Been reading alot about people putting the newer vortec heads on to the older engines. A buddy of mine and I were looking into this possibility but started wondering about alignment issues. We placeda head gasket for a set of vortec heads on an older sbc block, and they don't line up with the different holes. So how does one make this swap and deal with the effect of flow?

 

vortec heads should fit up 100% to the engine block; if you're getting alignment issues, there's a problem somewhere. the only place vortec's differ on fit is at the intake side and require a vortec-specific manifold. everything else should fit without issue.

 

I actually just took an old used '261 swirl port TBI head gasket to the bottom of my new 906 Vortecs to look at how they matched up, its an exact fit, and as 1ADan has said, if your having alignment issues then either you dont have the right gasket, or the heads arent Vortecs or something. I'll get a pic if I can of how the gaskets match up.