I was just wondering if anybody has tried out Fast Burn or E-Tec heads on our cars I know the stock Vortecs work very well but i havent heard of anybody using these just wondering

 

The fastburn heads are a little nicer than the iron vortecs, but they both has their goods and bads.

Out of box

Vortec Iron -

Goods:
flow better than fastburn on the intake side and have slightly better lower lift flow numbers. VERY affordable. Iron heads also hold compression better

Bads:
small valves, iron heads weigh a ton, straight plug design is pain in the **** when you have long-tube headers


Fast-burn -

Goods:
flow better than vortecs on the exhaust side, bigger valves, valve springs can handle bigger cam, aluminum heads weigh less, angle plug design (more header friendly), combustion chamber is 2cc's smaller (more compression with same pistons) and they look really nice (GM performance logo engraved in heads) better studs

Bads:
aluminum warps easier than iron, way more expensive than the vortecs, weak intake flow numbers


Both are great heads, but they both are in need of porting (bad cast flash) and they need to be opened up a bit to be competitve with the other street heads...ie Trickflow, AFR, World, etc....


I wouldn't even touch the Edlebrocks. Everyone I know who used them were unhappy with the performance and ended up switching to a different head. I went with Vortecs because I got a killer deal on them and the shop fully race prepped the heads. Otherwise, I would have probably went with an aluminum Dart or Brodix head. If you are gonna spend the money for some Aluminum heads, then SPEND the money and do it right! If not, the Vortecs are a great head and with a little work, they are awesome!

Mike (1bad91Z)

 

If you are looking at fast burns then you could probably afford AFR 190's. The fast burns flow pretty weak for a $1100 set of heads.

 

I would chose the E-Tec 170s or the 200s over the Fastburns!

 

There's a guy on one of my email lists that runs the E-Tec heads out of the box.

He's happy with 'em, but that's the only real person review I've ever heard about.

As for the Vortec // Fast Burn......the price kills the value of the Fast Burn heads. I've been thinking of trying the Pro Topline Vortec "replacement" castings.

@$400 or so for the pair, bare. They are based on the GM Vortec casting, but have been improved to flow a little better, and they come with screw in studs out of the box, and accept stronger, more common size valvesprings out of the box.

So about $650 gets a killer flowing set of heads, that pretty much has improved on any of the negatives of the stock Vortecs.

I hope to try 'em on either the IROC's current 350 or a roller 383 I'm trying to start this season.

I won't buy AFR's........if only for the fact, it seems they have had some customer service issues, and there response seems to have been less than stellar. IF you're going to pay top $$$ for a company's product, they better stand behind it......to me they've become a little lazy in this area......but of course this is just my opinion going from others' experiences and friends of mine who've dealt with 'em.


I still say about the NASTIEST combo for a street-driven TPI based combo would be a 400 with a good cam, the Topline Vortec heads, the TPI Vortec intake.......

 

I have the Fastburns on my 406. So far I am happy with them. On a gtech competition it has run 12.286 at 115.95. I will be going to the track this summer to get some hard numbers.

 

My suggestion would be this. Define your goals.

Really think about how fast you wanna go, what type of fuel you wanna run, and your budget.

If your goal is only low 12's high elevens, run on pump gas, maybe spikin the tank a bit.

you don't need anything more than a set of vortecs, with some bowl work, and a vavle job. around 10.5 compression and a the right cam. and match the rest of the car to the engine. and you'll get there.

 

you have to match things properly. just make sure you match your parts well and you can make any of them work well.

 

Hey pony killer, what kind of car do you have? I live in woodbury (next to deptford) I've only gone to atco raceway once....maybe I'll see you sometime during the summer (I'm assuming you run there).

Also, any chance you can send me an e-mail with some info on a motor buildup? I've got a bare 2 bolt 355 and a pair of pro-topline vortec heads and I'm trying to make 350RWHP on as tight a budget I can go and I'm sure not what to do, I'd like to get 10.5:1 compression or higher but im just not sure what to do. Any help on how I can reach this would be great.

Thanks,

Dave

 

My car's fairly unique. the back faded red, the left front fender and hood ar black, which also has a 4" riveted on cowl. the rf fender's kinda grey, the nose is a different grey. the lf corner of the nose is kinda camoflauged blue green grey and white..

got some old gimme centerline rims for the cheaters to go on. yeah.. it's "unique"

however it's a low 12 sec street car so that makes up for it some
i generally don't wander down deptford way with it often.

 

Trust not the Pony Killer. I heard a story of this one sucker who did that wound up spending a countless amount of time, energy, and money fixing the broken parts this brainchild motor of theirs created! Pretty destructive for what they claimed was a 'mild motor'!

 

your right rancid... you do know someond like that. LOL...

yeah your, mild small block has found every stock part behind it and broken it twice..... sooner or later you'll run out of stock parts to put behind it


BTW i was racing the car this weekend, and tonight.

on easter sunday, i clipped off a 12.06 @112.5, and decided to monkey with the timing instead of just hanging on for a sure fire 11 sec pass... so I monkied, and of course slowed down to a 12.21 @ 112.0

Tuesday we were dodging rain showers making runs, you'd get to the top end of the strip and knock the water ouf of the air on the windshield... in that pea soup i managed a 12.18 @ 112.41

Both those days wer with the cutout open(underneath the floor) and with the cheaters on.

The last run on tuesday the cheaters bit the farm, wrinkled the walls, even with 15lbs of air in them, and spun em on the rim. after pullen them off the car, found a big flatspot in the one tire. So they are done. i was undetered


Tonight i go down in pure street form, loaded with 3/4 tank of 93 ocatne pump gas, through the exhaust, and on a pair of 235-60-15 yokohoma avs'... plain forgot to let any air out.. although i sincerly doubt it would have mattered one bit.
only got two runs in... but the second on was pretty nice...

in true street form she knocked off a 12.42 @ 111.61.
if i desired to practice with those tires, i'm sure i could eek out a bunch more.. but i doubt i will. one mid 12 sec time slip like that is enough for me.