Hey guys I am about to rebuild my first engine for my 71 Chevelle and since I am on a budget I am restricted as far as parts I can get. I have 2 pares of 624 smog truck heads and I would like something a little better. I am rebuilding the engine in my college class and part of the class is cleaning up heads so I can clean up my little POS heads a bit. The build will be a 350 with a UD 272 H10 cam, RPM intake and performer carb, and I will put in new pistons. All other parts will be original like stall, trans, rear end. There will be updates in the future but for now just cant happen.

Ok my question is should I just save my money for after market heads and deal with my current heads or should I try to find some decent GM castings to make it more respectable. In class I will be doing a valve job and little cleaning up of the heads so they will be little better then stock.

Also if anyone has any CHEAP heads out there or want to donate to a school project :D even if there bare I am already doing clean up work and buying all the parts.

Ok so what should a guy on a budget do?

other than huge combustion chambers, those heads will perform ok. Not the best but could be much worse.

I agree with Marty, since it is a "class project" use them to gain some experience doing the basic valve job & maybe some light pocket porting, hopefully guide replacement etc. & save your money for some better heads down the road.
Just my opinion but if you have a decent shop & instructor you have a great opotunity to learn without spending a ton on parts you don't need to be too concerned with if something doesn't turn out as planned :D

I was hoping Mike would chime in on this one. Ok I will stick it out with the pos heads for now. I already have most of the new parts but the valves them self's ( will get them soon) but will have a professional machine for the seats and will have access to the grinders for cleaning up the ports.

My goal is afr 195's so I have lots of saving to do

Why don't you take a grinder to them and grind them out to the bottom of the seat on new big valves, then do a valve job. B/c then big valves should fit fine!!

Been there, done that and it worked fine, imho...

pdq67

You say you have two sets of heads? Have you checked what a good used set of generic SBC cast iron heads are selling for on E-Bay? You won't find a decent set ready to bolt on that are clean and complete for less than $150 + shipping.

You could refinish both sets of heads and get them ready so that they can simply be bolted on to an engine-then sell them on E-Bay and put the money towards a decent set of aftermarket heads, or towards the Vortec heads which are decent.

In regards to fixing and selling the old heads-first and foremost-make sure they are not cracked! Check them for straightness! Fix any stripped bolt holes, or gubered threads. Replace all guides that are out of spec. Shim the old springs to insure they are within spec as well.

Here are some tips for you:
1. Pocket port them, and gasket match them.
2. Get the heads SUPER clean-valve faces, combustion chambers, rocker area.
3. Mask them off really well, put old spark plugs in the S/P holes, and then paint them Chevy Orange.
4. Reassemble them with positive control PC valve seals.

You should get at least $150 a pair if you advertise them as ready to bolt on and run, and they look nice. There are lots of SBC heads on E-Bay but the ones that pull the money are the ones that are CLEAN and ready to BOLT-ON! I have sold several sets of heads on E-bay and the CLEANED PAINTED ones always bring the most money.

I think most people that are selling heads just want the money for them and don't want to mess with cleaning them or painting them. They leave money on the table when they do that.

In my opinion I'd start with a set of 882's instead of the thin castings you have. 882 castings are very easy to find for cheap or free if you look around. I've sold numerous sets of unrebuilt 882's on ebay, they fetch on average $120 per pair. 461, 462, and 186 castings I've sold brought between $175-$240 unrebuilt. Ebay is a great place to sell what you don't need to generate project money especially for someone like me living in a rural area. The later thin casting heads of the late 70's and early-mid 80's I've always thrown in the scrap pile but I do see alot of them on ebay.