Edelbrock 60779 heads

[MadMC63]

Has anyone used the Edelbrock Performer RPM 60779 cylinder head on an LA engine build? What I'm curious about are the bracket mounting points, specifically the no air alternator bracket.

[MadMC63]

Just thought I would add... You can get them for $718.50 each right now.

[MadMC63]

Well... I bit the bullet an ordered them. Will update this when I know the final outcome. Working with a 340 V8 I found having my heads redone would cost somewhere between 7 and 8 hundred dollars. Indy heads were 995 a pair which I was going to do until Indy said they were out of stock, not the most concerned folks at Indy. Then I learned that the Indy heads add about 45 lbs to the engine, thicker head surface like the magnum. Having read through multiple forums I new out of the box would probably never happen so now we're looking at the cost of the heads, tax, shipping, and extra machine shop labor, not so cheap anymore. The Edelbrock heads come in at somewhere in the neighborhood of 95 lbs less weight than the Indy's. Combine this with a set for 1437.00 with no shipping or tax they suddenly became more appealing. Out of the box is still not an option but hey! aluminum heads woo whoo. Not something I ever really wanted to do here goes nothing, we'll see.

[stumblinhorse]

Since you already pulled the trigger I will say, those Eddie heads are good and a lot of LAs out there running them. Good you are planning some machine work to them their quality is not what is once was. You will need new head bolts/studs special for those heads. Any la rockers will work, and you can go up quite a bit on lift and aggressiveness of your cam.

You will get a bump in compression with the 63cc compression chamber. A really great upgrade. Should be fun!

[Kaegi]

whats an 'Indy head"

[stumblinhorse]

whats an 'Indy head"

https://www.indyheads.com/images/maxlax ... ctlinK.pdf

[MadMC63]

Aerohead racing "aeroheadracing.com" is basically the same company as Indy. No matter what anyone tells you, you speak to the same folks.
All the cast iron replacement heads are very similar in basic design, they all use the magnum type design. Indy has the LA-X and it supports stock valve train with the exception of pushrods it also has the correct oil passages for the LA platform. The heads are thicker and so OEM pushrods are short. EQ (Engine Quest) has a good head, CH318B. CH318B is a magnum replacement head with LA intake bolt hole alignment. You have to use all newer magnum valve train, rocker arms, lifters, and pushrods. LA oil passages arent present and the valve train lubricates through the lifters and pushrods.

[MadMC63]

The heads require different bolts or studs. Roughly $135 for bolts to $200 for studs, ouch! Through friends, I was able to locate new ARP studs for $60. Heads are in the shop being inspected, gasket matched and having the bowl area cleaned up. As of right now, I'm into the heads for $1494.

[Kaegi]

cnat believe ihav enever seen them before. I mostly play with poly or flatheads tho.

[MadMC63]

Heads are out of the shop and everything checked out o.k. with two discrepancies. The heads are advertised as having 63 cc combustion chambers and they didn't. The heads I purchased ended up having 66 cc combustion chambers on average. The second discrepancy was the valve springs, advertised to support cam lift up to .575 but are actually only good to about .500 lift. These results were sort of expected based on what I'd read so no biggy. Still, a bargain compared to cast iron especially when you consider weight loss, thermal properties and reconditioned OEM heads save less than $600.00. I wouldn't really think of these heads as a bolt-on performance upgrade so much as I would think of them more along the lines of a much-improved stock replacement. With the machine shop cost, the final cost of the heads is $1594.00. I'll post again when I find out if the alternator mount is a problem or not.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Larger combustion chamber = lower compression ratio.

[MadMC63]

Based on the articles that I've read and the Youtube videos that I've watched it seems to be a very common problem. The combustion chamber volume of these heads can vary. If building it can be compensated for with parts but if simply replacing it might be a problem especially when I've read of as much as 72 cc's, which is the same as the early 340/ 360 heads and could potentially drop compression into the 7s.

[stumblinhorse]

What compression ratio do you want to run? Then what dynamic CR are you looking for? You could throw so kb399 pistons in and get pretty high, I needed.

[MadMC63]

Still not in the truck yet but this is what it looks like.

[Wildergarten]

Still not in the truck yet but this is what it looks like.

I'm a bit surprised you didn't go for aluminum valve covers too. What would be the reason?

[MadMC63]

Like the intake, Edelbrock Torker 340" I had them laying around.

[MadMC63]

As promised. I've gotten to the alternator install and it will not fit. I've ordered a PowerMaster 7018 alternator which is a dual field round back. The new nator boasts 95 amps in retro round back design. Pretty sure this will work but it will be a tight fit.

[Kaegi]

looks great! why wont alternators fit? the aftermarket heads? you could mount the alternator up high like the earlier trucks. keeps it out of the water and dirt also.

[MadMC63]

The heads stick out about an inch more front and back than stock heads and, the square back sits right on top of the valve cover gasket surface.

[MadMC63]

The round back alternator is a perfect fit.