"69" 722 trans am heads

[mokicruz]

I have a set of "722" Ramair IV heads with round exhaust ports I was going to run on a HP street engine but a few people into classics said don't run them buy aluminum I would be wasting original parts. I had bronze manganese guides installed. They are unported but milled .030 so they are Super Stock legal. I have crane rockers and crower springs on them now. If I went to aluminum heads I would use Differnt rockers and springs on ported heads. They are the first A-body trans Am heads from What the Machinist told me. I Know they Flow better than any other Pontiac Head I've ever ran so I can't go wrong using them for HP. I just don't know about using up irreplacable parts. The Block is a 400 and was bored but I was going to bore it .060 and regrind a 455 crank for it and have the block clearanced. What would be Best??????

[MrPbody]

The 722 is known as the "Ram AIr IV" head for '69. 72 CC chamber, 2.11" intake valve, 1.77" exhaust valve.
These heads were available on both Firebird and GTO. They were not specific to TransAm. In fact, only a handful of T/As were built wiht the RA IV engine. The majority were in GTOs and "The Judge". A significant number were sold over the counter for boy-racers, as well.
The arguement to go the the Edelbrock or Kaufmann head is a valid one. The collector value of 722s is higher than the purchase price of a pair of Edelbrocks, which easily out-flow the iron heads. You must take into account, a BUYER is required for max value to be gained.
Based on your desire to build a hot Injun, I recommend you go out right now and find Jim Hand's "How to Build Max-performance Pontiac V8s". You can find it at most book stores, or online.
I also suggest you go to a couple other sites for Pontiac-specific expertise. These guys know what's up, and will NEVER tell you to "just put a Chevy in it". Those sites are:

performanceyears.com
boyleworks.com (click on musclecars)
classicalpontiac.com

I highly recommend using the Eagle "stroker" crank (4.25 stroke, 3" main). It comes with BBC rod journals and 400 main journals. No need for any wierd welding or spacers for the thrust main. Actually, Eagle sells a very nice "kit" that includes SRP forged pistons, H-beam rods (6.8"), JE "file fit" rings, and Clevite bearings. It turns a 400 into a 461. Disregard any negative things you may have heard about Eagle, they are among the very best. We have several in excess of 600 horsepower, without any crank-related problems. That's Pontiacs, mind you, not necessarily other engine families.
If you would like to talk about this in detail, feel free to e-mail me.

Jim
[email protected]