Richard, this is my first ever comment on the tube. I'm a mechanic by trade been doing this for over 20 years. You sir are my hero you have tested so many combinations of everything across the board. My 72 chevelle has been in my dway since 97. You answer a lot of questions for people. I love all of your videos. I started to call you Mr horsepower. Thanks for all the tests that you do. You make KZfaq in interesting. I put my project aside to raise my little girl. I don't know if I'll ever have the cash to finish and drive the chevelle. You are an amazing inspiration to us all. Thanks for what you do. I could only hope just to get the chevelle running let alone have my daughter ride in it. Keep up the good work Rich. Good regards from Utah.

This guy is AWESOME!

WOW 👀 Those oval AFRs and square Brodix... 👌😬👍 Thanks for more of "the other guys" content ! You're our saint ! 😂 Sometimes the "too much LSx" stuff makes it hard to breathe around here. 😛 Edit: I can't believe he's only at 71k subs. Channels spreading stupidity and crooked facts are awarded but those with knowledge go by unrecognized. and ignored.

Dude!! Your information is impeckable. You are saving a ton of guess work that most gearheads go through when assembling any motor. Keep up the great scientific info. Right in your face HP and Torque specs. Excellent base lines to select from. I value what you do. Never stop.

Bro the information is just the best💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾... Some Shops wouldn't even break it down to us like this... And those Iron Summit heads still made plenty of power....Thanks Richard

Thanks Richard you're awesome you always say what we want to hear

Great test Richard ,thank you.

Love these tests!!!

Thanks for the extensive testing. It makes sense that the shape makes no difference if the flow numbers are comparable. I recently looked at a 1,000 HP 565 BBC where the guy said "oval port heads". Turns out these where custom ground from Brodix blanks so they have no lineage to the production oval port heads. The AFR heads look amazing and have my full attention. I like the low-end torque that carries all the way through the RPM range. Thanks again for the data.

Thanks for the test data and all that work you did.

I'm getting addicted to your tests

Loving what you Do Richard...Just completed a 496 BBC...with 10.6 to one and a hand ported Brodix 340cc and a 270 duration Solid Roller....700 lift...She belted out 700hp and 595 ft lbs of Torque...She fell right in line with your Test Motor....Enjoy your Videos...👍

I knew the AFR ovals would do well on a 496. 😎👍🏻

I love these head comparison videos! I watch them a couple of times! Quality entertainment. I'd like to see part numbers. I'm really interested in the Edelbrock, Brodix and AFR heads. Running a Blueprint 496 w/20cc dome & forged crank, comp XE284 flat tappet hydraulic and perforner rpm air gap proform 950 drag carb

We also had l88 heads back in the day. We had 396,402,454,496 engines. Turboing the ls6 or l88 was the hot ticket. And placing that in a 69 camaro or nova was awsome Bloodviking

Many many years ago when I was at tech school, we watched a seminar that the guys at Reher Morrison put on. They went way down the rabbit hole showing that the basic design of rectangle port heads has a lot of dead air space where velocity is lost and tumbling can occur. This way before cnc machines took over the world. The Morrison guys said that they believed an oval port could made to be superior but the technology to do so didn’t exist yet, but that it would within the next 10 to 15 years. And now we have oval port heads that can do what tradition says is impossible.

Damn! Those Brodix heads really brought in some power 🤘😁🤘!

I have listened to the advice of a lot of seasoned Chevy engine builders. All say , less then 510 cubic inch ( approx. ) use oval port heads. Seems they are correct. Another great, informative video.

Another great video. Afr are fantastic heads my brother has a 598 big compression nasty solid roller engine with the afr 345s. Had no idea the edlbrock heads was only 107 chambers the higher compression ratios of the edelbrock and afrs made the most peak hp.

This is exciting. The 489 I have in my 72 Monte Carlo is a weird little mix of the rec port and oval port motors you tested. 489 stroker with the xr300hr cam, 10.3 compression and the brodix race right ovals on it. My heads definitely flow a little less than the afr, but still makes the car feel like more than enough for the street

Every time you do a BB Test I want to rip the 5.3 out of my car 🤦‍♂️. Lol great video...

Port velocity again on the AFR's. The Brodix BB-3 Xtra O series 335 heads are just 🤤 O- face. Who needs Rec ports. Great video!

I'm running GM alum oval port heads (12263390) CHANGE OF NUMBERS (14331425) on a 10.7:1 496 tunnel ram engine dual 750 Demons 294 Comp hyd roller in a 3800 lb Firebird ...i couldn't be happier (except when the needle and seat o rings bypass fuel from sitting) smooth and torquey just strong EVERYWHERE !! Great show as always ... now i'm looking at the BR-300 maybe not ... lol

Awesome video once again!

