Breif build up: 350, 62-1 (tentative), LT1 intake.. looking for 450-500 at the wheels.

I had originally thought that the Sportsman II's would be a good bolt on head. I have since read that they are not much better than ported L98 heads. AFR's are out of the question. What would be a good, but not over priced set of heads?

 

How about Dart Iron Eagles? Staying away from Sportsman II's is a good idea ...everyone I know with those heads are disappointed.

I know you said AFR's are out of the question but JDs Performance has a pretty good deal on 'em... If you think about it they're only a few hundred more than a set of Iron Eagles.

http://www.jdsperformance.com/index....item&inmake=gm

 

vortec heads, dart iron eagles, pro topline heads, converted LT1 heads

 

I would look at a cast iron pro topline head from www.proshaver.com, he has some really good deals for the price.

 

I was hoping to spend around $800 for a set of heads. I could put the extra $200 in for the darts, but the AFR's I am not going to spring for. I also don't want to go Al.

The proshaver site is blocked at work I'll have a look when I get home.

I thought about Vortec, but won't I have to fuff around with the intake if I use those? Oh wait, doesn't the holley? acell? intake work with the vortec heads?

I am a little rusty with parts at the moment, I haven't been keeping up with the F-body crowd in awhile.

 

450 to 500hp at the rear wheels from a small block
that runs on street pump gas is a tall order.

thats about 560 to 600 flywheel hp.

Going to need a supercharger.

Sportsman II will need full professional porting preperation to reach this level of performance.

 

Goin' turbo

 

ProTopline aluminum.

Try www.summitracing.com if ProShaver is blocked.

 

he doesnt want Aluminum heads.

if your going with a turbo and want to use vortec heads (im assuming you will want to use a single plane for better fuel dist. w/ the forced induction) Edelbrock makes a super victor manifold for vortec heads. Its designed as a high rpm manifold but w/ boost it should pull nicely even down low.

I plan on using a similar setup to what i mention above on my monte carlo.

 

Not sure if this will help you at all but i've got some parts that might help you save some money. I have a set of 2.02/1.60 manley valves from a set of AFR heads, as well as the pushrods (+.100), the springs (120lbs on the seat 1.460 diameter), 10 degree keepers and retainers...all from my AFR's. You could buy a set of heads bare and use these parts and save yourself a lot. I've also got a custom ground hyd flat tappet cam from kenny dutweiller that i used on my turbo motor. Email me at formula355tpi@hotmail.com if you have any questions or might be interested. I'd be willing to come off of these parts very reasonably since i have no use for them anymore. All parts only have about 500 miles on them. Thanks

 

450-500hp? What heads do you have sitting around? Most stock heads will do that with boost. I'd stay away from stock L98 heads and the late 80's/early 90's swirl port heads, but otherwise...

Sportman's… don't waste your money. The only way that I would run them on something is if someone gave them to me (I'm a cheap bastard and if they were free I'd make them work somehow). Iron eagles are slightly better.

I don't know why anyone would waste their time converting LT1 heads, since everything that you'd gain would be the same as what you'd gain with vortec heads. The only way that this makes any sense is if you're actually going to convert to reverse cooling, so you'd be converting your block/cooling system to them.

If I was paying for something my first choice would be the vortecs (fighting the trends I'd seriously consider a set of ¾-1ton heads even though everyone thinks they're junk if they came my way at a good price, I ported a set for a friend's dually last summer that laid down over 400hp at the wheels through that big, lossy chassis and drivetrain with a stock sort block, cam swap, ported heads and bolt ons). If you don't want to monkey with a vortec intake then my second choice would be the pro toplines. Past that you're looking at aluminum heads (I like the GM fastburns and the AFR's are worth every penny).

I'd probably spend money on coatings on the iron heads rather then pay the premium for aluminum heads.

 

TPIS will convert the intake mounting bolt holes on vortec heads to older style mounting for $75.00 each, check the web site. They do recommend you buy the vortec's from them to avoid alot of shipping charges back & forth. I have sportsman II's, if I had a chance to do it over, I would go vortec, cost & perfromance out of the box can't be beat.

 

TPI manifolds are some of the manifolds that typically have problems sealing with converted vortec heads, and for the cost of a vortec style base for a tpi you could convert to a much less ****ty intake manifold design