best way to make it breathe

[360-68cudu]

looking for the most bang for my buck. which heads are the best as far as pulling them off at the junk yard and modifying and which are the best out of the box get to keep the same intake and headers? I'm looking start a progressive build right now I want to build a stock 360 crank street and strip 30 over. looking to build anywhere from 300 to 350 hp. I want to put the best heads I can on there I don't mind hunting them down. Eventually I would like to build a 408 but that's not for another 3 yrs down the road.

 

[mopardude318]

I would use the RHS/Indy X heads.

 

[70aarcuda]

x2

 

[moper]

My take - The probelm with factory heads is the cost vs return. The iron RHS heads are fairly inexpensive, and the EQ Magnums are even more so. Both of which are capable of equaling or exceeding factory LA based as-cast flow. The cheapest set to do would be a set of "596" LA heads - found on later model LA 360s. They use LA intakes, LA valves, LA springs, etc, and have a very good exh port vs the earlier stuff. Beyond that - they are all pretty much the same and by the time you have a perfomance shop complete the machining, exh seats, new valves, springs, retainers, and locks, plus doing guides and milling, you will be spending within a few hundred od the RHS heads, and slightly more than an assembled set of EQ Magnums. Plus, with LA heads you lose the possibility of building a modern engine using quench for power and pump fuel.

 

[273]

Any head will make 300-350hp stock even 273/318 heads will make 325hp, all 340/360 heads are pretty much the same, but x/j 2.02 flowing the best over 1.88 but any 360 head can be upgraded to 2.02, later model 308 supposedly have better exhaust ports. But I agree EQ's, RHS or Eddy's are the way to go each one flow enough for 450+hp OOTB and perfect for a 408 later.