Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Are Double Hump heads Worth keeping?

I have a set of double hump heads that are on the engine I got in a trade. The engine threw a rod so Im considering my options...1)purchase new shortblock and reuse heads with new cam, 2) sell heads to fund new stroker longblock that would come with everything from intake to oil pan. The difference in price is $500-$700.
The casting # on the heads is 3991492 which going by what ive read on hot rodder mag. is the best one of the double hump heads and typically came with 2.02" and 1.60" valves and were 64cc heads with 160cc intake runners.

So should I keep these and use on a new bottom end or should I sell them? If I sell them How much could I get for them?

The double hump heads ported make good power. it depends on what you are wanting to do but I have seen a car with a ported double hump go on a 383 go just as fast as when they changed them for the iron eagle 2300cc runner heads on a lite weight Chevelle that was set up for drag. 11.0's on both sets of heads

The heads are still mounted and still in the car so I have no way of knowing what has been done to them. What I want is a solid small block that will put down around 375+ to the wheels but not be way too crazy if I have to drive it to work. If I sell them how much could I get for these?

Sell them on ebay, especially if the dates match and are in from the early 70s or older, people pay stupid money for these for some reason, enough to help pay for a decent set.

^^^ I agree. Sell the 492s to the numbers matching crowd. There are so many good flowing aluminum heads out there for $1,000 and up. You could spend $500 or more to update the 492s or sell them for $200 - $300 and buy new, lighter, better flowing ones.

if your on a budget, vortecs blow them out of the water and you can get modified ones for cheap.

but aluminum is better in just about every way if your willing to spend a little more. However they do make alumiunum vortecs also for not much more than the cast version.

i sold a pair of 462's a couple months ago that had alot of port work done to them for $200. Also sold another set of 462's that werent assembled for 100 to give you an idea what they are worth.

Hell, i just sold mine, be a follower:jest:

IMO, keep them. You are not gonna sell those 492 heads for the same price as vortec heads + the additional expense of a vortec specific intake unless you get someone (ME + others) to start digging through the for sale dumpster on the net for you. Just say when and I'll start diggin' if you get the "For Sale" itch...

Sell them on ebay, especially if the dates match and are in from the early 70s or older, people pay stupid money for these for some reason, enough to help pay for a decent set.

^^^ I agree. Sell the 492s to the numbers matching crowd. There are so many good flowing aluminum heads out there for $1,000 and up. You could spend $500 or more to update the 492s or sell them for $200 - $300 and buy new, lighter, better flowing ones.

Yep, sell'em. Buy better ones.

If you dont want them I DO!!!!.... I love camel humps... PM me w/ price

Ive done some research on these and it seems that for my budget right now it might be the way to go. I can get some pretty decent numbers out of these before I have to spend an extra $1000 on aluminum heads. Im trying to get back on the road by summer and I have a son on the way so Im pretty limited on my options. Im also not looking to make 10 sec passes on these even though one of our guys in safbody has done it.
I could always change them out later when im ready for bigger numbers. I have yet to get a chance to pull them off so they might not even be salvageable. Ill post up the findings as soon as I remove them this weekend, I hope.
I appreciate everyones input on this though. keep the ideas flowing!

I know a freind that has personally gone 8's in the quarter mile with a set of 492's. They had an excellent port job done to them, but on a bore size less than 4.125" I would use them on a hot rod. The cost of rebuilding them would be alot less, the only thing that would sway my decision would be for the need of acessory bolts on the cylinder heads.

Ive done some research on these and it seems that for my budget right now it might be the way to go. I can get some pretty decent numbers out of these before I have to spend an extra $1000 on aluminum heads. Im trying to get back on the road by summer and I have a son on the way so Im pretty limited on my options. Im also not looking to make 10 sec passes on these even though one of our guys in safbody has done it.
I could always change them out later when im ready for bigger numbers. I have yet to get a chance to pull them off so they might not even be salvageable. Ill post up the findings as soon as I remove them this weekend, I hope.
I appreciate everyones input on this though. keep the ideas flowing!

Engine kits dot com sells aluminum heads for 700$. Sell those for 200$ and you will be buying the aluminum ones for 500$. You will be putting 200-500$ in machine work in those cammels in the machine shop.

I bought a set of vortec heads off car-part.com for $240 to my door. They were like new I had to spray them off with brake cleaner and compressed air and they were ready to bolt on. Then the perf rpm intake, had to buy an intake anyway.
Put it all in a 1987 S10 and ran 12.4 in the 1/4 mile on street tires.

NOW see how far $240 goes getting those 492's rebuilt.

I made the mistake before with a set of 993's, ran them so long I had them rebuilt three times. I could have payed less for a good set from day one if I had just thrown them in the garbage.

