go slower)
-Don't port them at all(go even slower)
-Accept that the heads may not last all that long.

Probably just the opposite. Most CNC programs are set up on the safe side so they can move product in and out the door. Most hand porters can take a CNC'd head and make vast improvements in flow. I have never had a set of CNC'd heads leave my shop that weren't better and I'm not talking about a few cfm but then again I love playing on the flowbench.

I think John could use a nice high effort iron head porting job to help fill up some of his leisure time.
Plus it would be nostalgic........ Bringing back memories of 30 years ago when porting iron was the only option.

I've had a couple sets of iron MW heads in my shop that were ported by a pretty high profile non-Mopar engine builder. These were fairly high effort(high dollar??) jobs, that looked very nice.
One set was some OE 286 heads, the other was the latest version of the 518M heads.

I'll just say that neither set had the kind of flow numbers I've heard that these heads are capable of........ Although they flowed basically the same as what I've gotten out of them with my "normal" port job.

Admittedly....... I'm not into fixing holes...... So I err on the conservative side...... Which means there is some flow left on the table.

I think John could use a nice high effort iron head porting job to help fill up some of leisure time.


I think John has a set of Edelbock small block heads sitting on his bench with .350 off-set rockers waiting for him to pick up the dam grinder again.

Larry Meaux would be someone I would consider talking to, along with those already mentioned.

Jerry Branch pointed out 50 years ago that "shiny!" is a waste of time, but the customer expects it.
Except to examine symmetry (are the gasket outlines followed accurately? Are all of the left or right-handed ports identical in interior shape? Is the guide exposure the same?), appearance is almost worthless unless you know that the porter has excellent past performance with that casting.
Everything else is just cosmetic.

A CNC program developed for a 906 will do the following on a 518:
1. add 50 hp
2. subtract 50 hp
3. break them
4. no one knows

</rant>

I drove up to Detroit this week and met with Bob today. We had a good chat about my heads and he said he would run them next week. I'll post if my engine guy in Tampa gets the heads in the next couple of weeks with a report.

Not to take ANYTHING away from what Dwayne is saying here but, I did epoxy patch a set of heavy ported/milled!!! 906's that were cracked externally below the exhaust ports and that repair held well for a good number of years/passes.

Personally, I would never run a bb mopar head with the crack under the exhaust ports that had been repaired that way, in a racing situation.

I've had two motors on the dyno that developed cracks there.
They didn't leak a drop until you started applying a load and making power.......when the head is trying to get lifted off the block, that crack opens up and it's like you turned on a garden hose, with coolant spraying out.
Back out of the throttle.........the flow just stops.

After seeing it first hand on two occasions.........I don't wanna be the guy behind the wheel when it lets go and gets under the tires.

Thanks, all. We are building a "230" block 400 with a de-stroked 383 crank for a class at Bonneville in a roadster. Looking for somebody to set up our max wedge heads. They may not need much work at this cu. in. level but we plan on needing to run the rpms up higher than any super stock wedge so need a max effort creativity on the valvetrain setup. Planning to run Hilborn injection on gas. Dry sump.

I hope that you post more on this build

others may disagree but, a max wedge port is WAY to big for that CID, just my opinion.

I know several Mopar sponsored NHRA SS class racers that raced 383 back in the late 1970 and early 1980s, they where shifting them at or above 8400 RPM back then with that technology back then pushing the NHRA rules to the limit
On your deal how long do you get to push the race car before letting out the clutch ?
The reason I'm asking is the cam and getting the motor up to RPM that it will start to pull good before wind resistance gets in the mix

TheMax Wedge head is to big for that application it won't make any torque or rev up fast!!!

They are no bigger than the apache head on a 6.4. Send em to someone who knows those heads and let em at em. Try to keep some material in the exhaust port to keep it from cracking and cam apropriately. A max wedge head is just fine if you build the rest of the motor/car to match the RPM range.

It should work and work well. The big bore (4.340) short stroke will be great.
How is it the Chevy guys can run 500Plus cfm heads on there stuff and we somehow cannot run heads that will NEVER see 350 on ours? I would be curious to see your rule package as to what your allowed. I know that some of the Classes out on the salt can result in some interesting packages. I used to work on a guy who ran a 291 cid Desoto hemi out there years ago. Different and neat.
Todd