Drag Racing Online: The Magazine

10/9/06

Jay, I'm building a 383 chevy stoker for my truck. I want to build as much horse power as possible. I trying to find a set pistons and heads that will work with my other components. Any help would be much appreciated. So far It has a Lunati cam 246/246@0.50 lift and 515 at the valve 108 lobe seperation. I have roller rockers 1.52 ratio and double valve springs on my old heads, they were camel hump but I don't think they'll flow enough. The intake is Weiand Hi Ram tunnel ram with 2 450cfm holley carbs (mechanical secondaries) . The crank stroke is 3.750 the rods are 5.7" I would like to keep my compression ratio over 11:1 if possible. I would like to stick with iron heads as well. James Abram Kelowna

James,

There are many possible answers to your question and they will somewhat depend on your budget. Basically, some of the best cast iron heads are available from Racing Head Service (RHS), DART, and World Products. I'll leave the specific selection to you but in general I would look at a head with a 200cc Intake runner volume but no larger than 215cc. The only reason to go that big is because you specified you want the most horsepower available. The torque will suffer a little with heads this size.

If you go bigger you will have to spin the engine 9000 rpm to make use of the flow. Your cam is relatively mild for max HP production so keep the head cc's on the conservative side. Pistons are another item that is really only limited by your budget. I would buy the lightest piston with the narrowest rings that you can afford. The light weight and low drag from thin rings is always a winner. The compression ratio will depend on your choice of combustion chamber volume of your chosen heads, among other factors. Generally, a flat top piston with a 64 cc head and a 383 will generate 11:1.

Hope this helps.

Jay Roeder

 

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