Engine kits dot com sells aluminum heads for 700$. Sell those for 200$ and you will be buying the aluminum ones for 500$. You will be putting 200-500$ in machine work in those cammels in the machine shop.

Have you bought from them before?
Im always nervous about buying from new companies(new to me).
Is there anything that I would have to do diff if I went with aluminum heads?

Only thing to worry about aluminum is over torqing to the point of stripping the threads.


RHS has a great rep from the magazines i read and capmsmokey has a set that he runs the dog snot out of, i wouldnt worry.

The site i mentioned has been around for a long time, no one i have ever seen complain about their products so i am sure they have great custmer satisfaction.

Well the ones you speak of can come with 194 valves as well. The 461x and the 186 small camel humps are more rare. With the technology out these days you would be hard pressed to find a set of heads from the sixties that can match flow numbers. And beyond that you have to look at combustion chamber designs, cylinder filling properties. And the fact that those don't have acc. bolt holes means you can only run a short water pump set up. Unless you are restoring a muscle car and these heads have proper date codes, there is no reason NOT to step up to a newer design. IMO!!!!!

I was able to get the pass side head off and it has the 2.02, 1.60 valves. This set of heads has the acc. holes I need to use my serpentine set up. My uncle knws the owner of a machine shop that would rebuild these and port and polish them for me too so if he can hook me up with a good enough deal I might just keep them. I have yet to find out if the drivers side is still good though.

Between machine work, porting and valve springs and installation you might be in more than you want to be.

Find some old guy to buy them. They want them for the nostalgia effect. They'll usually pay a pretty penny for some. The old guys rebuilding 55-57 Chevys are a good crowd to try and sell them to.

Heres something to think about, not only in the cost to get them to where this guy has them, but as an idea of why he's selling them and how much he's probably going to lose having done all that to old tech heads. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-492-DOUBLE-HUMP-HEADS-ANGLED-PLUG-69-70-71-Z28-302_W0QQitemZ170175313548QQihZ007QQcategoryZ10076Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Heres something to think about, not only in the cost to get them to where this guy has them, but as an idea of why he's selling them and how much he's probably going to lose having done all that to old tech heads. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-492-DOUBLE-HUMP-HEADS-ANGLED-PLUG-69-70-71-Z28-302_W0QQitemZ170175313548QQihZ007QQcategoryZ10076Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

He's selling them b/c hes going with a diff set up now. He originally intended to use them on his 383 but hes going to use 302 now. He also paid a lot of money to have them worked b/c he paid full price for the job, something I wont have to do since I have 2 shops to choose from that we know the owners. I will be getting prices from them this week to determine if I should sell or not. I understand theres much better stuff out there now but if I can get these revamped for next to nothing it might be worth it.

Honestly, they can flow with tons of work. I have a set of 70 heads that are from GM. Stock they were better than most, maybe even cammels. Mine were over the counter angle plugs, they are opened up extremely. I am running them because i got the heads with port work, fresh out of the machine shop with 7/16 studs, guide plates, 202/160, .650 lift springs and polished with crower full roller rockers for 300$ with a 350 long block too.


Hell of a deal, if not i woulda kept my vortecs, but the vortecs wont do what theese older heads do, but as i said they were over the counter, not stock.

The camel hump heads were best known for there exhaust flow. By todays standards there junk and only good for the resto crowd. The 492's arent bringing the good money ither compared to the 186 ect. I would sell them for what little you can get out of them and go for the vortech, they cant be beat for the money.

Also, you will have far more invested in the 492's after the new hardened seats, new guides ect. than you could buy two sets of vortechs for. You can also run any non vortech style intake with the heads with some minor machining.

The camel hump heads were best known for there exhaust flow. By todays standards there junk and only good for the resto crowd. The 492's arent bringing the good money ither compared to the 186 ect. I would sell them for what little you can get out of them and go for the vortech, they cant be beat for the money.

Also, you will have far more invested in the 492's after the new hardened seats, new guides ect. than you could buy two sets of vortechs for. You can also run any non vortech style intake with the heads with some minor machining.

Thats the other thing that was holding me off of the vortecs. Im on a really tight budget and getting vortecs would mean new intake which is something im not willing to do since I have a new perf. RPM I will be using. I could get new heads that would not require me to use a new intake but there goes the price issue again.

I know it's been a while since the post, but I just felt like chiming in. My old man used to turn 11:70s on unported cammel humps with a 327 in a 3000 lbs car. A friend of ours used to turn 11:30's in a 2800 lb car with a 283 and a 4 speed using 1.94 cammels. Of course they ran some compression. I have found very little difference between the bowtie heads and 462s without porting.

