If you’re looking for high-performance Chevy parts, Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center [1] should be on your list – they’re legendary in the small block Chevy market, and they’ve enthusiastically embraced the LS platform and all it has to offer as well. A perfect example of this is their recently released LSX-LS7 CNC Ported Head.
[2]SDPC starts with GMPP’s LSX casting, which features increased deck thickness and a six-bolt design for increased strength in boosted applications, and applies their own CNC program to take flow from “amazing” to “unbelievable” without killing velocity. It’s a head that is at home in small-bore/small-displacement applications – unlike some LS cylinder heads boasting big CFM numbers, it’s not “too much head” for an engine that isn’t at the outer limits of cubic inches.
[3]A close look into the water jacket shows the increased deck thickness of the LSX-LS7 head casting.
These heads require a minimum bore of 4.100 inches, and the assembled version comes with 2.200-inch titanium intake valves and 1.610-inch sodium-filled exhaust valves. The double-spring setup will support a max lift of .650 inches, and at .600 lift, SDPC says these heads will flow 375 CFM on the intake side and 229 on the exhaust, compared to 335/215 for the as-cast head at the same lift.
[4]The LSX-LS7 casting is based on the production CNC ports, and SDPC takes it a step further with a "clean-up" CNC on the bare casting.
The end result is a head that flows better than anything in the GMPP catalog short of an LSX-DR, that accepts standard valvetrain components and manifolds. Better still, it’s built and sold by one of the best names in the business.