aluminum heads
 

i have a question and i am going to give all the info i have, which isnt much since i got the info from my dad (who doesnt know much about motors) who got it from the guy selling them.
he is selling a used set of aluminum ZZ4 heads. the combustion chamber is 58cc and the valves are 194/155 and they have a maximum valve lift of 525.
he is asking 500 bucks for them. one is that a good price and second what are ZZ4? would these work with my 406, i know i would have to have the seam holes drilled, and he said that they are center bolt valve covers, which would mean that i need valve covers and an intake. i know that my current heads are 74 cc and i believe the valves are 202/160 (stock 73 heads for a 400) i am sure that if i were to get these heads i would get a better cam too. any info would help.
thanks
Ben

I would think that would be a good deal. I would be very interested in them! As far as them working that would be a pretty big jump in compression but I dont know if they would work or not?
Do they use the old style intake? Not vortec?
Thanks
Dave

Sounds like a great deal I'd jump on that. Depending on what pistons you have you could see a huge jump in compression. which you may or may not want. If you arte around 9.:1 now you could end up being close to 11:1. which is hard to run on pump gas. On the good side you could go with a bigger cam etc. Yu could always buy them and sell them as a profit as well

These heads will use the old style intake, not the Vortec style (intake bolts go straight down on vortecs). 58cc will bump your compression quite a bit, and will also put your valves closer to the piston. Make sure that your pistons are recessed to clear those valves!!

Also with aluminum heads, generally they allow about a 1 point bump in CR due to the heat sink ability of the aluminum.
BTW a ZZ4 is one of GMs hi performance crate engines.
A sometimes cheaper alternative to the ZZ4 heads are heads from a TPI Vette, pretty close to the same specs as a ZZ4 head

I also believe these have 1.94/1.5 valves. I have a Vette TPI and was looking for a set (cheap) of the ones Rustyold72 mentioned.

http://www.gmgoodwrench.com/perfpart...on=ep#12556463
You can find all the info at the above link. That price is a steal, they sale for about $470.00 each.

thanks for the info. as far as th pistons i am pretty sure there is room (pic attached) one thing that kinda worries me is putting that much more on the top end, will it blow the bottom end out? i did a half a$$ed rebuild, replaced the main and conecting rod bearings, but didnt pull the pistons out. there was no lip at the top and you could still see honeing marks in the cylinder walls. all the bearing gaps where with in specs. now for the valve size, it is smaller than stock, is that made up by the amount of valve lift there is? thanks for all the help
Ben

You bottom end should be fine. The 1:94 valves are actually better for low-end torque plus you'll be gaining compression, but I thought the ZZ-4 have 202 intake valves, my ZZ-3 does.

Not only the lift, but the flow rate of those heads is better than the 73 400 heads, IIRC one of the big mags did a comparison test that included the ZZ4 heads, and while out flowed by the big $$$ aftermarket heads, they flowed well enough to rate a best bang for the buck rating, so I don't think they'll have any problem feeding your 406.
Don't be too concerned about the half a$$ed rebuild, I've done several like that and had no probs

so it looks like i am buying a set of zz4 heads at the end of march. next what would be a good cam for this set up?

Call one of the cam manuf. and tell them what you have. They will match you a cam for what you want to use the engine for.

:agree: :gi:
Although you may be on hold for a while, at least I was calling Comp Cams :rolleyes:

who is a good cam company, all i know is crane and comp

ttt before work

I have always been partial to Comp Cams, but there's Crane, Lunati, Edelbrock. Those are the ones I would look at for a street build.
Dan.

Don't forget to have steam holes drilled in those heads to match your 400 water jacket holes. Read this: http://www.trickflow.com/product/che...stallation.asp

thats a good page neonlarry, i knew about the steam holes and was planning on letting a shop do that for me. shouldnt be too much

If I remember correctly the springs are good to 544 max lift only. So watch what size cam and roller rocker ratio you go with. 1.5 roller rockers versus 1.6 can make a big difference.

thats what i was looking into today, he has the roller cam that he took out of the motor the heads are on and he would sell that to me too. the specs are L-474i, 510e D-208i, 221e. and he put 1.6 roller rockers on it but is taking them off for his next set of heads and is giving me the stock rockers for these heads, which i am not sure of the specs of.

well i forgot the price on these when i talked to him today and said 400, and he said OK!!! i am picking them up tomorrow :metal:

you are getting a great deal. You will love those heads and the extra power you get from them.

I believe your engine block would need some modification ($$$) before you could use that roller cam. Of course, you're getting such a screamin' deal on those heads, you could probably afford it! Nice score! :metal:

why would the block need mods? wouldnt i just put the roller lifters in and put the retainers that hold the roller in the right position and then push rods, roller rockers and i am good, right? no block work needed. i am not buying the cam as it is smaller than what i have, just courious

You'll need a cam button of some sort to prevent the cam from 'walking' (shifting fore/aft within the block). Your current flat tappet cam is ground so that the lifters rotation keep the cam from walking, roller cams aren't ground for this.

Also, if your driving this on the street, watch your static & dynamic compression ratios or you'll have to run on super unleaded.