SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

Hello Gentlemen… Who would be the "go to" guy for preparing a set of Legal SS/CS Chevrolet Small Block Cylinder Heads and Intake? Does anybody have anything sitting on a shelf, new or used possibly for sale? Seeking information or components for a friend. Thank you… Maurice.

Re: SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

Reach out to Randy or Michael Mans.

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PM sent.

Re: SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

Thank you for your response Jim. MB

Re: SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

Pm on it's way

Re: SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

Got it Glenn. Thank you…MB.

Re: SS/CS Chevrolet Cylinder Heads...
 

The hardest part it seems right now is the shortage of castings. We ran the Bowtie Vortec castings for all of the years and they were so prone to cracking that it was a big issue. The later Dart iron heads that were approved were MUCH more reliable, but are no longer available from what I've heard.

If you wanted to start from scratch and can get some Bowtie Vortec heads, Gary Hettler did fantastic work for us.

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Mike… Thank you for your response and information. MB

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Good morning to all,
The Vortec castings were good but were very crack prone. Had tried to help with coatings but to no avail. The Dart castings worked very well and didn't crack, availability is a problem. Maybe there's another casting that can be used, but not sure at this time. Once Iron starts to crack, it doesn't stop.

Respectfully,

Henry Kunz 1534 H/SA
B&B Auto Machine

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Chevy never learned how to cast iron heads that didn’t crack. When I was a Batten Heads in early 80’s we had a couple NASCAR TEAM’s using the 292 heads we shipped them heads weakly. When the first BowTie head came out they could run a set more than one race. We won the first CUP RACE withe Bow tie heads that was Race Hill Farms with Ron Bouchard.

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Why not do an LS style SBC?

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Good morning to all,
The unique part of this class is the racer has to use an Iron Cylinder Head.
I do believe that Chevrolet did cast Iron LS cylinder heads, But I don't know if they are legal.
You should contact the NHRA Tech Dept. and find out, that could be a viable option. At this point in time, I would recheck the Rule Book to be certain that rule still stands. Right now parts availability for any engine combination will be an "uphill battle" ! If that LS Head is usable might make it easier to find them, even in used condition.

Respectfully,
Henry Kunz 1534 H/SA

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Tidbit of trivia. I believe the only LS to come with iron heads was a 99-00 6.0 truck engine. Would be interesting to see what the cast iron cathedral ports are like compared to their aluminum counterparts.

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The cast iron ls heads are pretty much as good as the aluminums.I gave up on it but I did spend a lot of money & time on getting some into shape for a cs engine.I had Darin Morgan ,when he was still at Reher-Morrison,do an int & eh port and he molded a modern chamber with epoxy,so I could get them digitized to have them cnc’d.He was very impressed by the airflow achieved and said it was one of the best wedge heads he had done.They were flowing over 300cfm by .500 lift and topped out somewhere in the 360 cfm range with only a 2.055 in valve and 220 or so cc port.I had a set all welded up(chambers & seats) to do a pr to be told that head was not legal,because it was never submitted into the class guide and because it was a truck engine..I think it could be submitted by someone now as it seems tech dept seems to be looser now on aproving some things,and the fact of no castings available on the darts and bow ties…..I still have everything plus about 10 spare castings if anybody is interested…….Victor Penrod

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We went thru this and the sticking point is it was never in a passenger car!!!

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To add more to this,I had got the World Products ls-hybrid block approved for use in ss modified ONLY ,to be used in this combo when Bruce Bachelder was still there. Bruce told me he & Gracia look at all the info and photos I sent them and told me it was approved and would be put in accepted block list..I had also sent him one of the cast iron ls heads to be approved and was told same thing—approved ,but they were never put on the list and Bruce was gone a couple of months later- I abandoned it and built my 427 instead..Personally think it could be done now,I would even help with some of the legwork…..Victor Penrod

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True on the passenger car part,but the reason Bruce was going to accept it was no bow ties,”turbo “ 292 , or dart heads were ever on passenger cars either…..I’m just saying I think it would have a better chance these days of getting accepted…..Victor

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The LS, LQ4 6.0L, 873 cast iron casting is legal in SS/CS. I have an email from Pat stating so.

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I think this is the best path forward for a CS combination within the GM family. Those flow numbers would definitely be a front runner when compared to the previously available 23* SBC platform castings. And I certainly trust your experience about the approval process, but it's pretty dumb that a GM casting has to have ANY type of approval to be used in this class. I don't recall having a GM Bowtie Vortec casting approved, or any GM heads prior to that. None of those were ever available on a passenger vehicle, so the iron LS head should be a slam dunk to use in SS/CS since it was a GM part numbered iron head. This would be an awesome CS engine.

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Hi Mike,

If you remember, you and I discussed the LS platform earlier this year. With the selection of Dart cast iron big bore blocks, it should be a threat in the class.

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This was part of my communication with Pat at NHRA...

Hi Pat,

The cylinder head is the Chevrolet GMC 6.0L, LS, LQ4, Cast Iron Cylinder Head, P/N 12561873, Casting Number 873.

This is a cast iron OEM LS cylinder head.

Regards


His response...

Yes, that would be an acceptable cylinder head for SS/CS.

Pat Cvengros

Pacific Division Technical Director