Great test. I use the AFR 305 square ports with good success. They seem to be very close to flow and port volume to the AFR oval 290's. The AFR ovals weren't even around yet when I bought my 305's. Keep up the great videos, excellent work. I especially liked the small block solid lifter engine comparison as I also run a DZ engine.

Please do a video on the effects on thermostats and horsepower. The majority of the audience will probably never now that these engine dyno test are ran around 140-160 degrees. Thank you so much.

Thanks for your work I always like oval port for street and strip especially when new school car pulls up to me on the street

Dude you are so f awesome you need your own show you do alot better then any of them guys you knowledge and good personality

Those AFR heads are insane!

Great video. My dragstrip buddies (30 years ago) used to all say that the iron heads made more power than aluminum. They also said the oval port heads made more hp than the square ports, but for some unknown reason, the hot ticket was to run a square port intake on the oval heads. Most of these guys were running 496s.

Great job Richard! I bet it’s a pain in the rear to do all that swapping! I have a 489 in my Camaro with Dart Pro 1 345 (as-cast) so I was super excited to see where this engine stacked up. Looks like my estimates of mid 700s is “about” right! (I have more lift on the cam and more compression along with a few other small differences). Keep up the good work!

Another Awesome Video,,,

I'm using 088 heads on my street 496 big block. I'm happy with them 💯👍

Great video

Awesome 👏

Thanks for the video love the info on big block builds. I was impressed the oval port and brodix were so similar wonder if there is a difference with boost.

Richard your car guru , I've seen or heard, or read about you everywhere. Last night I watched you on Netflix "The fastest car" Very cool! Love the channel too!

Great info. I'm looking to buy the comp cam to put into the 496 i have.

The AFR's were helped by having higher compression ratio, but no head had better average flow numbers. And AFR achieved those numbers with the lowest port volume of the bunch. Sort of makes me want to build a big block just so I can buy those heads.

I love BBC's! Just hope this sentence doesn't get pulled out of context one day.

67-69 big block Chevy engine's 427- 396 made 430hp and lower (smaller displacement) on large ovals heads the rec's weren't out yet. Didn't expect the ovals to come out of left field like that! 👍

Those Oval ports were surprisingly good but they look to be right in their sweet spot with the cam choice and cubes, If you went with more of either I think they would become a restriction compared to some of the other heads. More cam especially.

Would love to see a carb shootout ? Demon vs xp holley vs edelbrock vs quickfuel ? Cheers and love your content 😋

The oval port heads were a big shock !!! , but AFR do kill it in the head game

I've been convinced for years AFR makes the best cylinder heads hands down.

That's a badass 496. Those Brodix or AFR heads on a 540 would be absolutely nasty... Perfect nitrous oxide platform.

Thanks or including the oval port head. How well did the ports match the intake? It would also be cool if you ran the Edelbrock dual plane. Thanks again for these informative videos!

I'd really like to see what the outcome would be with a ported dual plain air gap and the oval 290's on the 496 compared to the single plain . curious if it's worth spending the extra bucks on the single for a street strip application and would be nice to see what you're giving up or gaining going either route

Great video. I was searching for flow numbers on stock cast iron head 12562925 supplied on the 502 HO. I don't know if those heads compare to your 088 heads. I am hope they come close. I am assuming in your table flow in blue column is the lift opening of valve?? I will keep on viewing your videos and thanks for taking your time and money to provide good information. Keep it coming. Bert

Do more PLEASE I just picked up a 2002 GMC Sierra 2500hd 8.1L

Taking a cad 500 and putting a huge turbo on it on 89 to 92 pump gas with 600 to 700 hp was quite a street car in the 80s and 90s. And in a t bucket was the fastest street car around.

Comparing GM rec ports to AFR anything don't show anything everybody knows AFR is some of the best you can buy, really enjoyed the video

Congrats on another great video! I was wondering, did the heads with the smalllest chambers caused a raise in compression ratio too?

