Milling 452 heads..

[jg68]

Now that i've got the heads pulled on my 440, i'm throwing the idea around of raising the compression & putting a cam in it, as some of you know, the comp now is around 7.87 & the cam is stock, shooting for 9.1, i have a few questions on this, 1st, i'm thinking of just milling the heads .060 & using the steel shim head gasket, this should put it around 9.04, dropping the heads down .080, 2nd. what is the formula for milling the intake side of the head, as it stands there isn't any raised boss on these 452s on the intake side like on the 906s, so any cutting will put it into the VC rail, did 452s come this way, all of the 906s i've seen always had that boss.

The cam i'm looking at is the summit 465/488 with some MP springs, the guy thats doing the work on the heads only wants 130.00 to mill both sides of each head, i know i'll have to get some shorter pushrods, weres the best place to get them?

My other option is installing my 125 powershot & leaving the engine alone

What should i do, give me your thoughts to help me make a decision

[Challenger340]

Yes, some 452's came "that way" on the Intake faces.

For each .010" taken off the deck, you're supposed to take .012" off the Intake face.

Shorter pushrods from ISKY, Comp., Smith Bros., etc., but you'll have to know the length you're looking for.

personally, I hate steroids on stock Pistons, but, it's your engine.

[firefighter3931]

The formula that Challenger340 posted is correct. Your other option is to mill the intake manifold if you don't want to cut too much off the intake surface.  Mancini carries rocker shaft shims which might help with the pushrod issue. Fwiw, i've seen stock lifters run with .060 preload and no problems. I would mock it up first and make sure the lifter isn't bottoming out with the valvetrain TQed to spec. If that's the case then shim up the rockers for a little added cushion.

Like 340 said ; cast slugs and nitrous is a bad combination.....personally i wouldn't do it. 



Ron

[jg68]

Thanx for the info so far, i figured i might get that responce about the nos & stock pistons , i've done it before on a 360 i had with no problems, but its still a 50/50 chance with nitrous & its too addicting , plus i'll end up spending around 300+ $$ to upgrade my fuel system.

I do have some rocker shims from a past project, if i can get away with .030 os so on the shafts that would be great, save me from getting new pushrods, those custom jobs are like 120.00, my main issue i guess is the intake face on the heads, i have no prob milling the intake, i've always done this, but its a perf , he gets 100.00 to mill one, don't want to stick that kind of dough in this intake, as it stands now, i am able to get both fiber gaskets to fit, so maybe i can get away with taking .050 off the face.

[oldkimmer]

U could angle mill your heads, there is a formula for this somewhere, but any competent machine shop can do this and will have the formula...........kim

[deputycrawford]

Thanks for the formula guys. My 383 heads were milled .050 and my engine builder never milled my intake. No wonder I have a leak sucking oil into the cylinders. I had the intake cut .020 but still have the leak. No I know, in the spring, I will pull the intake and hack another .040 off and it should seal. Thanks again. I was getting pretty disappointed with the whole rebuild thing. I will get it fixed, put it to the wood, and row the gear box.......Well; its a 3500 stall 727 but you know what I mean.