I am dropping a 383 shortblock in my roadrunner and trying to decide what heads to use. my buddy has a set of 452 heads ported with big valves etc. he wants 500 for them and i will have to change springs to match my cam. my other option is to save and buy a set of sidewinder heads. would the sidewinders be better than the oem ported heads if i just mill them and bolt them on? the 383 has a dome piston and a .650 lift comp cam. I like the idea of less weight but if its no more power i will just buy the 452 heads now. also what intake would be best for this combo. it has a tall hood so clearance is not a problem.

It really depends on how well they flow, bottom line. You also forgo the opportunity to build quench easy, but with your domed pistons it sounds like it wouldnt matter. If you change the springs yourself you'll be in them for about 650-700 bucks. If the springs will work with your cam itd be a better deal. Being a 383 it will be sensitive to the size of the combustion chamber too, how far below deck are the pistons and how big are the domes? They will need a fair but not drastic amount of milling to get them down to the 80cc most aftermarket heads are. Also any aftermarket head will have greater potential max ported va the iron heads.

Intake depends on the rest of the setup, cam, gears, headers/manifolds, etc.

452's were never the best heads. A set of 440source heads might be a better deal, too.

Quick, read the post from yesterday at 1:49PM, its dead on.

The one about Mopar porting templates

Mill which heads? What service is this engine destined for? What fuel? Piston number? Deck height? Cam?

Input. Input!

I was thinking i would have to mill the aluminum heads some? the car has a dana with 4.30 gears and 29" slick and a 3000 10 inch turbo action. I know i will need more stall for sure. car is only on the track using 110 race gas. I was thinking 4500 turbo action and m1 or victor intake would work best.

.500" down fill volume?

Maybe the TrickFlow heads would be the best bet if they would clear the piston dome (don't know why not but it still needs to be checked). But it looks like any of the aftermarket Stealth, Sidewinder, Edelbrock RPM heads might work.

Iron heads.. prone to cracks... unknown porting.. weight
factor... my pinion.. check out the alum heads out there
to see if you clear the pistons and the quench would be
and if they fall into the compression range you want...
also check the valve to cyl wall clearance if they clear

There is or was an open chamber version of Edelbrock RPM heads. Most folks want closed chamber for quench builds so you might find a set of open chamber at low cost.

I would be concerned about the dome hitting on a closed chamber head like sidewinders.

I agree with going new aluminum heads. You can get more power out of them, reliability is better, (old iron, subject to cracking) and performance is usually as good or better than ported iron heads in out of the box condition. Is the 650 lift cam the 290 at .050 cam?

For $895 I think the aluminum heads are a no brainer. I saw the sidewinders yesterday at Todd's place and I have to say I'm quite impressed for the money. Actually bought a pair for my GTX build.

I got a great flowing set of 906 heads. 3 major unrepairable cracks in them..........

http://www.mopartsracing.com/parts/Sidewinder.html

For any kind of "race car" the aftermarket heads just make more sense.
For a milder street/strip combo, I think the smaller runner volume and stock valve sizes play well on a 383, and would likely be my preference. Of course, this is in part because I don't have to pay to have stock heads reworked.
There are pretty few applications where using reworked stock heads is the better choice......it's usually a situation where they are manditory(class rules), or it's a high level restoration.

Agree, Any street car can use the 452s with unleaded seats and never have a problem. Never seen a bb head cracked unless it was hogged out so far you could see the water circulating. Street only, use cast head, racing, best aluminum head you can get. Don't put good money to bad.

never spend a dime on cast iron heads. even if you want a little more performance its better to get the aluminum. they already come with 2.14/1.81 valves, thinner guides, good valve seats, usually come with springs that are ok.

if you have to use the cast iron and put in guides, put in hard seats, upgrade to new valves, new keepers, and retainers, and port and polish you will be way over what a set of aluminum heads will cost you. I think the 440 source ones looks cast on the outside, so paint them and they look stock. only you'll know the difference.

I decided to go with the sidewinders. I called and they are 1150.00 with springs to match my cam and a performance valve job ready to bolt on and go. cant justify paying for old iron with the prices of these new aluminum heads and i can port them later for even more power. I also like the bigger chamber on the sidewinders vs the 440 source heads even though the source heads are on sale right now.

I went 9.80's 22 years ago in one of my old .030 over trw piston 440 engines with a set of 906's that finally cracked after years of use. They are still setting here in my shop and I could redo a set and I still wouldn't do it with all the cheap aluminum head choices available