i am planning on doing a turbo build up on a corvette lt1 i recently picked up and i am wondering how much boost i can get away with running the factory heads?

 

theres allot more to it than the heads. Whats the rest of the setup?

 

im doing a forged bottom end. its a 4bolt block all the bolts and studs are going to be arp. as far as comp im going to be running about 8:0 - 8:5.1 i havent decided yet.

 

Well...

If you're already spending the money for the forged crank/rods/pistons, why not "finish it up" by getting a set of heads with a thick deck that'll handle the boost, like AFRs, etc? (Not intending to be critical, just saying that the heads seem to be the last "piece of the puzzle" so to speak...)

I don't have empirical evidence to base this on, but I'd think that you'd be OK to run about 8# or so. Anything more than that, & you'd be well-advised to spend the money to do it right (IMHO)... Good luck.

 

ok thats good to know ill probably sell my stock heads then and go for the trickflow's

 

For another opinion, I don't think you will be bad off with a set of ported stockers.. Just make sure the springs are up to the boost. More money in your pocket.

I believe RSKrause over on http://www.cz28.com/forums/ made over 800rwhp on stock ported heads.

Check out the forced induction forum there, lots of good info about F/I Ltx's..

Like mentioned above, the setup needs to be right.. 8.5-1 and you can run 12lbs of boost or more with alcohol injection.. but if you run the stock LT1 compression you can't go much more than 6lbs before things start coming apart..

Then there is the fuel system, etc.. etc.. Make sure you have an end goal and a means to get you there.. A good forced induction LTx built to last can be upwards of 10,000 if done right.

I was thinking of doing a blown ltx but a baby later that went away and still my "budget" rebuild ended up costing around 3,500-4,000 all in.. that was with the ported heads in hand, and no durability corners cut.