Stock sbc head spring lift

[84silverado]

I know nothing about my heads so im going to assume my springs are stock even though my intake and exhaust ports have been milled over (i know this cause i laid them side by side with stock 350 heads i have on the shelf here at home).. But my real question is what is the max lift cam i could run with the stock springs on the heads?

[J.C.]

.450 if i had to guess? Not sure.

[84silverado]

hmmm sounds like mine will float some them 

[J.C.]

That was a shot in the dark lol

[TopFist]

.510

[84silverado]

That was a shot in the dark lol

Hey you had an idea, i didnt have any at all

[84silverado]

.510

Then my new cam with a .504 lift will work just fine then

[xjs3667]

depending on the head .480 to .510  

whats the casting number on em?

[84silverado]

I have no clue i can gettem tomorrow though im at work on break right now

[xjs3667]

I think your .504 will work just fine, but throw them cast numbers on here when ya can, just to double check, last thing ya want to do is get all the goodies on and boom 

[84silverado]

Exactly!! If this one goes boom ill have to drop a 283 in

[4x4xdodgeman]

jc is closer,  those other people don't know crap!! its not that your stock spring will work but thay will coil bine. that means that the spring will not let vavle move as much as it needs to for the cam lift. so that means broken push rods, broken lifters, wear the lube on the cam.  so spend some money buy springs. ($50.00-$100.00 )

[xjs3667]

jc is closer,  those other people don't know crap!! its not that your stock spring will work but thay will coil bine. that means that the spring will not let vavle move as much as it needs to for the cam lift. so that means broken push rods, broken lifters, wear the lube on the cam.  so spend some money buy springs. ($50.00-$100.00 )

really? don't know crap huh??? I've ran a .510 lift on stock springs no problem before. there is a reason why I asked him for the cast numbers, so I can look up the stock specs and go from there.  Yes it would be best to get new springs but not every has 50-100 bucks to shell out, and why do that if you don't have to.     Im lovin Got Mud this week.... so many insults going around.... I mean wtf??

[betterbeaters]

only one set of stock gm will hold .500 lift that I've seen about .460 on everything else tryed lots of stock heads broke lots of motors (3-4 per season)  most stock heads would hold .480 lift for about a month before we would have problems.. mabye some people have better luck but 8 years of blowing stuff up for fun and testing i just man up and buy the stuff to match my parts

[damn_ford]

ran a .488 cam on stock springs for 3 seasons oval track racing. rev limiter set at 6500 
ran a .534 for two nights and was floating the valves at 6000rpm.

i would say stock springs keep it under .500 and run a rev limiter youlle be fine

[84silverado]

I think your .504 will work just fine, but throw them cast numbers on here when ya can, just to double check, last thing ya want to do is get all the goodies on and boom 

Hey man my head numbers are 333882

[TopFist]

jc is closer,  those other people don't know crap!! its not that your stock spring will work but thay will coil bine. that means that the spring will not let vavle move as much as it needs to for the cam lift. so that means broken push rods, broken lifters, wear the lube on the cam.  so spend some money buy springs. ($50.00-$100.00 )

Ran 488-510 in my small block for years with no issues. Long slot rockers, stock springs. This is the Internet so I wont take offence but to say "those other people don't know crap!!" makes you sound like a dick....

[Boggen Joe]

Rule of thumb is 480 lift with stock heads with press in studs,( but ran 510 no problems )
The reason is bogger lift cam will pull the rocker studs out of the heads
Best bet is to go with screw in studs
Getting into coil bind is a hole different game
That happens with bigger cams  like 550 lift and bigger
Always going over a 488 lift you should change out springs for size cam
Every one had good points so no need to knock lol

[xjs3667]

from  what I can find, the stock springs can hold up to a .550 lift max, I would never put that on stock springs, so I would say you'll be just fine, after you get the cam in, rotate the engine by hand and watch the spring rate, just to be safe    

[Jjay78]

there's a couple things i've cought off this thread... first, not all sbc heads had the same size runners, if your compareing 461's to 882's  then the 882s are gonna make the 461 look like they've been ported like crazy... second the lift and life span for each set of stock springs varies immensely from head to head depending on what the heads were intended to go in.. aka, stock chevelle heads vs stock truck heads... best thing to do is take the springs off and have em checked for straightness, and fatigue and for coil binding point... if your gonna be reving on it i would highly reccomend droping weight out of your valve train, trying to save money in your valve train can end up costing you more in the long run.... new valve springs... retainers...and some lighter stronger valves might set ya back a lil now, but then you'll know exactly what you got going on in your motor, and everything will be in unquestionably good condition......