Just got back from a swap meet.
One of the guys was selling a set of iron heads he called "early Vortecs/fast burns".

He showed me how the spark plug was relocated further into the cyl and moved more towards the center. (There's a square protruding boss where the plug enters the cyl.)
He told me that is what makes them fast burn heads.
Anyone confirm that?

What really seemed odd was they had egr passages. He said the early Vortecs had egr passages and thought they came off a 85 Vette but wasn't sure.
They have the 72* center intake manifold bolt holes.

Casting # is 14102193.
The Mortec site shows them to be "87 & up 305/350 1.94/1.5".

Anyone know what these heads came off of?
Do they flow as good as the regular Vortecs?

 

Those are not Vortec heads. Vortec heads' casting # ends in 062 or 906.

There is a 305 Vortec head not exactly the same though.

All Vortec heads have a 8 intake bolt pattern and raised intake ports. They must be used with a Vortec style manifold.
They do not have EGR passages.

The 193 heads are TPI or TBI heads. They do have a simular spark plug placement to Vortecs.

The ports are not the same size and do not flow the same .

 

Thx F-BIRD'88!!
Would the heads be better than my "083" L98 heads I have now for my TPI383 project?
My main goal is low-mid range torque and nothing over 5500 RPMs.

 

i think theyd be better than the heads you have, but not better than vortecs....not positive on that though

 

The 083 is a good head to port up for a mild 383.

 

I've found a guy that has his own shop (near Ft Worth) and 30 years of SBC porting experience. He says he can vat, maganaflux, install 2.02/1.6 tapered stem S/S 1-piece valves, bowl hog and blend, unshroud, short side radius blend, gasket match, runner clean-up, pull, tap, and install 3/8 rocker studs, cut down guides (for .560 lift LPE cam), machine for and install new valve seals all for $400. (using my iron "083" L98 heads)
If my guides need replacing, $500.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

A lot cheaper than my original quote from a local machine shop at >$700 for labor alone!.

Only thing that concerns me is how much low/mid-range torque I'll be losing by not having the "fast burn" type of head.

 

If you have to pick between the two, use the 083 heads. The 193 castings were used primarily on TBI 350 trucks and are pretty much crap for a performance application.

 

where is this 'guy' in ft worth i live north of dallas and i would like to have head work done on some vortecs or my stock lg4 heads for a up coming motor swap and want to call him and ask for prices, got a phone # and or adress or business name?

thanks
-doug

 

193 heads are crap swirl port TBI heads. Pure trash for performance purposes, unless your building a 4X4 with a redline of 4000rpm and TPI intake.

 

The guy is lying to you and deliberately trying to rip you off. Don't do any business with him. Above all, don't give him your heads as trade-in for anything he's got; he's fishing for suckers to unload worthless garbage dressed up in the latest buzzwords onto.

The square boss has nothing to do with the "fast burn" chamber, or the "Vortec" raised intake port. It is pure

This is like people back in the 70s who would try to pass of heads with a single hump casting mark (307 heads) as "almost as good as double-humps.

193 is the TBI swirl-port garbage that should be avoided at all costs.

You will not lose anything at all by using your existing heads rather than those swirlies; except the opportunity to enrich a thief.

 

Incidentally, the reason for the appearance of the spark plug in a square boss, isn't that the plug "portrudes farther " into the chamber; rather, it's that the chamber is laid back all around it. GM has been doing it that way since the early smogger heads out of the 70s, like 882s. It is not new, not "fast burn" related, and has nothing to do with "Vortec".

 

Ive seen those pro topline vortec heads on ebay sell for 510 us.Little more expensive but a way better head