Which is better 2-V Cleveland or 4-V??

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Probably lots of you guys and gals have seen this on TV but I do not get that channel on my cheap hook up, lol. Horsepower TV. I was watching some safari hunts in Africa and switched over to engines. 

They took a Cleveland and built it doing pretty much what a lot on here are doing. Went to roller cam, rockers and not lots of compression and used the 2-V heads. They also built a set of 4-V heads and took it all to the dyno. 

They also took a 351 W that they put Cleveland style heads on and made a 408. The W engine put out more HP but it also have more cubes and more compression. 

I like the fact that they ran same engine with both 2-V and 4-V heads. Go view I will not tell the results hear it straight from them. Hope the link works.


 
My money says those two are LS boys. With the 357C they used a high RPM intake with a low RPM cam.  :chin: I tested a "Track Boss" intake in the late 80s on a Boss 302. It lost ET and MPH, put the stock intake back on and the power came back. Their definitive assertion that 351C 2V was the head for the street I found amusing. I also laughed out loud when they said the 4V was only good for a race engine turning 7500-8500 RPM. It may have something to do with Edelbrock only making a 351C 2V head. 

I wish I'd known that 4V heads were no good for the street before I built a 10:1 408C with 4V heads and a flat tappet cam. Maybe that is why it only made 529HP and 496 TQ. I didn't know I had to turn 7500 RPM either. (My tongue is buried deeply in my cheek.)

Back in the day we would have referred to these two as Mullets. Chuck

 
Yes, there is a myriad of different supporting hardware items required in the comparison between 2V heads and 4v heads. All they changed was the heads and did not change the intake manifold, headers or camshaft to compliment the 4V heads. Quite a poor comparison but the episode was all to basically tout the Edelbrock heads on the W.

 
Just another smoke and mirrors game. Not only do the 4V heads work well at higher RPMs, they respond well with the increased air volume requirements of stroker engines. The Edelbrock heads and intake would not have looked so impressive if they would have built a 408 Cleveland with stock iron heads with a Blue Thunder intake to compare them to.

 
Been there done this. My 71 Grande I built the original 351 2v with Comp cam Edelbrock performer Mallory unilite 750 Holley C6 2800 stall 4.11 gear. 

I ran  my brother in his bone stock 85 GT and lost by 2 car lengths. Well the 2v motor broke a stock valve shortly after. The next motor was a 70 4v pretty much built the same. Weiand Xcelertor intake and headers the only thing different. I ran my brother again and smoked him by 4 car lengths.

In my opinion if your going to spend the money to build a Cleveland for performance the 4v head is the only choice.

 
They picked pretty much the worst cam possible for the 351C, the 284 grind from Comp with a square pattern 224* duration and 110 LSA. Maybe they should have talked to someone that actually knew how to pick a Cleveland cam before doing this shootout, but then they might have hit well over 400hp and made the Edelbrock kit look worthless. Lets add that a 2V and 4V head engine have very different cam requirements.

Let's combine that with the intake "we chose a single plane Track Heat intake" derp. Then "2v heads are the one for the street" derp.

Basically, the put together a complete crap combo to hobble the 351C test to make the Edelbrock Clevor combo look good.

Heck, in this video they ran a stock B351 cam and hit 397hp.




Things I learned from the video - nothing.

Things that were reinforced - most automotive media is complete crap and this one is no exception. These "TV" shows are just as happy to do feature length ads for performance parts companies as the magazines were.

Summary - More cubes plus a bigger cam equals more horsepower. (duh)

 
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