882 Heads from 74 Corvette

by 76 Malibu Sat Mar 19, 2022 6:55 pm

There are a set of 883 heads from a 74 Vette for sale locally. They have new seals and guides. Are they worth picking up for cheap? I am not sure what heads my 76 350 has (stock), but I am guessing the 882s probably aren't any better than what I have.

by Limey SE Sun Mar 20, 2022 12:51 am

76 Malibu wrote:There are a set of 883 heads from a 74 Vette for sale locally. They have new seals and guides. Are they worth picking up for cheap? I am not sure what heads my 76 350 has (stock), but I am guessing the 883s probably aren't any better than what I have.

883 ? or are they 882 ??

by 76 Malibu Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:36 am

Limey SE wrote:

883 ? or are they 882 ??

Sorry, 882 heads

by bracketchev1221 Sun Mar 20, 2022 1:44 pm

Pull a valve cover off yours quick and see. I was never impressed by them.

by zucchi Tue Mar 22, 2022 12:30 pm

Are you looking to keep your engine numbers matching / year correct?

by 76 Malibu Tue Mar 22, 2022 12:39 pm

The car is still in storage, so can't pull the valve covers just yet. I am not interested in keeping the car bone stock. Eventually I plan to build this 350 to make some decent power. The plan this year was a intake and carb swap.

by zucchi Tue Mar 22, 2022 12:59 pm

In that case, I encourage you to acquire a pair of Chevrolet Bow Tie phase 2 cylinder heads (part number 14011034). They are the best cast iron heads Chevy ever made for the small block. They have angled plugs, 2.02 intake, 1.60 exhaust, and true 64cc combustion chamber volume. I've been running those heads on my car since the 1990s.

As for air/fuel delivery, on my latest build, I upgraded to an Edelbrock Performer RPM Q-Jet intake manifold topped off with a Q-Jet I built and tweaked myself. The combination works great for my needs; daily driver with LOTS of umpf.

by Iggy Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:10 pm

882's are slightly better than 624's, but that is like saying that one broken leg is better than a broken leg and broken arm. I do get a little sarcastic! 882 are light weight castings and prone to cracking, 624's are even lighter and more prone to cracking. If you want to go with stock open chamber smog heads, 441's, 487's and 993's are heavy weight castings and much less prone to cracking. But if you are going to spend money on heads, there are much better flowing heads than the stock ones - back in the 1980's we would sell our first born for a set of Bow Tie heads, the phase 2 ones flow well and are as tough as they come. There are also many aftermarket offerings that make any stock head look like a boat anchor, 30 years ago that was not the case.

A good reasonably priced aftermarket head is the EngineQuest Vortec, a heavier casting than the factory Vortec not to even mention the Mexican Vortec heads.

by bracketchev1221 Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:39 am

I think the vortec head is the most affordable good flowing option. After that I would look at entry level aluminum heads. Machine work and parts are not cheap right now so to rebuild any cast iron head will cost as much or more than an aluminum head and still not flow as well or Have the weight and detonation gains from an aluminum head.

by zucchi Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:09 am

Iggy wrote:A good reasonably priced aftermarket head is the EngineQuest Vortec…

I just took a look at their EQ-CC200BA heads; it looks to be their version of Phase 2 Chevy Bow Tie heads. Could be a budget conscious direct bolt-on without having to spend extra on an intake with a Vortec bolt pattern.

by 76 Malibu Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:46 am

Thanks guys, I will probably pass on the 882s. I have to do valve seals on my heads, so I figured these ones were maybe a better alternative with fresh seals and guides. They were never intended to be a long term solution. But getting the manifolds off to the swap to thet news heads probably means broken bolts. And then I'd be thinking of headers and that means exhaust work...mission creep sets in. So I will keep simple and do the carb and intake swap, along with new valve seals.

Thanks for the information heads. When money allows I want to do a full rebuild and the stock heads will not be reused. The bowtie heads sound great, but I don't know how easy they are to find. So I may have to go aftermarket. I also like the old school look of perimeter bolt heads too and it means I can keep my new Eddy intake and Q-Jet.

by zucchi Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:37 pm

When you do finally get around to getting new heads, one thing to consider (other than performance, of course) is the valve cover bolt pattern like you mentioned and the end bolt pattern for accessories like alternator, power steering, AC compressor.

I had to be very budget conscious with my first performance build back in the mid 1980s. I managed to find a pair of double hump “fuelie” heads fully assembled with 2.02 intake / 1.60 exhaust valves, ported, polished, performance valve springs with aluminum spring retainers, valve guides machined for teflon valve stem seals, all for (I think) about $150.00 (maybe $200). I couldn't pass on that deal. The odd thing was they weren't machined for screw-in rocker studs; they still had the pressed in studs with retaining pins — go figure. The only issue was they didn't have the bolt holes on the ends for the AC compressor or the alternator. Being young and impetuous, I sacrificed the AC but had to drill and tap a hole to mount the alternator. A few years after moving to a warmer climate, I had to rebuild the engine and by that time (1992?), I bought a pair of new Bow Tie heads from PAW which have all the right bolt holes in them. I very much like AC in my PLC so I was eager to put it all back together. Speaking for myself, I've been very happy with these heads since I got them more than 300K miles ago.

As for headers, I have a pair of headman headers that went right in and have no clearance issues with sparkplugs. But, that will be down the road for you.

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