What does it cost to redo a set of Dove heads?

They are already ported but very old. They would need new larger valves, seats, guides etc. This is just a mild street engine I want to put in my 56. I have a dual plane intake I got from Lem.

That depends largely upon the condition of the heads to be done.

rmcomprandy wrote:That depends largely upon the condition of the heads to be done.

I am curious as to what you mean Randy. I am not expert but I did redo heads in school so I have an understanding as to what is involved. Are you referring to something like if the valves pounded the seats out too much or something? If you replaced the valves, guides, seats and springs that is pretty much it for moving parts. It has moroso (?) rocker arm studs with BBC stamped steel rockers on it.

I can understand there is a difference in parts depending on the purpose so that is why I mentioned it is a mild street build. It currently has a mild crane hyd cam in it. I want this car to be a nice cruiser that is not too loud and rumbly. I have other cars for that. I wanted the 460 because I would like to put a hitch on it so I can tow my T-bucket.

The last time I build some D3 heads was along time ago when parts where still hard to find and expensive. I am basically looking for a comparison vs just buying new heads like Lem has on sale.

I paid about $400 and I had all the parts. The valve pockes were back cut, spring seats were machined, set up for PC seals plus new guides. When I ported my heads. I ground off all most all the materal around & including most of the old guide. They also checked the relationship of the guide to rockerarm..

If I added up the $400 plus parts, I could of just saved up a lil more and purchaced some TFS and been ahead of the game.. Oh well..

westsideford wrote:

If I added up the $400 plus parts, I could of just saved up a lil more and purchaced some TFS and been ahead of the game.. Oh well..

Well that is what I am wondering.

OK, this is what I mean!
What are the surfaces like...? Are they straight and need milling...? How much...?
Are there any broken bolts in the threaded holes which need to be extracted...?
Are any of the guides worn enough that they won't accept a guideliner...?
How was the PREVIOUS work done and will any of it interfere with what now needs to be done...?

All those are conditions of THAT particular pair of heads which MUST be considered.

Thanks for the clarification Randy. It is much appreciated. The heads are still on my truck and I still drive it occasionally . There were no bad threads etc when I put them on but that was along time ago so who knows what it would be like now.

I understand where Randy is coming from. My machinist had an abandoned set of FE heads at The Shop. This was around 10 years ago, and he had installed hardened exhaust seats, done a valve job, etc. He just wanted to move 'em out, so he sold them to me for 400 bucks. I bolted them onto the 390 in my pickup truck and drove them for a few years. After the junkyard shortblock became an excessive oil consumer, I built a fresh 390 and took the heads back to have the springs upgraded for the bigger cam I had in mind. After they were freshened up again, and it was determined that new guides were necessary along with other work, I was out another 400 bucks. My poor math skills put this set of 70's 360 heads up into the 800 dollar range, while new Edelbrocks were hovering around the 1200 dollar mark. But, they are still runnin' smoothly in my '66 Galaxie.

[quote="cletus66"] My poor math skills put this set of 70's 360 heads up into the 800 dollar range, while new Edelbrocks were hovering aroung the 1200 dollar mark. But, they are still runnin' smoothly in my '66 Galaxie.

For that kinda money I could get into some PROCOMP heads. JK.

[quote="jasonf"]

cletus66 wrote: My poor math skills put this set of 70's 360 heads up into the 800 dollar range, while new Edelbrocks were hovering aroung the 1200 dollar mark. But, they are still runnin' smoothly in my '66 Galaxie.

For that kinda money I could get into some PROCOMP heads. JK.

Oh you done did it now !!!

what?

To answer the question, I'm in the cylinder head business and even at my cost on valves, valve springs, retainers, guides, locks, studs, guideplates, seals and etc., I think it's a cost prohibitive deal. One reason why, is that you have to spend XX amount of dollars to just restore a 100,000 mile head to like new condition. Then after that, you got to spend time and money porting them, in order to get them to perform as good as most of these new aftermarket heads out of the box.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but in terms of aftermarket parts choices for the BB Ford, (including heads) we have never had so good as we have it right now!

Charlie Evans

c.evans wrote:To answer the question, I'm in the cylinder head business and even at my cost on valves, valve springs, retainers, guides, locks, studs, guideplates, seals and etc., I think it's a cost prohibitive deal. One reason why, is that you have to spend XX amount of dollars to just restore a 100,000 mile head to like new condition. Then after that, you got to spend time and money porting them, in order to get them to perform as good as most of these new aftermarket heads out of the box.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but in terms of aftermarket parts choices for the BB Ford, (including heads) we have never had so good as we have it right now!

Charlie Evans

BULLSEYE !!!!


And now, I have a set of DOVE heads that I bought from Chilly with 1 port ported by Scotty J so I can copy it, and I don't know what to do with them. I guess I'll do just like Blake, and spend some free time to personally challenge myself to see what I can get out of 'em.

Never before published photo of my car next to his........






This is with the D2VE heads he was running at the time just to mess with folks..........