That said,

I would agree with the aluminum head guys. Why spend the bucks to add screw in studs and guideplates plus a porting job to arrive at a few hundred bucks less than some new AFRs? The only application I would recomend these heads for would be a lightened 55 Chevy with a screaming 283 using big dome pistons, or a high 12 second cruiser 350 with a 230/480 hydraulic cam and only correct springs and a decent valve job. This can be done for very little money.

Personally, I would wait until I had the cash to do it right the first time and just save for those AFRs and roller cam setup. Seems like less money would be spent in the long run when you have removed most of the temptation for future nickel and dime upgrades!

That is why i wait for deals. I got a set of "turbo" heads. Built in 1970 as a over the counter head from GM, they flow great after extensive port work, which they allready have. I picked them up for 300$ with 1.5/1.6 rockers, a solid roller cam too big to use and a long block 350 out of a 86 chevy i sold for 300$. I broke even so i am happy. I wish i could aford more but they are angle plug so some thing they are Dart heads, then i have to tell them other wise.



I would hit Ebay before i used those cammels, that is just me, the more time you take and put a little more into it, the better it will turn out.

[QUOTE=ZONES89RS;8332337]That is why i wait for deals. I got a set of "turbo" heads. QUOTE]

Got to repect those early slant plug 2.02s. Much better port velocity than the later bowties! Low 10s with a 283 in a first gen don't lie! Hows that for old school performance!

I am patienly waiting to complete my AFR head all forged big block. It took a long time to be able to afford that. Parts are here. All that's left is some hard work.

I raced my 55 with a stocker 283 with a duntov cam swap while waiting. Just quick enough to turn 12.90s. Got to love those 7400 rpm launches!

So you know of them? Man, i am impressed with them dudes this far, i cannot wait to get the car done, i just got the hood tonight.

Sell the heads. A set of stock vortecs are superior to camel hump heads. If you can save long enough, get a set of AFRs. What displacment will the shortblock be? If you are gonna run a 383 or a 406 the AFR 195 CC eliminators would be the way to go. They have proven themselves time and time again. I bought a set last week for my 406. The engine builder I am getting to do the work has an engine dyno. He said I should make over 500 hp on pump gas with right at 10:1 compression. He said the torque should also be over 500 ft lbs.:D

vortecs are not bad at all but by the time you do the machine work for springs,screw-in studs,plates machining the guides down etc. you could have a nice set of bowties.........:chug:
I have some bowties for sale.
http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=826766&highlight=

I know it's been a while since the post, but I just felt like chiming in. My old man used to turn 11:70s on unported cammel humps with a 327 in a 3000 lbs car. A friend of ours used to turn 11:30's in a 2800 lb car with a 283 and a 4 speed using 1.94 cammels. Of course they ran some compression. I have found very little difference between the bowtie heads and 462s without porting.

That said,

I would agree with the aluminum head guys. Why spend the bucks to add screw in studs and guideplates plus a porting job to arrive at a few hundred bucks less than some new AFRs? The only application I would recomend these heads for would be a lightened 55 Chevy with a screaming 283 using big dome pistons, or a high 12 second cruiser 350 with a 230/480 hydraulic cam and only correct springs and a decent valve job. This can be done for very little money.

Personally, I would wait until I had the cash to do it right the first time and just save for those AFRs and roller cam setup. Seems like less money would be spent in the long run when you have removed most of the temptation for future nickel and dime upgrades!

Those numbers are good enough for me. Like I stated before Im not looking to run 10's(yet) so I think these heads will do just fine for some mid to high 12's with domed pistons and some high compression. I have to drive this thing on the street to and from work sometimes so it cant be too crazy anyway. I know there are much better options that would flow better but Ive talked to several shops and for what I need right now I think these will do just fine. I can always build a bad ass engine on the side after I get this one fixed and on the road again.

the heads are decent for their time but go with a newer style head with todays technology engineered into them.i had the same heads that you do and sold them at a local swap meet for $225,which was cheap.thats before i discovered ebay.those nostalgia guys that have to keep stock parts on their motors for bracket racing would eat those up as well as the guys looking for the right date codes on your heads.ebay'em and put the money towards a newer design.

Sell the heads. A set of stock vortecs are superior to camel hump heads. If you can save long enough, get a set of AFRs. What displacment will the shortblock be? If you are gonna run a 383 or a 406 the AFR 195 CC eliminators would be the way to go. They have proven themselves time and time again. I bought a set last week for my 406. The engine builder I am getting to do the work has an engine dyno. He said I should make over 500 hp on pump gas with right at 10:1 compression. He said the torque should also be over 500 ft lbs.:D

shoulda used the 210cc Eliminators. You cant go too big on a 406ci.

if you can get a REAL port job with 260+cfm, new guides and everything for less than $600. Then thats a good deal and you should go for it. If not, dont do it.