Are these a fairly good pair of heads. There on my 396 that i just got. From what i know they are oval ports, closed, and has a 67 casting date. IF any one is running these on there BB please let me know what you think of them.

I would think they would be like -206's which to me are good early, small-closed chambered, large oval heads..

pdq67

What were the stock valves?

2.06"/1.72"..

pdq67

Unless I am mistaken the 390 and 215 are the same head.

i have ran other 390 heads along with my current set now......they seem to be a very well performer the set before these i have now got me into the mid 11 sec range with just a back yard port job and some SS valves 2.19/1.88 with 3 angle valve job and a 20 degree back cut on the valves.......they are rated at 98 cc chambers and was put on the 396 and 427 bbc .......the set i have now i just completed a few weeks ago a complete make over of the ports and bowl area added bronze guides and necked down ss valves that are 2.19/ 1.88.....and i opened up the chamber some and did some unshrouding work......with a 4 angle valve job along with just a standard valve cut with no back cutting.........the heads seemed to help out on my bbc with the work i put into them.....feels alot stronger on mid and upper end ........

cant say nothing bad about them i have own three sets of the 390 casting and all seem to responded well with up grades even if it has been just back yard porting and the regular vavle size up grades.......

Originally posted by Mike Feudo:

Unless I am mistaken the 390 and 215 are the same head.
I'm pretty sure the 390 casting were the "bath tub" shaped closed chamber while the 215's were the "semi-closed" chamber heads.

just to add the 390 and 215 heads was from the same era for the 396 and 427......the 215 was rated at 101 cc's compared to the 98 cc's from the 390........those heads was produced for the 67 and 68 model years.......both closed chambered heads.........

I have 390's. As mentioned they are a completely clsoed chamber.

The 215's are a "semi-closed" and have a slightly different chamber shape.

Ditto Jake and 71454.

pdq67

I just learned something. Assumed same probuction years same head. Wrong

What does Closed chamber actually mean??

Just that!

If you look at a picture of a bunch of BB heads they started out looking first like an old-fashioned "Bathtub", (i.e., totally closed chambered).

Then they angled the sparkplug side away to help the suck on that side, (i.e., semi-closed chambered).

Next they opened up the head to make the "open chambered" head that is kind of a "squished-round" --if you will--.

And finally they took the open chambered head and removed the quench over by the exhaust valve so that it is in line with the intake valve to make almost a quenchless head for smog purposes! (I.e., open chambered smog head)...

Please go to your local Barnes and Noble and take a look through some of the books out now on BB's and I am sure you will see just what is going on.

Ed Staffel's book "How to Build Max Performance Chevy Rat Motors" is a VERY good one on the subject and a whole bunch of other stuff too!!

The head pic's are great...

pdq67

even though the 215 are slightly different shape they are still closed chambered heads at 101cc.........semi- open chambered heads range more in the 108 to 113 range......open chambers are anything above this........

What type of c/r do these heads produce

Being closed chambers they are less cc's than open chambers so it requires smaller piston to get a higher compression ratio.

Know for a fact (at least the '290 Semi-Closed/Semi-Open chamber heads that I have) after a couple of resurfacings and a mild polish of the chamber, the heads CC'd at 104 - 105 CC. I've seen these listed as 101 CC, but mine (as are most) are obviously much larger.