Small Block Chevy Cylinder Head Showdown!

In this video we do a head to head comparison and discuss the facts, and also the pros and cons between the 624, 193 Swirl Port, and the 062 Vortec small block Chevy cylinder heads! Which head will be the winner?

[shadvan]

the Vortec heads are the best flowing production SBC head out there, the problem is that they don't take big cam lift. you are limited to about .420 lift without extensive work. and even then you are still limited to around .480 lift. as for the Double Hump / Camel Hump heads go, the Vortech head out flows them by about 20CFM on both intake and exhaust. until you get over .480 lift then the Hump Heads win, but only because of more valve lift. there are actually 5 different version of the Hump Heads, casting 461, 461X, 462, 291, and lastly the 186 heads. all are identical with the exception of the 461X and 186 heads. the 461X had bigger intake runners than the 461. other than that it is identical to the 461, 462, and 291 heads. all had 1.94 and 1.50 intake valves, except the 186 head used on the 302 DZ engines and 350 LT1 engines. one thing to note about the 461, 461X, 462 and 291 heads is that they do not have accessory bracket holes on the ends of the heads, so they won't work on cars past 69 without swapping to the short water pump and using the brackets for a short water pump. the 186 head has the accessory holes in the ends and it also got 2.02 and 1.60 valves. it will work with both the short or long water pumps, but the brackets have to match the pump type, short pump brackets for the short pump and long pump brackets for the long pump. the 186 heads are by far the best of all the double hump heads, but they are highly sought after for people restoring Z28 Camaros and LT1 Corvettes. they currently go for around 1600 a pair for a core that will need to be rebuilt. the last time I had heads rebuilt with new guide, new seats, bake, cleaned, and assembled with new good quality valves, it was $800 at the machine shop. so your looking at $2400 for a set of 186 heads said and done. and even then, the vortec is better down low. also any aftermarket aluminum head is better than the vortec. and you can run more compression with an aluminum head vs an iron head. for me, the vortec head is only useful if you're building a marine engine, lake and sea water a destroys aluminum heads on no time flat. the cheap route is a set of generic chinese aluminum heads from Ebay. they are a clone of the older Dart Pro 1. there an as cast heads and they flow very good right out of the box. and run around $200 each on ebay bare and unassembled. add good valves, springs, seals, lock retainers, studs and guide places and you're looking around 650 for a pair if you shop around for deals on the parts to assemble them. if my budget was tight, then this is the best bang for the buck. the second way to go is the new TrickFlow new aluminum Camel Hump heads. they are identical to the old camel humps except made from aluminum. and come fully assembled. TFS-30210006 is a clone of the 186 head and has hole drilled for brackets. TFS-30210002 is a clone of the 461x head. they flow about 30cfm more than the iron vortec head. they also have modern chambers, and runners, along with thicker decks to prevent cracking and allow for milling to increase compression. they run around $1400 a pair fully assembled and ready to bolt on. if i was looking at double hump heads, and had a modest budget, this is the way i would go. TrickFlow makes very good heads. I have never heard anyone complain about them.

[caly]

I still have double hump heads on my bugeye sprite with an sbc 383ci

[theknackwithgwiz]

Thanks for the great break down and info. One set of heads that don’t hear much about is the 64 cc swirl port 1.94 heads, casting 10110810 GM put them on some 90’s 350 TBI engines not just the 1.84 305’s. These are not as heavily swirl ported as the others. I have a set paired with a TPI EFI. With a little work they flow pretty good for cheap heads and a great torque monster with the high torque TPI system.

[isaactorres]

Thank you, I blew a head gasket, I heard I was lucky about having vortec heads and an aluminum intake but wasn’t too sure but now I know what head gasket I need !

[TonyButay]

I'm 461X 1.94 from 1962 on my .060 over 283 and I do like the way they perform.

[Antonio-ncbe]

Just put 882 heads shaved down with 2.02 1.6 stainless valves and PAC .550 lift springs on my 383 stroker with flat tops. I actually replaced Speedmaster aluminum heads that needed work and off set rockers to work

[ChrisMcCutcheon-wjpp]

I will take my old 69 292 angle pluggers, only true 375 hp sbc head made

[jimthomas]

Everything I have , engines and cylinder heads are all from the 60s

[fragman]

041 heads with 2.02 valves on my project 350.