I know the SCJ's I got from your cousin/brother/uncle/ roommate/ never met him before/sibling/father's cousin's former roomate/ buddy/ acquaintance.................LEM....... will be safe and sound while I pursue my own vision quest to see what I can do with obsolete junk. But I'm a lazy drunk, so they might end up on a pickup truck motor so I can do whatever it is drunks do with SCJ heads......

cletus66 wrote:
I know the SCJ's I got from your cousin/brother/uncle/ roommate/ never met him before/sibling/father's cousin's former roomate/ buddy/ acquaintance.................LEM....... will be safe and sound while I pursue my own vision quest to see what I can do with obsolete junk. But I'm a lazy drunk, so they might end up on a pickup truck motor so I can do whatever it is drunks do with SCJ heads......

Well have another one for me!

And now, I have a set of DOVE heads that I bought from Chilly with 1 port ported by Scotty J so I can copy it, and I don't know what to do with them. I guess I'll do just like Blake, and spend some free time to personally challenge myself to see what I can get out of 'em.

Never before published photo of my car next to his........






This is with the D2VE heads he was running at the time just to mess with folks..........


Good times Can't wait to get back to Windy..................

Cletus what were you doing while Blake was making that run eating a hamburer and fries????

I think you were a smidge late off the tree.....
or were you letting him get a head start so you could pass him at the end???


Randy

Shhhhhhh. C'mon Blake and Randy, don't let the new members know that D2VE heads can perform.

I'm buying them all up from the noobs for what they would get for scrap valve.



Dave

the Coug wrote:Cletus what were you doing while Blake was making that run eating a hamburer and fries????

I think you were a smidge late off the tree.....
or were you letting him get a head start so you could pass him at the end???


Randy

I think that was my second test n tune run ever in that car. I had around a 2.5 second reaction time on purpose just in case the car went left/right instead of straight. Turns out the car goes straight. (and slow). But I have the cure for that now.




And I still need to do something with the DOVEs. Automotive A.D.D. strikes again.

cletus66 wrote:

the Coug wrote:Cletus what were you doing while Blake was making that run eating a hamburer and fries????

I think you were a smidge late off the tree.....
or were you letting him get a head start so you could pass him at the end???


Randy

I think that was my second test n tune run ever in that car. I had around a 2.5 second reaction time on purpose just in case the car went left/right instead of straight. Turns out the car goes straight. (and slow). But I have the cure for that now.




And I still need to do something with the DOVEs. Automotive A.D.D. strikes again.

Come on Jeff....Tell um the truth !! You were just taking it easy out of the gate ..As so you didnt shake up that bottle of Miller lite between your legs !!!

By the time you source the necessary parts to rebuild your castings
pay for machine work to add larger valves and refresh the castings
port them to flow properly
etc, etc, etc

You will spend damned near a grand or better and then have to address the issue of port work.

We do a large valve cylinder head package stage 2 ported to 320 / 330 intake and 190 exhaust. New s/s valves, generic spring package, rocker studs, guideplates, p/c viton seals on topped guides with bronze guide liners etc etc.

Doves are $1,625.00 exchange with a reduced return shipping cost.
D3VE's are $1,595.00 outright

Small valve budget versions are around a grand...

These castings will easily support more power than most of the clients who buy them will ever want to make.
Max effort iron castings are supporting 730 HP + for the class racing crowd.

Though not scj heads which are on sale from various vendors, myself included, iron heads have a mystique and a place for many clients who wish to crack some chevy boys heads together with the lowley iron heads...

I have more work than i can do most times in spite of the frequent "it isn't worth the effort or cost to redo iron heads" dribble i have been seeing more frequently of late.

Those lowley iron heads make more power than the flow numbers say they oughta...

The Mad Porter wrote:By the time you source the necessary parts to rebuild your castings
pay for machine work to add larger valves and refresh the castings
port them to flow properly
etc, etc, etc

You will spend damned near a grand or better and then have to address the issue of port work.

We do a large valve cylinder head package stage 2 ported to 320 / 330 intake and 190 exhaust. New s/s valves, generic spring package, rocker studs, guideplates, p/c viton seals on topped guides with bronze guide liners etc etc.

Doves are $1,625.00 exchange with a reduced return shipping cost.
D3VE's are $1,595.00 outright

Small valve budget versions are around a grand...

These castings will easily support more power than most of the clients who buy them will ever want to make.
Max effort iron castings are supporting 730 HP + for the class racing crowd.

Though not scj heads which are on sale from various vendors, myself included, iron heads have a mystique and a place for many clients who wish to crack some chevy boys heads together with the lowley iron heads...

I have more work than i can do most times in spite of the frequent "it isn't worth the effort or cost to redo iron heads" dribble i have been seeing more frequently of late.

Those lowley iron heads make more power than the flow numbers say they oughta...

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

jasonf wrote:They are already ported but very old. They would need new larger valves, seats, guides etc. This is just a mild street engine I want to put in my 56. I have a dual plane intake I got from Lem.

I think that some of the responses overlooked that these are already ported, and going on a mild build. If you put half the cost of new aluminum heads into freshening these, you will likely be happy with the results. With correct parts selection, towing will be no problem.

It is easy to get caught up in the "for a little bit more trap" these days. Most of us start off with a stock 429 or 460, and have to decide where our build takes us. Some of us stop with a stroker, some with aluminum heads, some when they can't afford that 9 second safety equipment, and several just keep going. Each of us need to determine where we wish to go or stop with our builds, and if it is worth it only matters to us.

I see nothing wrong with investing a few dollars in a 429 or 460 with iron heads for the time being, and building something bigger for later. Mine will make a nice backup for later.