Posted By: mopar_leaner
Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 12:59 PM
I'm building a 440 source 431=a .030 over 383 with a 3.75 stroke crank and 6.76 rods. Flat top pistons, Edelbrock performer RPM intake and 1411 750 carb, Isky hyd. cam .465 lift and .280 dur. and its going in a 727 shifted 71 cuda. 3.23 gears and an 3000 stall 11" converter. MSD ignition and headers.
I'm looking for the best bang for the buck along with longevity, and low maintenance.
What do you think of the Stealth heads? Or what else would you run for heads on this combo and still run pump gas?
thanks Moparts!!!
Posted By: 70Cuda383
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 02:50 PM
I have a 438 as well. I used box stock edelbrock heads. cam was comp's XE275HL, which was .525 lift, and (going from memory) around 230° @ .050" valve lift with the 1.5 ratio rocker arms.
engine made 535 tq and 505 hp on an engine dyno.
if I had it to do over again, I would seriously consider the stealths with a port job and set up by a pro. by the time you do that, you'll be a few hundred more than the box stock edelbrocks, but you'll have a MUCH better end product. when I did mine 6 years ago, my machine shop said that Edelbrock had fixed their quality control issues, and the heads were good to go out of the box now, that they've checked many of them over and haven't found any problems.
however, just last winter I put together a 5.9 magnum with magnum RPM heads, and one of the intake valves had such a poor valve job, I could see daylight through it and it had to go in for a correction valve job, so even "made in the US quality" isn't all that great, and needs to be checked over as well.
Posted By: 383man
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 03:43 PM
I think its actually 431 cubes as .060 over is a 438 I believe.
Myself for what your doing the Stealth heads should be fine. Ron
Posted By: 70Cuda383
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 03:46 PM
Yes. .030 is 431. .060 is 438
Mine is .060 over
Posted By: gregsdart
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 06:50 PM
Any of the small port heads will work fine. The cam isn't big enough to gain much beyond a basic bowl porting, so the work needed to get the best out of them isn't a lot of $$. I would be tempted to look for a set of used heads that will fit future plans, if you have any itch to go faster in the future.
Posted By: Chris2581
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/10/13 10:54 PM
I'd use the Stealth heads without any question.I only wish I had ported mine a bit,but maybe on the next build.
Posted By: tex013
Re: Building a 438 stroker, what heads would you run? - 04/11/13 12:47 AM
Mopar leaner,
for your build the stock stealths will be fine , just be worth going through them to check all .
I have some pocket ported stealths on my 440 they have worked great . I am looking to move up to the CNC stealths later this year more flow , these should be fine for most any build up to 600HP which is all i am looking for plus they should be enough for a stroker if i go that route . Even this will be more than i need for my class racing.
Tex
The last thing is to make sure what compression ratio you end up with, I wouldn't want to have any more than 10.5 to 1 actual mechanical, not the dynamic 
, ratio 
