Which Vintage Head, and Why??

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neilskiw

neilskiw

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If going to the trouble to rebuild a cylinder head for a street car, maybe thinking of adding some budget-minded mods for performance....

Which head would you start with?
What other mods to the head would you invest in?

Thanks to all for your valuable opinions.=D>
 
Which engine, displacement, cam, exhaust, etc? You need to be more specific.
 
Sorry about that... '70 Dart, It's a 150,000 mile 225 /6, 1 barrel intake, and stock exhaust on the vehicle now, so I'm not really looking to burn off the tires... yet.
,It's getting a little tired. Some one just gave me a peanut head, albeit one that is completely covered in crud (inside and out), and I also have the original head I took off my '63, and the '70 Dart head on the car. I have a 2 barrel manifold laying around on the floor, and have been admiring the Dutra Dual system as an excellent solution to the exhaust. But which head is the best? of the 3? is there another vintage even better?
 
Common mod's are shaving whichever head .100 to increase compression , new cam (erson group buy at slantsix.org), larger valves (enginebldr on e-pay),2 bbl manifold with carter BBD carb,2 1/4" exhaust pipe,electronic ignition(mopar or HEI). Old heads are lighter but with"drool tubes" newer heads have better conbustion chambers.Dutra duals are great and bulletproof.Some one with more experience will weigh in i hope.
 
Linc is absolutely right on the cylinder head. I'm doing almost everything he listed for my '64 225. I just got my cylinder head back from the shop. Ported, planed .100 with EngnBldr valves and hardened seats. Can't wait to get it on my engine. I also bought an Erson cam for further down the road. A big thing to remember when building up a six is to get a good stall converter, or you're going to waste a lot of effort. A good custom one will run about $400, but well worth it.

As for cylinder head vintage, I've heard it doesn't matter that much. I'm doing a drool tube version but other than a slight weight variation, I would say the difference is negligible.
 
Drool tube heads run from '60-'74. The changeover may have been in the '74 model year.

Reality is if you are going to rebuild one anyway there is negligible difference between the vintages. The only real drawback to the '75-'80 heads is that you can not pull the lifters out with the head on. Not a big deal to me, but some people stress about it. On my junk if I have to pull the lifters it's usually because there is a major issue anyway.

You can also use the '81 and up hydraulic head on any block, but you do need the correct valve cover for it. It is different and an '80-down one will not fit.
 
slantzilla said:
Drool tube heads run from '60-'74. The changeover may have been in the '74 model year.

Reality is if you are going to rebuild one anyway there is negligible difference between the vintages. The only real drawback to the '75-'80 heads is that you can not pull the lifters out with the head on. Not a big deal to me, but some people stress about it. On my junk if I have to pull the lifters it's usually because there is a major issue anyway.

You can also use the '81 and up hydraulic head on any block, but you do need the correct valve cover for it. It is different and an '80-down one will not fit.
Click to expand...

well I have a 1985 Ram 100 pickup with 1 every now and then bad lifter..can not change without pulling the head. We have the idle set a little high so no stall when the lifter flats out..
 
I pulled a couple out of mine just because somebody told me I couldn't. Took an real steady hand but there was just barely enough room. It's definitely easier on an old drool tube head.
 
slantzilla said:
I pulled a couple out of mine just because somebody told me I couldn't. Took an real steady hand but there was just barely enough room. It's definitely easier on an old drool tube head.
Click to expand...
As Dennis says but if its galled or heavy sludge in the engine then forget it.



AS to the original posters question 66 down heads are the least desirable
as this was the unrevised combustion chamber. They can be modified to work well, however, it takes more time. Generally 70-74 heads are thought of being the best for a race head if you want Drool tubes (they are also the lightest by 6-8 lbs) If you want to use peanut plugs and no Drool tubes the 75-79 are the best.
Frank
 
Okay, so I can save 6 or 8 pounds on my 3500 pound car by re-using my '70 head. And I'll be able to recover my lifters without removing the head. (dis-advantage to me because it disables vehicle while machine work is in progress) Are there any advantages to big or small spark plugs? Does the extra weight make the head stronger, or allow more machining? Port sizes and flow design the same?
 
No real advantages or disadvantages for Normal use. Only thing that Drool tube head has going for it for a street car is the extended tip spark plugs. Making for easier starts and more plug gap. The extended plugs are NOT available in the small plug size.
No difference in chamber size, shape, or function.
Bottom line Use what you have.
Frank
 
from everything i went thru u want the 69 model of head.i have a big cam and lots of stuff done.i went with and recomend the hooker super comp headers and clifford manifol with a 500 cfm 4brl. pm me or something i can go over my build with u.

oh and thats a real 1965 Plymouth AFX AWB under the cover pics if u want

1022091458.jpg


1022091502.jpg


1022091503.jpg
 
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