540 WITH MERLIN HEADS AND HOWARDS CRANK AND RODS? ANY GOOD??
 

I HAVE RECENTLY BOUGHT A 540 WITH A DART BLOCK, HOWARDS PRO SERIES CRANK, HOWARDE ULTIMATE DUTY RODS, DIAMOND 14.8 PISTONS, MERLIN III AS-CAST HEADS WITH MERLIN X INTAKE AS-CAST, .850-.820 CAMSHAFT, 1150 APD ALKY. CARB.

ANY IDEAS IF THESE HEADS ARE ANY GOOD IN AS-CAST FORM, THEIR WEBSITE SAYS OVER 800HP AS-CAST.

I HAVE NEVER RAN THE HOWARDS STUFF, IT ALL LOOKS GREAT, BUT LOOKS CAN BE DECIVEING AT TIMES......... ANY INPUT ON THIS WOULD BE A HELP.

COMBO IS GOING IN A FRONT SUSPENDED DRAGSTER WIITH A 6000 STALL CONVERTER. EST. 1/8 E.T. I AM HOPING FOR 4.80'S-4.90'S

Howards has some good stuff in their pro series, i don't know anything about the Merlin heads but if it will make 800 HP, 4.80's/490's is definately in the ball park.

JMO

Zip.

THANKS, THATS ABOUT WHAT I THOUGHT. I HAVE DONE A LITTLE RESEARCH AND HAMMERTIME RECOMENDED THAT I PUT THE 454-R INTAKE ON.

Re: 540 WITH MERLIN HEADS AND HOWARDS CRANK AND RODS? ANY GO
 

You'll have no problem getting to that et.

x2 with Zip on the howards products! We ran them heads back in the day on a 540 they worked well with the combo we had, Your combo has little higher compression, a slightly different camshaft and we were running a team G intake. Motor was in a 3400lb chevelle, its best pass was a 10.10

I had a set of World Products heads on my 548. They did make 868hp, but they were ported to the max by Race Flow Development (Flowed 400cfm) I had a Profiler intake on the motor.

I think that I will go on and put the 454-R on the motor with a carb, then put the injection on later.

Good Intake!

I have ran the 454-R many times on several different engines and rthey all ran well, but the Merlin X is a new design and the same brand as the heads so I thought that the Merlin would better than the 454-R.

Stay with a matched set . . Heads and intake . . best place to start, anyway . .