do vortec heads use the 87 and later manifolds or 86 and prior manifolds? also, i have a set of roller rockers made for 87 and later with centerbolt covers, will those fit on a set of vortec heads?

 

totally not the right place to post this but i can answer your question... The vortec heads will need a special manifold because of the increased hight of the intake ports. Youll also need self aligning rockers given that the vortecs dont use guid plates to alighn the rocker arms.

 

Not trying to undermine dimented24x7 (after all, he IS dimented )....

Since you put "manifold" and didn't specify if you're talking about an intake manifold or an exhaust manifold...

An exhaust manifold from any Gen I or II SBC will work. There's nothing special about the Vortec exhaust ports (although they're pretty small) or bolt holes.

dimented24x7 is right about the intake manifold. Not only is it because of the higher intake runners, but also because of the different bolt pattern and angle of the bolt holes.

The roller rockers should fit, but there's only one true way to find out.