I'd like to get a discusion going about selecting cylinder heads for drag racing (i.e., bracket, street/strip). How do you choose the right heads these days with all the choices in the aftermarket? Do you really need to port aftermarket heads or can you match them to the right combinations without porting? Should you choose heads based only on the flow numbers?

I have never supported porting heads without having them on a flow bench. In the last 4 or 5 years with all the choices of heads, we only have port & flow work done on the more higher end jobs. We do put more emphasis on the valve job to optmize what we can.

Selecting the right head (chamber size & shape, intake runner cc, valve size, etc) is the most critical in the matching of componants.

Steve

Plenty of manufacturers provide CNC ported heads out there that any one of them would fit most customers' needs. As noted, only class specific or high end engines need "tweaked" cylinder heads. I believe more times than not, people choose the wrong peripherals rather than the wrong cylinder heads. For example, the LSx based forums are full of shops who "over-cam" their customers' cars in order to obtain a big peak dyno number, all while sacrificing overall performance. Just the nature of the beast I guess. Dyno numbers sell parts.

 

Best advice I have seen latley is the right head for the job & do a good valve job on it. More in the vj than most give credit. Roger