I've used the AFR 265's and Brodix Race Rite 270's on 496's and they were absolute monsters. One was a '70 Nova with a 2.73 gear and the other a 68 Chevelle SS with 3.73's. The 2.73's were fine. That big motor didn't care what gears the car had. The 3.73's were just ridiculous. No traction in any gear.

I'm still impressed with the performance of the peanut ports. I remember when Chevy came out with the SS454 pick up truck back in 1990. Everyone said it was totally lacking in performance all due to the peanut port heads. Guys were doing top end swaps and were getting good performance from them but of course that also included a new cam. After watching Richard dyno test peanut ports several times the only conclusion is that they are really decent heads. I have been a long time Pontiac guy and I can tell you that stock high performance D-port Pontiac heads will not make 512 on a 455. 450 is about all you will ever see and that's with a single plane intake and really big cam. And these are heads us Pontiac guys always considered pretty good.

you need to buy to fit your needs the 1200-dollar heads is better than stock, the 2600 dollar head is better than that what about the 8000 Dolar head! How deep is your wallet!

Richard has proved peanut port heads are incredibly good. I'll stick with them. Can't beat the price either.

$1000 for 60hp not worth it!

The speedmasters are basically good for a weight reduction. The AFR will be much more fun to drive, all the time. They'll probably get better mileage too. The cheap ones can't even be ported to match the AFR...maybe with lots of epoxy.

Those peanut ports did really good for all the negativity they get

Being able to change a head without 3 buddies and a chiropractor is also a good reason for cheapo aluminum heads.

I am always interested in BBC heads. Like you said, we were all "conditioned" to believe that rec ports are the way to go for performance. I ran the stock ovals for years. Then I finally got to buy some closed chamber rec ports and intake from a '68 427. I am not sure I am much better off, at least on a street car. On my next engine I think I will go oval port.

my issue with the cheap heads isn't if they offer the power, but if they simply actually work, as in seal, don't crack, are not warped, line up, etc.

It's not just the peak HP and peak torque that matters, it's area under the curve.

I think it would be really interesting to test factory Chevy rectangle port vs. factory Chevy oval port heads on the same engine back to back. You could find some late 1960's closed chamber oval port heads and test them on your L78 396 and LS6 454 engines using a vintage Edelbrock C-396 oval port dual plane high rise intake.

It has to do with VELOCITY.

Availability on good aluminum heads comes into play these days also, always like the head comparisons

Quality pays for itself over time.

Would be interesting to see how AFR's as cast heads would perform compared to speedmaster's.

My old cast iron 702 heads are working really good for me. Closed chamber oval ports with bigger valves and mild porting on the SSR and chamber walls plunge cut to unshroud the intake valves. With 9.5:1 CR and a small Clay Smith HR 221/235 @0.050” o.577” lift and a 3310 VS Holley. When the back barrels open it blows the tires off. These hemis, camaras and mustangs gonna learn not to mess with the patina ‘72 C10 in SW Houston....😂😂😂

The 265 AFR's are benefiting from the higher intake velocity that you get from a smaller port area. That's why peanut port heads hold their own up to about 5000 rpm. Keeping intake velocity up makes power and torque.

Guy's, first of all, I haven't fooled with BBC engines for 50 years and I don't know my butt from a hole in the ground, need to say that up front. I do build a few SBC Stroker engines with decent results. I have been asked to build a BBC for an 80s 4 WD truck. I can't get the information that I would like so this is by the seat of my pants. I have a 454 4 bolt and peanut heads and throttle body. I haven't heard it run and can't start it the way my test stand is set up, so the first thing is an intake and carb.

Great test, I always enjoy a test showing that bigger is not necessarily better.