Last year I had a 489 built for my 68 Malibu, 10.8 comp., Brodix RR Rec port 294 W/CNC chambers and cut to 115 cc, gasket matched Eddy AG W/AED 1,000 cfm carb & 1 7/8 headers for clearance in the car, cam was a hyd roller 231 int 239 exh .600 lift 110 lsa and made 600 ft lbs from 4200-4500, 589.8 hp @ 5700, I went small on cam for A/C

Man these series by this guy rocks I've got same bottom end as this with stock 049's and makes 600hp and 610ftlb large ovals rule, now put that T ram on it with twin 950s

I know it doesn't matter so much but I remember this test and y'all left a bunch of power on the table with the cam Choice! You don't even need a bunch more duration either

Great test. I am a huge BBC fan. one thing I would have liked to see would be a lower rpm test for a BBC with oval ports vs square ports. every magazine and KZfaq video compares them from 3500 on up. and most of the time I see the square ports win in overall power, they test being the only exception that I have seen. but no one ever show the power and torque curves from 1500-3000. which is where most street motors run around town and out on the highway. Racing is cool, however most car guys drive their stuff on the street, so I would love to see a test on a your average 454-468 with both oval and square port heads from 1500 rpm - 5500 rpm. most car guys never spin a BBC about 5700RPM. and also with cams that work will for cars with power breaks. say around 210 -240 degrees @.050.

Another awesome test! This is why i watch and tell other people about you bro... All these tests may have been done before but not exactly this way... That's what it's all about. "The way you do the things you do, all day" 😁👍

We built na engines back in the 80s and 90s that didn't come close to turbo engines. Big diesal turbos were great back then and not alot of money used. Garret,holset, mack etc were nice. And we usually needed just one to hit 800 hp on pump gas from a bbc or cadillac 500. Bloodviking

Still waiting for the gen7 8100 vortec tests lol

It seems that the heads with the bigger exhaust flow do better regardless of shape of port so maybe the choke up is in the exhaust for big blocks also smaller chamber which means more compression is playing a major factor but if you can make big power with regular gas that’s big especially since your gonna go thru a lot with a big block this test shows more a choice in octane then anything with the chambers Being from 107-123 stock and some of those big flow heads coming with 122 which could still be ran on 85-87 octane. To some that could be worth losing 15-18 hp

Starting to wonder if you ever sleep. 😂

Absolutely awesome test, very close to a motor I'm in the process of building. So extremely useful for me, thanks! Mine is a stock ls6 454 bottom end with as cast pro comps and just a touch bigger cam. I'm gonna guess I'd lose probably 50hp cause I don't have the stroker?

Hey Richard how about a big cube Ford head test. And include the Kaase stuff. I love his SR71 stuff!

I wonder how my jegs 290 heads would do. That big block is similar to how mine is build(except I am running a slightly bigger SFT cam which might reduce power a little).

It’s always the case that a head with the port volume to match piston demand works better than something too big, even more so when it also outflows the bigger heads in the mid lift region of the chosen cam. Cam would be miles better on a tighter LSA and get the tq/ci numbers towards 1.4

Excellent video, like the other ones. I’d love to watch the same test on Big Block 440 Mopars.

Ran Dart 355s on a 496 13:1 roller motor w spray and the car was running 4s in no time..Had enough room later for a 565 and was deep 4s with that set up at close to 160mph..

I’ve a set of those big ole heavy cast 781 heads with 2.25 and 1.90 valves on my 10.5:1 496 Stroker. I only hope when it goes to the dyno

Once again you blow the myths away with your common sense approach. Surprised to see all of the more serious power makers had very similar flows. What the flow numbers don’t give are the max and average velocities. Could their increase in performance be linked to an increase in port velocities? Just a question. Keep up your videos. They are definitely interesting and make a person think about the old wives tails we were raised on.

Holy crap! With this cam, in a 496, the AFR ovals beat ALL the rec ports in every possible metric! But for the MONEY, the Summit iron heads are a tremendous option. And with a more streetable cam, they'd be even better. Yay Summit!

The big advantage the AFR heads had over the rest was the smaller chamber size, which boosted compression and thus HP. Given, they also flowed as good as or better than the rest of the heads as well, but there wasn't a clear advantage in flow which would account for the difference.

Interesting and educational comparison so bigger isnt better even with a 500 cubic inch engine. Yeah i remember the BB and the 'reg' called passenger engines came with the OVAL and the 427/425 or 396/375 had the rect. but they also had bigger valves and intake along with that streetable solid cam so that probably accounted for the extra 25 of advertised hp. Performance engine building has a great set of vids about making 650 with ported oval iron heads, yes lots of work but he sure knows what to do and his engines look STOCK when you pop the hood, so run a low 10 in your 1st gen. street Camaro then pop the hood and all people see is an intake and carb. Back in the day 400+ was a true accomplishment for a street engine and strokers were only a wet dream

Thanks for the great info in this video! I’m wondering if many of these heads would like a bigger bore. Seems like that 4.310 bore might have shrouded the big chambers. Maybe test these heads on a 502 or 509, or maybe a 540.

