Alright probably a dumb question but hey stick to our strengths I suppose. I’m building a 354 Hemi out of a truck so it doesn’t have to water provisions on the front of the heads and they have the water heat riser. Now my dumb question is there any reason I can’t block the heat riser completely in the head? I have them blocked on everything else.
The truck heads don’t have provisions for water crossover on the front of them, and they flow water under the intake instead of exhaust gas. Sorry no pictures…
I’m pretty sure I’ve answered my own question, I don’t have the heads handy, they are at school. I’m thinking I’m going to weld up the crossover and drill and tap the intake to pull water to the thermostat.
I am a truck head fan! I have a '52 331 with long bell housing and heads with no thermostat housing like the truck heads. I ran the stock small port 331 heads for a while but started looking for something better. I had already bored the engine 1/8" over making it a 354. After studying heads, I started thinking the truck heads might be a good replacement. They bolt right on a 331, they have the huge 392 intake and exhaust ports and since they have water heat crossover, they don't have the jointing port that ruins the two inner exhaust ports for use of tuned headers. I got a set of them and started a conversion project. First. as you pointed out they have the water heat crossover. That is ok for passenger cars too but the ports are too tall so intake manifolds don't cover them. I welded them shorter to match the small passenger port. Next an obvious problem is the large stemmed sodium filled exhaust valves. The simple solution was all new passenger 392 passenger valve guides and all new stainless valves. These heads have the biggest hemi valves made too. I drilled the index pun holes in the heads larger with a letter drill. They make stepped pins but I think drilling them to the same size is the cleanest solution. Finally I sawed and ground off those strange lugs on the ends of the heads.
The Jalopy Journal
