[308] VH 308 - advise about head selection please

[EYY]

What? They are probably the best pieces of gear you can buy for one of these old 308s

Lol maybe back in the 60’s-80’s. If you like their older products for the sake of nostalgia, fair enough.

 

[keith reed]

It really depends on what you are looking for. Smitty uses early heads with success on his VK racer. They seem to be better than vn heads for low down power. As for alloy heads the price when you can get them is getting stupid. You can buy Yella Terra heads but require their rocker arms. Come racing haven't made heads for quite some time. You can buy Edelbrock heads from a limited number of suppliers but their prices have risen dramatically. Higgins also make alloy heads with a starting price of around of around $3600, I think that would be a bare price. And then there is the crap sold by Racing World. The standard vn head with pocket porting are pretty good and would be your best bet.

 

[EYY]

It really depends on what you are looking for. Smitty uses early heads with success on his VK racer. They seem to be better than vn heads for low down power. As for alloy heads the price when you can get them is getting stupid. You can buy Yella Terra heads but require their rocker arms. Come racing haven't made heads for quite some time. You can buy Edelbrock heads from a limited number of suppliers but their prices have risen dramatically. Higgins also make alloy heads with a starting price of around of around $3600, I think that would be a bare price. And then there is the crap sold by Racing World. The standard vn head with pocket porting are pretty good and would be your best bet.

This thread is from 2016 or so - before alloy heads were available/affordable. Smitty’s heads are VL big valve heads from memory. Some of the better early style heads but not a patch on the stock vn’s.

 

[Immortality]

If you listen to or follow anything TK has said about good early heads Vs VN heads it's arguable that VN heads are on the large side for a 308cu engine, it's not just about peak power but area under the curve and also how the engine drives, recovery on gear changes etc.

Alloy heads are nice but unless building a huge output motor it's had to go past a set of nice VN heads. Alloy heads give a good weight advantage and maybe slightly better around heat management.

 

[keith reed]

This thread is from 2016 or so - before alloy heads were available/affordable. Smitty’s heads are VL big valve heads from memory. Some of the better early style heads but not a patch on the stock vn’s.

Come racing were making alloy heads well before 2016. Smitty likes the early heads for their better power out of corners, however that is racing. Agree with you on the vn head, they were very well designed

 

[Deuce]

This thread is from 2016 or so - before alloy heads were available/affordable. Smitty’s heads are VL big valve heads from memory. Some of the better early style heads but not a patch on the stock vn’s.

Got my alloys about a decade ago. And they were second hand.
So probably cast by COME around 2006 at a guess.

 

[EYY]

Got my alloys about a decade ago. And they were second hand.
So probably cast by COME around 2006 at a guess.

Yep exactly what I’m saying. They may have been available, but not necessarily affordable for most. This is a new era with the likes of much more affordable edelbrock aluminium heads, for example.

But, we’re talking early heads here too. Not aluminium VN’s. Since the OP only wanted 300hp, we can assume budget was a concern.

 

[keith reed]

Yep exactly what I’m saying. They may have been available, but not necessarily affordable for most. This is a new era with the likes of much more affordable edelbrock aluminium heads, for example.

But, we’re talking early heads here too. Not aluminium VN’s. Since the OP only wanted 300hp, we can assume budget was a concern.

Edelbrock heads might have been cheaper when they first came out. I seem to remember they were about $2800 in about 2017. Now the prices range from about $4200 up to about $5500.

 

[Immortality]

If you're going to spend that sort of coin on alloy heads I'd want something better than Edelbrock heads. Definitely YT territory there.

 

[lmfvf2ssredlineute]

Hey people...

I'm in the very early process thinking about a 308 build for a VH commodore and have question about what heads i should go with...

(think but need to confirm) I have just purchase a ex cop 308 short motor (VH commo - VT PREFIX) that has Aussie 4 speed bolt pattern - this 308 was stored for many years after it lost oil pressure and is a virgin bore... The Heads have bigger valves.... motor needs rebuild..

1st I'll start with what i want from the finished engine...

308 engine 300hp tops, will run a supra 5 speed gearbox - will re bore/hone, run new flat tops pistons and deck block to pistons...

I'm very open to what to do with heads... hear a lot of good stuff about VN style and i'm not to worried about pollution stuff... but mainly want to hear advice about heads...

look forward to ya feedback people but remember i'm not chasing big HP.... tops 300hp