birdman_29

iTrader: (1)

Hey, I bought a 350 motor from a junk yard with pretty much everything with it except the tranny. I was told that I've got vortec heads with the motor. But from other resources like the Harris Performance TBI chips, have said that the vortec didn't come out until 96, this motor came out of a 93 full size pickup. I'm having problems with the motor running consistently, there are other issues that I'm fixing. I'm looking for away to find out the casting numbers off a vortec head verses a regular 350 head. I bought a 350 high performance prom, I said that the motor had vortec heads on it so I'm wondering if I really do or not? This is the casting number off the heads I've got 14102193

lunaticinaZ

Vortec. are 062, or 906

lunaticinaZ

the 193" are swirl port tbi truck heads

birdman_29

iTrader: (1)

Those numbers are ending numbers? If so than the computer prom could be misleading to run higher performance heads

birdman_29

iTrader: (1)

yes the motor did come out of a truck

lunaticinaZ

yes. Those are the last 3 of the casting numbers. As far as the heads you have. they are not vortec"s I have the same set of heads and they came off a late 80's suburban. Some people say you can port the to flow ok, but I don't think they would be as good as vortec's.
And yes it could run a little funny if the prom was burnt for the use of vortec's

vetteoz

iTrader: (13)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Vortec_engine

Vortec is the name GM gave to their truck engines ; was
used on everything from sixes to big blocks

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

When people say Vortec heads, tehy mean the 350 heads from 96-98. Every truck engine after 96 got "Vortec" badges, but it's one of those little differences. Kind of like how we call 98+ Camaro brakes "LS1 Brakes". The brakes have nothing to do with the LS1, but they emerged at the same time and it was a notable difference in that year model. So that's why you can get "LS1 brake" upgrades.

Now a lot of unscrupulous a-holes lie to people and call all truck engines from like 1985 on or whatever, to the present, "vortec" engines since the 350 5.7 heads called "Vortec" are desirable and it's hard to tell the difference between a 1990 350 and a 1998 350 if you dont know what to look for.

There's aways "Vortec" stuff on ebay that aint, and then I keep seeing this term "pre-Vortec" thrown around on there too, as if Vortec stuff were around before they got the label. But 193 heads are junk(below mediocre for horsepower anyway, they're great for a towing rig or 4x4 setup I bet) swirl-port heads, and 906 and 062 heads are better than even the best factory LT1 heads. There's a HUGE difference, but it's not obvious which are which unless you are looking for casting numbers.

So in short, you got hosed because you didnt know what to look for, and this ******* took advantage of your lack of knowledge about what you wanted.


Second engine down is what you have, and where this description is from:
http://www.strokerengine.com/MrGoodwrench.html


The magic with real vortecs is that GM had some bright engineers working on the LT1 program (allegedly some "NASCAR" guys... but I take that with a grain of salt) and they wrapped the LT1 head design phase and had an extra 6 months to work on the truck heads. Understand the trucks were the only Gen I sbc's around anymore at that point, but the Lt1 Gen II stuff and the Gen I stuff are similar as far as port design is concerned. So they came up with some clever trick to promote swirl (which increases efficiency - that's good for fuel economy and horsepower) without building this huge ramp into the middle of the port. So they got good swirl characteristics AND they got good airflow. More than that, they used chambers very similar to the LT1. They're the best combustion chamber you can get on a factory Gen I head.

The swirl port heads got the same basic chamber every other head got in the 80s.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...heads-why.html



And here is a comparison of regular chambers, and the vortec chambers:

birdman_29

iTrader: (1)

Cool, I am glad somebody is still on for this subject. Alright I know I've got 193 heads on my 355 but I've got a computer chip that is reading vortec heads. What would be my options to put vortec heads on with a TBI set up? I know it would be more work to put them on, but I've gone this far.