I'm at a crossroad in the building of my new motor. Here's what I have so far
350 bored .030 over
Eagle rods and Speed Pro pistons
Eagle crank (haven't bought it yet, but I've decided to get it)
cam (haven't decided on one yet)


That's all I have so far, I'm pretty much just starting. But I don't know which way to go as far as heads (I'll more than likely be keeping the TBI for budget reasons):
I like Vortec heads, but I'd have to buy a new intake to match them. I guess I could keep the stock heads (truck heads, casting # 14102193), but how much would those hold me back performance-wise?


I can't decide which way to go, so I'm looking for opinions. This is all being done on a budget, otherwise I'd be going crazy with the motor. This is just going to be a cruiser/street car, but I also don't want to embarrass myself at the track.

 

I assume you're going with the 5140 steel rods, cast steel crank and hypereutectic pistons. In that case, you're going to have a fairly strong rotating assembly for street/strip use. I think you could port the 193s and get some good flow out of them, but your rotating assembly is strong enough to handle a little more than what the 193s are capable of supporting.

I'd look for some good casting, non-TBI heads and port them ...that's what I did with the 355 that I'm building (slowly ). If you know what to look for you can find some cheap heads (scrap yards, ebay, classifieds, etc) with good potential for porting. Then I'd get Summit's cheapo aluminum intake (for carbs - $100) and a TBI adaptor plate ...it'll be a lot cheaper than a Vortec-style manifold.

While you're shopping for a crank you might want to consider moving up to the 3.75" stroke. You can get a Scat 3.75" internally balanced crank for the L05 for $230.

 

Since you are on a budget I would stick with what you've got. If you can, go for a DIY port job on them. There are a few threads floating around on what to do when porting the SP heads.

 

You're building a very nice shortblock, so put some nice heads on it! Heads are the most important part along with the cam. I say do not port swirl port heads on a nicely built new shortblock. Save your money and do it good the first time, I'd say at least some ported Vortecs, maybe some nice aftermarket aluminum heads. You have to buy a new intake anyways (I hope you weren't planning on running the stocker) so why not make it a Vortec carb intake and run an adapter plate? Just my opinion, I wouldn't build a nice expensive shortblock to put swirl ports on.