what are the best heads,......
 

what are the best heads, cam, intake manafold, and carb for my car. how much horse power do you think i would gain if i put this stuff on. also could someone tell me roughly how much each item would cost. thanks alot.

L31 Vortec heads- $300 a pair (I dont know for sure, I'm Canadian!)

Weiand Stealth intake manifold- $100

The cam selection is huge. What kind of powerband are u looking for?? Street car? Strip?

I think the cheapest you can find vortec heads new is 238.75 each (SDPC). If you are lucky you could probably find some on ebay for around $300.

If you go with vortec heads you will need a vortec specific manifold which cost a little more than standard manifolds.

iroc22, is right, the cam you choose depends on your entire setup and how you want the car to behave.

I don't really know anything about carbs, I am a TBI guy.

carb wise you will only need something with 600cfm, Maybe 650 depending on cam. I went with the Edelbrock performer carb. Its the easiest to jet and much more reliable/maintainable in my opinion.

if you get a high lift cam you need to get vortec heads with screwed in studs so they dont pop out

were can i get these vortec heads. are there different types of vortec heads or is it just one type. i would like it to be a pretty fast street car not really a strip car. i guess the power band i'm looking for is idle to around 5500 ( does that sound good). also could someone tell me an estamate of the hp i'll be making.

The best way to compare heads is to divide cfm by cc, and the higher the figue is the better powerband/torque curve. Quench is also a thing to look out for.

Vortechs are nice, but dont come with EGR, so unless you fix that some how, you wont be able to pass emmisions.

If you swap the cam, the comverter should be the next to go. Or else your newfound power wont translate into increased acceleration.

Putting a better head on is only as good as the other components connected to it. If your manifolds (exhaust and intake) and you cam are up to the tast, they should be worht almost 50 horses, if chosen properly.

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Hope that helps!

How do you get the CFM or the CC? I have some nice heads that I'm trying to collect all the info I can On so that I can sell them. I use the letter I too much.....

I agree witht eh Vortec heads. Once you get them though you should have them ported and milled before you putthem on. This will raise your compression ratio and make them breath more. I don't know what you are looking for for a redline but 6000 is as high as you can go with stock internals. I would shoot for a 480 lift and make it too 6000, an edelbrock performer intake would help that alot. I don't know if you have a stock carb..keep it on don't buy a new one.

True but you can get the drilled and tapped versions of the heads from SDPC that can work with pre 86 bolt patterns.

If you;re worried about EGR and passing emissions (though I think you could pass emissions just fine without EGR) then the next best head for the 305 is the World Products S/R 305 Torquer heads.

I think the best cam from idle to 5500 would be somewhere in the range of 210*-220* @ .050" for a carb car. That would really wake up the engine.

See sig.

I can't see Vortecs for a 305. By the time you modify them to work on the 305, including the intake manifold and self-aligning rocker arms, you could have gotten some real 305 heads.

Cost breakdown:
Heads: ~650 from Competition Products with upgraded springs & retainers. Pocket porting (bowl work) helps them a lot. CHP Mag said $120 for a shop to do it.
Cam: $135 from Summit.
Intake: I found a ZZ3/4 take-off for $75. An Action + or Performer will work about the same, ~$135 from Summit or Jegs.

Power gain: Severely limited if you don't improve the exhaust as well (although factory L69 is better than LG4 stuff).

The technology is there. They will give the best power increases on a 305. It's been proven before and once you sort out all the problems for them to work with the 305 (which is really next to nothing) they are the best head for the 305.

i plan on putting headers on when i do all this work. so i can get the full benifit of all my work and money. also where are you guys buying this stuff from. does anyone have websites other than jegs and summit. thanks alot for all the imput.

I have yet to see a side-by-side, dyno- or ET-backed comparison between WP S/R 305's & Vortecs on a 305, so how exactly has this been "proven"?

Vortecs drilled for earlier style intake is a big mistake.

As for sources: www.competitionproducts.com is a good place for engine parts. Summit and Jegs better for attaching hardware like headers. Vortecs, www.sdpc2000.com.

Car Craft showed that a set of shaved Vortec's was worth 20hp over the World 305's on their 325hp 305 build.

Well they used different intake manifolds, so I don't know how close that comparison is. But their is no question that vortecs will out flow worlds.

On that build up though the peak torque on the vortec heads occurred at 4800 rpm, while the worlds occurred at 3900. So I think their is a drivability issue their.

The buildup can be found
here

I agree with the 57 kid, Vortec heads on a 305 arent worth the problems. The W/P Heads for the 305 are more than enough for any cam you are likely to use in a 305 and can make 300 + hp with 9.5:1 cp. ALSO, with a mild cam{less than 216 dur. @ .050 you don't really need a "stall converter "}.

edelbrock e-tec 170 iroc 22 knows that conversation and thats what im gonna run with a performer rpm vortech intake :D

They both used Edelbrock Victors so I think the HP difference would be worth 5 at most for the difference in manifolds.

I can't convince everyone that Vortec heads are the best (or in Wasp's case, Etec-170's) but that's just how some people are.

Five7kid as you can see I'm not biased for Vortecs check sig

I was originally going to go with the vortecs, but found a good price on some used professionally ported would s/r torquer 305s.
The vortecs are a great head for the 305 if you can deal with their short comings, larger chambers, springs that can only take 0.45" lift, and you have to rig up your own EGR. But the worlds are a much easier bolt on.


By the way iroc22 how does your setup run on the stock chip? Because I am planning a similar one and am wondering if I should go with a custom or run off the stocker until I can burn my own.

All nonsense!! Everyone knows the TFS 23* heads are the best!! :p

It's been running for about 3-4 weeks now with the stock chip. In about a week I'm goin to a performer manifold and AFPR.
I'll get a custom chip when I get around to it.

Trick Flow 23* are a great head for the $$, cept he would have to mill 10cc to make the static compression ok for the stock pistons. Trick Flow claims a 50hp gain over "441" heads so they are pretty good power makers. The Trick Flow G2 head makes 50hp more than the L98 head according to TF too. I havent had much experience with these heads before, but I dont doubt they can do this. The only problem is milling the heads to work on the 305.

Notice he conveniently left out flow-bench numbers because he knows damn well that Vortecs outflow those World heads. They are about equal on the exhaust (maybe the 305's have 2-4 cfm more flow), where as the Vortecs will outflow them on the intake side by 20-30 cfm.

As always, the above is IMHO, and your mileage may vary.

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