I'm considering buying a 79 with a 454 BBC bored .30 over. It still has cast iron heads. I'm trying to see what aluminum heads are available. Jegs and Summit have only turned up Edlebrock heads, but I was hoping to find something of the same level of performance as AFR heads. The car will be used for both street and strip. Thanks for any help.

 

I've read good things about Patriot heads.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/b.../?autoview=SKU

 

I also hear good things about those heads. The good brands are AFR, Patriot, Dart and Vortec style. Problem is would they work on an engine as big as a 454 thats been bored .30 over? I figure they would, but do you think I'd to have a shop do so flow bench test to get the flow in its sweet spot?

 

Umm. 454 is on the small side as far as engines go these days. Considering you can get a 496. 502, 505,540,555,572,and 632. Just to name a few.

 

There's all sorts of heads that will work well and are good quality for a BBC 454. There's a few that don't work well for a built BBC, and just boring isn't going to change what works. If it's had a cam change, and runs aftermarket intake/carb, then you ned to consider compression ratio and cam to determine which heads and combustion chanber will give you the compression ratio you need to run pump gas well.
I'd personally steer clear of the cheap import aluminum heads that are on Fleabay, as there are much better heads available. All the one's listed above are good, and will work, but you need to make sure you get the right port and chamber. I personally wouldn't run square port/open chamber heads on a mainly street driven BBC, unless it was really built. The oval port/closed chamber heads will work much better, if your static compression is not too high. If you're running 10:1 or higher pistons, then go with oval port open chamber heads, as closed chambers will up CR even higher and wont work on pump gas.
These Brodix heads with 270cc runners and 119cc chambers would be a good choice. Bit larger chamber, but not the true open chamber, and not those monstrous 320cc runners that might actually be too much for most big blocks.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BRO-2061000/

Don't waste money on flow testing heads that are already engineered, unless you're building your car for strictly racing on a professional level.