I am looking to pic up some aluminum heads for my 302. I have a cam 484 lift 216 dur and performer RPM intake and 600CFM carb. long tube headers full exhaust etc.
What size intake specs should I be looking for to maximize the power with the bottom end and accessories that I already have??

 

AFR 165, TFS 170, Eddy RPM etc.

Though if you have the heads off, might want to replace the cam with something better.Depends on budget though.

 

dragman, do your homework before you buy anything. I've spent weeks going over information, head and cam combinations and recently settled on mine. Ask yourself a serious question, "what is your intent for the car?" Do you want a street performer, once in a while track car, an often track car, a weekend cruiser, and build to suite that purpose. You can do one, but you can't do it all. Build around the RPM range your car will see most often.

I too am not touching my bottom end rotating assembly because its nearly new, built by the previous owner. Chck your block once the heads are off, check your bearings and plastigage a main & rod to see if the motor needs refreshed. While you're in there check your piston to deck height (many Youtubes on it) cuz you need it to calculate your compression ratio for the new heads.

Good luck, have fun. Half the fun was the research and how it ties everything together.

Now also is a good time to consider an upgrade to roller. Compcams has a nice selection of roller cam conversions. The modification for a roller is roughly $200 to $500. The bolt in hold down tray is the cheapest but you need to tap/drill the intake galley. The link-bar hydraulic lifters are the most expensive at $480.

Choose the wrong head cam combo and you'll be wondering why your car drives like a banji and then falls on its face at 5000RPM, or is sluggish as heck until it reaches 3000RPM. Do your homework before you buy cuz its an expensive mistake. 67 has it right, the AFR165 is probably a bolt on, with a cam upgrade would be a nice change. AFR185 will likely require you check the piston/valve clearances (also good DIY youtubes)

Let me give you an example of what your dealing with, a .005 difference in head gasket thickness can change your compression ration by nearly +/- .5....that's huge! I had to go to Cometic gaskets to select the thickness necessary to achieve as close to 10:1 as possible. An optimum street CR is roughly 9.5:1 for regular pump gas, performance needs to be atleast 10:1 and premium gas to avoid detonation problems. I'm sure you have plenty of questions for this forum once you get started.

 

Ok, I love the great info, good point on swapping cam while I do heads. I didn't set this car up I have been making it what I want slowly.
Rear end gears 4.56's
3 speed tranny auto
Would like to make as much power and torque as possible between say 1500-5000 don't plan on running track much but want as nasty of a can as I can get and not cause me mechanical problems on street. I drive the car basically around town just pissing around with it.

 

afr 165 renegade race heads with 58 cc's

mill the heads .028" to increase compression .5 for 91 octane.

eddy non rpm intake. your intake is too big for that cam. you need like a comp ce274h fir that intake.

 

afr 165 renegade race heads with 58 cc's

mill the heads .028" to increase compression .5 for 91 octane.

eddy non rpm intake. your intake is too big for that cam. you need like a comp xe274h for that intake.

that gearing is illogical for that small cam.

 

Like I said I didn't put her together just making it mine along the way now. If I go bigger in the. Am with good heads and up the power I figure it should help bring the complete ride together

 

With 4.56s I would want the engine to rev at least to 6-6500rpm..

 

For example, I had a really nice running 289 that had a solid bottom end. I installed TFS 165cc heads. I already had a pretty aggressive cam. the heads took my car to 10:1 compression and it was really nice. it drove great but because of the cam and heads it did better at higher rpms.

Shortly after the head install, i spun a rod bearing. So, I built a 331 stroker. Most people on this forum said that i needed to get new heads. Opinions I receved mostly said that my heads were too small and the the car would be very under powered and not a good street driven car.
I ended up choosing a cam to suite the heads i had and had my heads ported. Once installed my car ran and still runs very nice on the street. It has a ton of low end power and cruises great on the freeway with the t5 fantastically.

So just take your time, read, and dont worry about making a decision. It will teach you faster than you know.

 

The more I look around that investigate the more I wanna buy a new short block and start from ground up. I worry my block isn't suitable for a stroker and turning 6k+ R's