416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

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1988transam
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416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by 1988transam »

Anyone here use 416 heads on a 350 I hear people say all this bad or good stuff about them and never actually did it has anyone actually used them on a 350 cam you make serious power with them I have a set of those an l98 tpi iron heads can you actually make them good heads as far as flow and lift and all of that for drag racing
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

Yes and yes you can.. Needs generous porting..
Bigger valves help too. eg, 1.94/1.60 2.02/1.60 Blocking the twinned egr heat riser passages helps. The 083 L98/ Tpi heads have slightly more potential with equal valves and prep.

Not as good as vortec heads. Not as good as the good camel back, fuelie heads at the same prep level.
All the sbc aftermarket heads are better. As a start point.
Define "serious power" You can make 400-425 hp on a serious cammed effort 10.5:1 pump gas 350. (62cc finished chamber)
Summit CT108 solid cam, strip dominator, 750 dp holley,1-⅝ headers. 4000+ stall 9"-10" converter 4.56 gears.. Knock yourself out. If thats enough power and you don't mind doing the dirty work they do what they do.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

Make sure the finished chamber volume is right for the compression ratio of your 350 sbc that your fuel octane allows. The 083 L98 heads in final form are all the same job, same money cost but should make a bit more power.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by mag2555 »

Unless the 416s are already reworked with the 1.94”/1.60” combo, and both sets of heads are fresh and ready to drop on, then I agree that it’s well worth the effort to try and sell what you have and then deal with what might be a minor added expense to get a set of Vortec heads.

They flow more out of the box then a first time porter without a flow bench is likely to get out of either of the other castings by means of a real good bowl porting job!

Also the Vortec’s have the added port volume to continue to make rising power above 5500 rpm.
You can cut a man's tongue from his mouth, but that does not mean he’s a liar, it just shows that you fear the truth he might speak about you!
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by 1980RS »

I think Jeff Swisher uses a lot of the 416 heads with great luck maybe he will chime in.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

The port volume of the 4416 head is bigger than a vortec port... The as cast MCSA is smaller, you're going to fix that.
A bowl port is not enough you need a serious DIY full port effort.. You don't need a flow bench. Finished port volume 178cc (1.94" valve) Vortecs flow 228 cfm stock as cast.

You will pay more for just a good usable stock vortec head than the total al in cost to prep these heads.
You still have not moded the vortecs nor bought the vortec intake... I've done both, more than once..
Vortecs are great.. These make very good power at a low cost. You can also make enough power on a 10:1 305 to go budget bracket racing with a light car 3100#.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

Proof is in the pudding.
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/attachm ... 1227570680

#4416 heads 1.94/1.60 full DIY Poor man's racer Port and prep.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by Carnut1 »

Servedio Cylinder Head Development
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by jeff swisher »

If you just want to run 12's in the 1/4 and weigh between 3300-3700 lbs you can get there with bowl porting and some pushing of the pushrod pinch and raise the exhaust runner about .050 and blend into that stay off the floors.
You can keep the small valves and keep the stock fat valves and run in the 12's on 91 octane fuel in a 350" with flat tops.

Chamber work is a must for the older 305 heads I have not done the TPI heads .
My favorite is the 601 casting.
Those 305 heads will pull hard even with small valves.. Unshrouding near the spark plug on the intake side.
Look up "416 head thread"

A little 280H or simillar cam 230@ .050 .480" lift on a 110 or even tighter will get you mid 12's.
12.51 at 111 in a 78 Nova with REAL JUNK heads the ones that came off the 78 Nova 305 2 barrel engine.
I left the stock valves 1.72-1.50's back cut them bowl ported the heads opened the pinch a little bit.

Removed all sharp edges in combustion space (including piston tops) Finish the intake runners very rough with a hard stone at slower speeds.
I left the single angle GM valve job in those small valve heads just lapped the valves in.

The clincher was a 12" tall tunnel-ram with 2 edelbrock 1405's and a single point distributor with Pertronix conversion. Ford coil.
Ford 9" and 4.57 rear gear 275-60-15 drag radials and a B&M converter that would only stall to 2200 and flash to 2400 RPM.

Got a 1.6 60 foot from it though. And the 12.51 et.

Later used a 244@ .050 cam and Ported 601's with 1.94-1.50 valves.
Everything else was the same and it now went 11.94 @ 115 MPH.

This was my buddies Nova I built for him. If he would have shifted earlier his ET would have been much better but he just wanted to rev the thing to 7400 or 7500 all the time because it would.

The 280H cam was shifted at 6700 RPM with the 1.72-1.50 valves.

Do not get all caught up in valve size I run 12's all the time with my 1.84-1.50 601 heads in a 350".

When I first installed 1.94 valves the car would not rev.. it flattened out before 7000 rpm with the 244@ .050 cam.
More chamber work near the spark plug allowed the engine to breathe better and it would not flatten out even at 7500+ RPM.

If you stick large valves in them and not open the chambers correctly you will be like others that say the small heads will not rev past a certain RPM.


I let a buddy drive my 57 the other day and you must manually shift it on the column he did not shift and I watched the tachometer hit 7600 RPM
He was done shifting it after that I made sure of it.
He said he was not thinking of shifting because it kept pulling.
1.84-1.50 stock valves 230@ .050 .480" lift, Beehive 313 rate PAC springs.

Port what you have and go.

I built another 357" for myself a Roller cam 228@ .050 .492" lift 110 LSA Ported 906 Vortec heads It pulls hard to 7200rpm
but does not pull any harder than my 400lb heavier 57 4 door with 601 305 heads and flat tappet cam.

In fact in a race the 57 beats the Vortec head vehicle even from a roll it will just pull away slowly.
I just built that vortec head roller deal to see if it was in fact any better.

Not for me it's not and installing a dual 4 tunnelram is easier on the early heads.
On a wheel dyno that tunnel-ram with 2 1405's was worth 53HP everywhere vs an RPM intake with a 750 carb.
For what that is worth.
That was on the little 601 heads with 1.84-1.50 valves and 230@ .050 cam.

Hope that helps you.
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Re: 416 heads vs iron l98 tpi heads

Post by F-BIRD'88 »

Can't beat that Eddy Tunnel Ram. The HP and car performance gain is impressive.

Note: on all these sbc heads 083, 081, 4416, 601 castings
When setting up the valvespring installed height that the exhaust spring seats are a lot deeper. A .105" stack of spring seat shims corrects this difference (.060+ .030 + .015). If you want to try 1.6 rockers out the pushrod (5/16") slots in the heads must be elongated towards the rocker stud to clear the modified pushrod path.
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