Just saw Texas speed video for the new intake you need to get one and let us know how it does please!!!!

Rick I need your opinion. I installed an Edelbrock top end kit on a 460BBC (Edelbrock #2070). Its a stock bottom end maybe 9:1 CR. Using their aluminum performer rpm heads and the hydraulic roller cam supplied with the kit along with 1-5/8” headers and full 3” exhaust with an h pipe. It used Holley Efi and hyperspark ignition. Made 440rwho and 480ft lb. my issue was peak power was at 5200rpm??? What gives. I dont understand why its not revving out to 6-6500. Kit says it should make power from 1500-6500rpm

So the big gains came from the small chamber heads, i.e., Brodix, Edelbrock, and AFR. How do you separate gains from the C/R increase from the rest?

Do u still need to clean up the c&c ported heads or just bolt em on?

Hi Richard, reading your 2012 article “Big-Block Heads Shootout - The Big O Vs. The Big R” The Edelbrock Victor Jr. 454-R intake used on the other heads, when you test the AFR 300cc oval port head was an oval port manifold used? If so, which manifold? Thank you, Chris

Right on

Not surprised on the ovals doing as well as they did at all. I'm really surprised that GM actually made rec port heads for BBCs since they never made these big cube engines in the first place.

I love the dyno tests. I wish we could somehow combine it with the flowbench testing to see what the velocity vs flow does to the HP number. I'm pretty sure the AFR oval port heads are putting out superior flow for the higher port velocity they have to have. Because the air pump never changed its demand at any given RPM so it stands to reason that the port was VERY efficient. OR was the port volume numbers kinda skewed because of valve location changes. Kinda like the early trick flow stuff. The port volumes were a bit misleading as the changed valve location made people think the port was smaller, when in reality it was not it was SHORTER. Which leads me to my next "I wonder" moment. Since direct injection is becoming viable to gas engines I have to believe that fuel atomization is no longer a very important part of the equation. So, what would be the purpose to have ANY restriction to the intake tract? It really only inhibits flow, and is that not what we are trying to do efficiently? Are we not just trying to get as much air in as possible while minimizing pumping losses? Or do I have this all wrong, and the ram effect of the moving column of air aids in filling much more than no restriction at all.........inquiring mind want to know.

AFR FTW!

Like to see this same test on Merlin specially pt. 2 ❤

Those heads would have shined even better with a .750+ lift, 280+@.050 cam, 13.5-1+ compression and a 1150 Dominator on a Super Victor intake. That would be a good pump gas driver tho.

I'm building an old school chevy gasser, and I am currently building the engine for it, I'm going to run a 496 BBC I'm just trying to get your opinion on what would be the best head/cam combo that will work with a dual holley 750 double pumper carbs with a tunnel ram setup, I may put nitrous on the car I am undecided on it, but I do want to take the car to cruise nights and to the drag strip on occasions so looking for a good combination that will give me the best bang and buck don't matter I am not skimping on parts so skies the limit!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Richard, I'm building a 408W turbo. Question is; I have the pro-comp single plane that has power band from 3500-8000. But I'm limiting my build to 6500rpm. Should I swap to a dual plane intake to suite the RPM range or will it choke my total air flow?

Compression is king.

What was the compression with the edelbrock heads? Im looking to build another street strip 496. Your info has been great to watch. And the results have helped with my choices to build. By the way. I want to run on premium pump fuel. 92/93 octane.

Hey Richard, what was the P/N for the Brodix heads? I can't find a rectangular port number for them with those specs.

Hey Rich. If one were to do this combination with the 290 Oval heads, but using a cam with 10 degrees less duration on both exhaust and intake while keeping everything else the same, such as .650" lift, 290 heads, 454 intake, compression etc. How much power do you think would be lost from just running a bit less duration? Also one other question. When swapping to the 290 Oval heads in this test, what intake did you use? The 454-O instead of the 454-R?

Was the oval port heads ran with the rec intake or an oval one?

Richard you should have run this with the BPE 598 to really tax these heads for airflow.

when are you doing the big bang bbc?

I think what I learned is if you deck those Brodix heads and up the compression and put on some high ratio rockers you should have a monster! :-)

Hey do you have a part number for the Edelbrock heads

Can you do another video for the vortec headed sb, please

Love the power numbers with the AFR 290 heads, was cam installed straight up or advanced? Thx

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Running a rec port intake on the oval port heads?