Chevy head question

I have a chance to pick up a set of double hump heads for $50. One is a 461 and the other a 461x. I know the x supposedly was on (fuelie?)Corvettes but is there any appreciable difference. They were run as a pair.

 

461X was said to have much better intake runners as a fellow in OK. called the one armed bandit pointed this out to many years back >>>>.

 

Supposed to be the highest preformance cammel hump head they made

 

In my experience the 461x heads have approximately 10cc larger intake ports (all of them, & apiece) than the 461 heads. They worked nicely "back in the day" for occasions where you had to run 461 heads for class racing, & sold for somewhat more cash. Dunno as to whether I would seek them out these days in particular, but as you are getting a pair (well, half) for $50 it sounds OK...as long as every last ounce of HP isn't the goal, the two different heads won't mean too much.

If these are for the race car, & keeping in mind the costs to machine them & port them, I might be more inclined to look for used Sportsman or Iron Eagle heads or something of that nature. Not quite time-period authentic, but cost efficient.

 

Good deal if they are in good shape. Look at the deck surface and make sure they havn't been milled to far. Check the valves to see if they are sunk in to far which is more of a problem if they were cut for 2.02 valves. And look them over good for cracks.

I'd take a set of 461 heads over aftermarket any day. They perform good if you set the whole combination up right, And look right at home on a hot rod.

The aftermarket heads look good on 1970 and newer cars, but not something that you want to look "traditional". My opinion of coarse....
Jeff

 

Performance > Looks, when it comes to small block chevies. My .02

 

a 461 is a 461 unless you are a numbers matching vette guy. Put em on and do burnouts.

 

OK, that kinda tells me what I wanted to know. I may snag them if they look decent. They are suppose to have screw in studs and guid plates already, which means they could be used up too.

Thanks for the input guys.

 

The price sounds great,but how much work will be needed to get them runable?

I like double humps myself as much as the next guy but the last set I had built cost out the ass to make them the way I needed them,and I could have bought a set of Dart or equivelent heads that would have performed just as good or better out of the box for the money I had invested. Double humps have the cool factor as being a traditional hot rod head but now and days cyl heads can be bought out of the box and perform much better for the price to build a good set of 461's.............the double hump castingmark wont be there though.