BBC 781 Casting Heads

[colonel]

Putting on Brodix Race Rite Oval port heads on my BBC and don't need the cast heads but don't know what if there is any real value to them.

 

They are 781 castings and have 2.19 and 1.88 valves, springs for hyd roller cam, guide plates and some porting done to them. They work well and have taken my car to a low of 12.65 through the exhaust, not open headers.

 

So any ideas on value???

[Sam (Bones)]

those are my second favorite oval port heads, and already having 2.19 intake valves in them is a plus but I have no idea what they are worth...sorry

[CKZ03]

Just to give you a general idea. I'm positive his part# is a digit off & date code would exceed what yours are. Not sure if a later date is more desireable or not. IMO I'm sure they must be worth $200 range at least, or more as it sounds like you have had work done or improved them.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=360747446137

[snomobeelr]

I did the same thing. I replaced my 781 castings and have 2.19 and 1.88 valves with Brodix RR. It took a while and I finally sold the 781's for $180.00. At most had 10000 miles on them.. Kinda wish I kept them on a shelf

[Its Just Me]

I recently purchased a set of 781's for my Monte Carlo. They had a low mileage rebuild on them. They have new valves, springs, valve guides, spring retainers and keepers. I talked with the machine shop to verify all this as it's all pretty easy to claim. They also came with a used set of 3/8" push rods & guides and rocker studs. No rockers though. They have the original valve sizes and no porting, so maybe not a good comparison to yours. I paid $250. That was cheaper than a valve job on the peanut port heads I had, and a lot better head for my application. I wish I would have held out for a set like yours with the bigger valves though. I haven't put my 781's on yet, so your post really has my gears turning...thanks alot.

 

Keep us informed on the Brodix heads. I'm considering a set for my 427 Chevelle and would love to hear real world experience.

 

Scott

[colonel]

I was hoping they were worth 400 each but if I am out to lunch then I am out to lunch on their value. They have about 10,000 miles on them so I thought they might be worth more with the porting and such. I will ask $300 each and go from there I guess. They will come with the pushrods I have in the engine now and the ARP head bolts as well as I will be installing the Brodix heads with studs.

 

This is a winter project so I won't have any new ET slips to give you until spring. It won't be a straight swap either as I have to do some work on the new heads and then they, along with my intake will go through the extrude hone process to smooth everything out.

 

These heads are also a bit of an anomaly as they were ordered as 115 cc with the cnc combustion chambers but came without the cnc done. So the place I bought them from took them to a machine shop they work with and they made up a cnc program to smooth out the chambers then decked them to get the 115 cc combustion volume back. So they aren't going to be an out of the box head so direct comparisons would be tough. I would really like to bolt everything together and run the engine on a dyno then do the extrude hone thing and see what the diff is for ultimate comparison knowledge but that it not going to happen here. I have some pics of these heads with the cnc chambers if anyone is interested I can send them to you as I don't know how to post them here or even if I should.

 

Thanks for the help and I will provide an update in the spring after I have an official ET slip.

 

Kevin

[cudax]

I have been running the Race Rite heads on my 496 for about 8 months now and I am very happy with them. No cnc, 1.7 roller rockers, ARP studs, 10.1 compression and though they are just part of the build/configuration, crazy torque! The only thing you have to watch out for is the lip on the rear bottom corners of the head where the valve cover sits is very low. Make sure you have excellant sealing valve cover gaskets because that is a common leak area on these heads.

 

Mike

[colonel]

Thanks for the tip. I have been thinking about switching to aluminum covers for the sealing ability from my stamped steel ones. I am always paranoid about my valve covers leaking so usually go overkill and silicone both sides. It seemed to work on this engine but found out there wasn't any sealer put on the head or intake bolt threads so there was oil and coolant seeping out through them.

 

I have the usual, at least in my experience, leaks from the front and rear crank seals which annoys me. Do you know of any seals made for these engine that actually work for more than a year???

 

I noticed the exhaust ports on the RR heads are a D shape instead of the real large ports on the 781's. What headers do you use as mine are a 1 7/8 primary which is much taller than the ports and wonder if that will cause detrimental turbulence. Am I over thinking things here???

 

Kevin

[cudax]

I am running 2" Hooker Comps and and I haven't noticed any issues. However, I used ARP studs on the heads and because of that, I had to grind the header flanges around the studs to allow them to fit properly. I also had to move my brake prop valve to the top of the frame and was able to reuse my existing brake lines.

 

As far as the crank seals, I think you will find everyone has different preferences. Though I just went through a rebuild which included a new crank, my rear main is leaking. I used a Felpro seal but for some reason it didn't seal properly. I was going to do a little research to see what's out there, maybe go with a viton seal next time?