[grapette1]

Hi, I have a 350/350 combination in my '50 chevy. I go to a lot of shows, Good Guys, etc. and see sooooooooo many 350s. They are almost like belly buttons!!

My '57 has the original pp engine. I am thinking of having the seats hardened and nothing else. I would like to keep things rather original, but would like a little more at the back wheels. Is it worth it to spend the money redoing these heads?

How about these heads with a newer intake/carb combination and some block-hugging headers? I know I could put almost as much into updating the heads as after-market heads cost. One thing for certain, I do not want another 350!! I have enough belly buttons!!

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[chevman57]

I think it`s all a personal decision in what a person wants and kinda staying with the entire theme of your car.
Terry

 

[dseale4888]

It is your car and you can do what ever you want to do. I think that it would be cool to just get the hardened seats in the original heads. Good luck and it's your decision.
Dave

 

[Toms57chevy]

Well I have a 030.283 with power pac heads. I had thought about putting some 300hp heads and changing out the cam.But the motor only has 2,500 miles on it since it was rebuilt about 10 years ago. So I decided to keep what I have and up dated the intake and carb. I installed the new Wieand intake and a 600 Holley carb. Boy did that wake up the little motor. Hey with gas at $3.00 a gallon I get to Cruise more.

 

[reborn55]

I run a 283 pulling about 315 h.p. and enjoy it whenever I can. As far as hardened valve seats, if you don't drive the car a whole lot you can probably do without the seats. I built my motor in 93 without the hardened seats and so far so good.

 

[tiresmoke55]

I just sold a really good set of power pack heads today that i had really good luck out of for $200,
But reason i sold mine was i stuck a set of camel hump heads w/ screw in studs in them and all the other goodies on a 86 Monte SS a have because i went with a bigger cam and EXT' just to wake it up a little more u know ,,,, I loved the pp head on the car really the motor in it was a bacily stock 350sbc with a mild cam & the pp heads on there that was a great ever day driver that would eat the tires right off it and had plenty of power and really didnt get bad mpg...... but i got board and started tinkering on it,,, but long story short compared to a bone stock set of 350 heads to a pp head, the pp will out perform better in a mild motor,,, because of the smaller CC chamber of the pp heads compared to a stock 76 CC chamber 350 head, the pp will raise compression which means more street-able hp.......... and a stock pp head also has smaller valves then a stock 350 which wont kill your pocket at the gas pump..
well that was on my combo 350 w/pp heads u know....... just like you said u can spend some cash on redoing a pp as you would a camel hump head or aftermarket's But it isn't hard at all to pull some descent hp from a 283... and you hit the nail on the head EVER ONE HAS A 327 OR 350 so i would tinker with the 283 if i was you just to be different u know. good luck with your build!!!!!

 

[CLSSY56]

I have a 56 power pak motor that I had put 305 heads on. Same cc heads as the powerpak. I did do a post here about it this past December.