Quality Budget 408

rumblefish360 said
While I will often recommend Edelbrock heads it is because of the ceiling the offer in performance. OOTB and ported.

I have no issue with OE or W2 iron heads. I have often said in the past that spending money on your parts your way is the only way you should part with your money and iron heads are fine IF you don't mind not loosing the weight and there limited performance ceiling.

OE iron heads are approximately 190-200 cfm's on the best castings. Some may flow a bit more. Ported, they can go 260cfm-280cfm. W2's are 260 OOTB and can go well over 300cfm.

In terms of potential performance, there isn't a whole lot these cant do in the street or for your street strip ride. The biggest problems are getting someone to do the work and hearing the crap about the bennifit's of aluminum like your a dumb ****** that's been living under a rock your whole life.

Fortunately being a retired cop, I have been called everything from everyone...so...that doesn't bother me in the least. For those that want to heckle me for using and spending money on iron heads, I will happily accept their money to purchase aluminum heads for me. My build is what my son wanted...unfortunately, he will not be able to see the finished product because he was killed...I will just do what he wanted since it is his car. For those that want to use the information from my build and modify it for their own application and bank account, I wish them the very best and look forward to hearing their results.

I have found that people build their engines and when Edelbrock says using this combination, your engine will make...***...they accept that as gospel. I had someone tell me my build would be well over 500hp and decided based on that information, I wasn't going to put it on the dyno. I have a good friend that called me all sorts of nice names in an effort to convince me that after all the work and money, a dyno break in and pulls was money well spent, he is right. He also helped me build the engine.
He also has a 69 Swinger with basically the same bottom end with a set of iron race ported modified big valve heads that runs 10.90 on E85 with no spray...so...I am fortunate he helped and I trusted his word.

Bottom line fellas, build what you can with the budget and base you have. I hope my information helps and welcome the advice and criticisms.