[johnbehneman]

ALL ARE GREAT HEADS FOR A DAILY DRIVER BUILD.

[johnbehneman]

GREAT VIDEO AND A GREAT EDUCATION. THANKS FOR SHARING. I LEARNED A LOT.

[jarvislarson]

Always loved and will love the sbc and the brutal truth is I wouldnt run aby of these but if I were to rank them #1 062 vortec with valve guide boss cut and spring pockets widened #2 double humps with big valves and mild porting & unshrouding valves #3 624 junk low performance couldnt give me a set

[robertwest]

It doesn't get any more polar opposite than the 193 swirl port vs the 062 Vortec heads 😂😂 Awesome job on the video. Do you do this yourself or do you have help?

[nobiden]

I got super lucky and found a 67 camaro 327 with a 350 Forged 1968 GM crank and forged flat tops and rods.. the heads were the 291 double humps 1968. 2.02s and factory relief cuts (the bump in the fire ring on the gasket).
In a 55 Cameo truck i wanted.

[bartbarnett]

I don't know why people say that the 193 won't go past 4500 my little 388 pulls to 7200 before you hit a brick wall lol I have a carb and made digital distrib set to kill spark at 7200 I just never thought it would hit that and holy fuck when you hit 4700 it's like someone else is pushing if you don't spin the tire brake the drive shaft snap the pinion gear shaft in half. Twisted the stock 454 clutch

[kiesha]

Just picked up a set. Want to get em ported and polished, but no one around small town SC will do em.... 😢

[chrisreynolds]

I like the video and information attempt although it has a lot of errors.

624 heads were built by GM with 1.72/1.50, 1.94/1.50 and even 2.02/1.60 valve combinations. The L82 Corvette engines had them with largest valves. The heavy duty LT9 350 had the smaller intake valves and had valve rotators on both intake and exhaust.

As for swirl ports, there were 3 different 350 castings. 191, 193, and 810. They are all about 65cc. A 76 cc swirl port head does not exist from GM although the 187 305 head had a 1.84 valve and 58cc chamber. The heavy duty TBI 350 had an 18cc dished piston vs a 12cc dish on the light duty engine giving it the lower 8.75:1 compression ratio vs 9.3:1 on the lighter duty engine. HD engine started at 8, 600 lbs gvw. It was not the combustion chamber that made the difference. 191 heads I have cc'd were all in the 65-66cc range. B/D-cars had a L98 TPI flat top piston with 6cc worth of valve reliefs giving them a 9.6:1 compression ratio with the 193s.

Vortec heads, Mexican vs Canadian are different castings. The Mexican heads flow about 20 cfm less, they port stall before 0.450 lift and they are more prone to cracking than the OE Canadian heads. Vortec engines also came in some GMT800 trucks through 2007 but those were all the junk Mexican castings. They have a block that is newer than an 880 casting and had bosses for the LS 4-bolt motor mounts. They also had the regular old front side mounting bosses, 1 overlaps the LS pattern and the 2 blocks I have had did not have the two most foward bosses drilled or tapped for a traditional SBC mount. Mexican 062 I had flowed 215 cfm @ 0.400 then dropped off to 207 cfm @ 0.450 and beyond. Canadian 906 head from the factory engine in my 1997 Express flowed 236 @ 0.450 and 242 @ 0.500. Those 906s also had the pressed in exhaust seat which does hurt flow a bit, but not all 906 castings did. Some 906s were induction hardened seats like the 062s.

[Raysandfamily]

I have a set of double hump heads off a 69 Camaro engine was a 302 sbc and I have a vortex 350 that I'm building also my 355 is a great engine but I really can't wait till the 350 vortex is ready just so I can see how much different they are really like your stuff young man keep it up

[tcjohnson]

Got a stock 1984 GMC K 2500. Stock 4" 8-1 pistons. Not touching the short block, , , so what would be a good aluminum head replacement?

[vrjunkie]

Which head do you recommend for a boat ??