Hey I am new here, I have a 1992 Camaro rs with the 305 and tbi, I heard that vortec heads make a huge difference, has anyone done the swap? Is it just plug and play, or are there other things I need to change, like the intake manifold, or chip. The car is pretty much stock right now except for an MSD 6A box. Need more power....

Pete

 

You will need a new intake manifold and definitely a custom chip. I would suggest doing a cam as well to take advantage of the added flow of the vortech heads and a 670 tbi to go along with it as well.

 

I'll try to help you out. I also have the same Camaro. I consider us to be lucky, because we can buy any cylinder heads made for a SBC 305 5.0L. We can do this because when the nice folks at GM changed our cylinder heads to center bolt Vortecs in 1987 they only changed the bolt angles from the intake to the heads a few degrees. So if you would like to buy older heads all you have to do is drill a different angle in the intake manifold to match the bolt angle on the older heads. Buying older heads will 1)allow you to save money. 2) find parts easier. 3) allow for a more custom engine look. I put pre 1987 World cylinder heads on mine and I love it. Made me 11mph faster in the 1/4 mile. I'll try to post a picture. I have no idea if this helped you.

 

Your right about pre 87 heads being a different bolt patter than post 87, but vortecs are a completely different polt pattern. The pre87 heads have all bolts perpidicular to the head mounting flange, the post 87 heads have the two center bolts angled slightly up and you can grind an older intakes to fit. Vortecs on the other hand have 8 bolts instead of 12 and all bolts are vertical as in strait up so they go into the head at a steep angle, No way to grind an older intake for that, just have to get a vortec intake or you could get funky with it, i doubt you wanna do that, the cirlce track guys have.

 

I did the vortec swap. You'll need to mill the heads down .030 to keep the compression ration stock. Then you'll need a vortec specific intake. I would also recomend doing a cam at the same time. The LT1 cam is about the largest recomended for stock vortec springs. The whole swap will probably cost around 900 bucks when all said and done.

 

Hey 89fastlookin RS I was just wondering if your car still feels fairly well mannered. I was looking into doing the vortec swap soon and was just curious.

 

It's taken awhile, but my tune is pretty close. I've got it idling well and it pulls really hard at part throttle. With the vafpr that I just put on it got me alittle close but it's rich up top, so if I can ever get the adjustment screw to break loose I'll take a couple psi out of the fp. With more tuning low 14's are in sight, and maybe 13's with DR's. Sometimes I can't really get on it hard during warm up period, I think it runs alot richer till it's warm which causes a miss, but overall it acts like a stock controlled motor.

 

hey how much are those vortec heads, and the best place to get them

 

dont mill the heads if you plan on going to a 350..

doesnt a 350 with vortecs and lt4 cam make real good hp numbers? i wonder what it would do with maybe a 454 tbi on top... anyone try this? i am just dreaming up ideas.. i wanted to do the 350 idea with a carb but decided against it.. 305 is just a mild performer we need more 350 tbi's

Shawn

 

89fastlookinrs, what psi is the vafpr pulling at wot/idle? I got the walbro in and the stock fpr is dead set at 15 psi maxed out, I'd like to be pulling ~19 wot.

Thanks man

 

I put vortec heads on a 350, but used a Comp Cam. I kept the car emmisions legal and retained good gas mileage (~19 city, highway currently unknown). The car does pretty well at the track, I ran a 13.81 @ 100mph in late July.
Attached photo shows how I routed the exhaust into the manifold from the headers to keep the EGR working.
S-D

edit: I also kept the stock throttle body, just put in bigger injectors.

 

can we have more engine bay pics of that please..
Shawn

 

Can you just bold on the heads, intake manifold, and new chip and it work ok? Or does everything else need to be tuned? Also, do you need special vortec headers like the intake manifuld?

 

Yes you can.....
I took these pictures in a very large and fine format, so they must be shrunk down. Hopefully they'll attach correctly.

Is there anything in particular that you are looking for?

 

Another of the Driver Side.

 

I put in a completely different engine (350). As far as bolting this same stuff onto a 305, it would probably work, but you should search on it first. A search will likely provide many useful tips.
If you put the heads and intake on, I would also plan on headers to allow it to breath. Exhaust ports on vortecs are of the same design as standard Chevy heads far as I know. The SLP's I put on work fine. They were listed to be used on the stock motor for my car 91 Camaro RS.
I would plan on learning how to use the WinALDL program and also getting the equipment to burn your own chips if you do heads/cam intake and headers.
I learned from the ground up. I did a lot of reading (mostly all on this website) before I bought anything. With the proper background info and equipment the chip burning was a good experience. I would avoid buying the equipment and then trying to learn how to use it. It is too frustrating. Make sure you have a good working knowledge of the overall function of the equipment before buying.
There is a ton of excellent info on this site that tells a user virtually everything needed to get of to a good start.
Obviously, I can't say enough about the tech content of this site- it is very good.
S-D

 

where did you get that air cleaner assembly? is that on a tbi?? nice to see some other alternative other then dual snorkel or open element... did you fabricate that yourself? i would be interested in one of them..
Shawn

 

The part that sits on the Throttle body is plastic and came stock on the 93 caprice I got the motor out of. I cut off the front half of it and extened it with a sheet metal plenum so that the stock TPI intake and hose would mate up to it. It wound up taking alot of time, but it clears my hood and works very well.
S-D