An old Olds came into a local junkyard and it had a 350 with an Edelbrock Performer 3711 intake and Edelbrock aluminum heads. I'm looking to do some kind of a build hopefully sometime on a small block Colonnade Cutlass and I'm thinking it would be good to snag these heads to put away until then or at least something. They have the Edelbrock logo and the number 6051 cast on them. I found this page with specs on them: https://nichibei.tripod.com/heads.htm. Was wondering how they are as far as real world use and reputation? Are they desirable and relatively hard to find so I should get them while I have the chance? Anything to check for if I am encouraged to get them? I did a search and only found Edelbrock aluminum heads for Olds big blocks as far as new parts, unless I missed something. Any input would be appreciated.

 

If you can buy them for a reasonable price, get them.

 

Grab them, or at least let us know where they are if you're passing
You will need an electric fuel pump on a small block and RPM intake ported to fit.

 

Thanks for your reply. The Edelbrock Performer 3711 intake that was on there shouldn't be used? Is it that it's inadequate in some way or doesn't match up that well with the ports?

 

I would buy the whole engine and possibly the transmission. Who knows, all it may need is a freshening up.

 

Amazing the stuff that gets junked. Probably someones pride and joy at one time. Lost storage, or died or in jail, lost storage and no one knows what to do with old junker... Who knows. Oh yeah I would snap whole car up if you can, or for sure at least engine/trans.

 

I'm curious how they sealed the 3711 intake on those heads? The ports are much smaller on the intake vs the head, with very little material above the port. The SB RPM intake 7111 is a much better match. Grab those heads yesterday, price out a new set and you will see what I mean.

 

Thanks, everyone, for you advice and input.

 

Maybe that's why they junked it. Still cheap goods for pickins

 

CANADIANOLDS says it is possible with slotting bolt holes etc. Just slapping it on may cause vacuum leaks and may be why it is parked. Or maybe they put the 200ish CC runner Edelbrock heads with 77cc chambers with stocked dish or even worse 24cc replacement pistons would be turdtastic. Probably a good idea to CC the chambers to make sure the previous owner didn't mill them a bunch before reusing them. Yeah, if he can get the heads and intake for a few hundred, it is super good deal and definitely jealous.

 

you don’t need to slot the bolt holes unless you want to raise the intake up for better alignment at the top of the port.

all heads have the bolt holes in the same spot

 

So the 3711 Performer intake just bolts on RPM heads with zero issues?

 

You can slot the bolt holes but how are you going to take up the space between the head and the Intake when you do that?

 

How much larger is the BBO RPM port? You can see how much less material there is on the Performer intake to work with. Edelbrock says only the RPM will fit in the head instructions on a SBO. Just curious why they say that?

 

Port size has nothing to do with it. It’s the amount of casting available to match the head.

 

Though I’m no rocket scientist, my engine runs just fine with a Street Dominator (small block size ports) with big block sized ports in the heads. The SD replaced an RPM and I found no reason to go back. Though not optimal, seems to me that as long as the intake port is smaller than the head, there is no catastrophic upset of the flow. I guess it would cause some turbulence and lower the charge velocity but not be a real problem other than being less than optimal. SD, like 3711 has virtually no material that can be removed.

This brings a question to mind that seems somewhat relevant to this thread. Can RPM ports be roto-rootered, culminating in a BBO gasket match and have likelihood of better flow and some performance increase or is that too variable a scenario to speculate?

Please educate me/us.

…

 

I agree. It looks like very little material on the 3711 to hold the gasket in place on a BBO, let alone removing amy amount of material, especially at the top of the port.

 

yep, I ran an RPM on a 403 with big block heads for a long time . No port match. Because that’s a pretty dumb idea to blow out the intake and kill velocity on most applications.

especially in a dual plane where it’s impossible to open up the ports in the intake any further than an inch or two upstream

single plane is a different story