hey guys..im thinking of gettin these heads in jegs for pretty cheap (318 a head) and i was thinking instead of gettin a cam i could put 1.6 ratio rockers on the heads cause im not really familiar with cam swaps..unless theyre not that bad?? but what kinda performance gains should i expect from this? i think theyll help my performer carb and intake more effective..or should i get that kit edelbrock has with the carb, cam, lifters and intake? im really confused about what i should do

 

We need to know what heads it is your looking at.

But in Jeg's the only heads I know of that cheap are the worlds, so assuming those, if you get them they will be a bit of an upgrade on your car. You could always save the money spent on the S/R's and just redo your stock heads, there are some tech articles for porting your heads, also Sitting Bull has instructions for it as well.

1.6 rockers are a good investment when you decide what to do with the heads.

The cam kits, I would look at a good Compcams K-Kit something like an XE256 or for a little more radical a XE262.

Your best money spent on an LG4's as I didn't see any exhaust mods would be to upgrade EVERYTHING!!!!

The portion above covers your first questions, below is my recommendation for what you should spend your money on, but there again it is your money so this is only a suggestion.

headers + 3" cat + 3" catback = BEST MONEY SPENT!!!

A good set of 1 5/8" headers, coated if you can afford, a custom Y-pipe or one that comes with headers "DO NOT REUSE ANYTHING FROM YOUR ORIGINAL EXHAUST SETUP.

3" cat (catco, o something else high flow)

and a good mandrel bent 3" cat back, with your choise of muffler (I prefer dynomax, but it is just that a preference)

from there a cam swap is th next biggest restriction on your engine. so the above recommendations work well.

All this is assuming your stock bottom end is in good shape, if it needs rebuilding my one recommendation is if you can afford get a 350, everything above will bolt up no problems. If you decide to rebuild the 305 ...... get flattops for more CR, unless you plan on supercharging!

Always upgrade what is a restiction on your car first then do others that are less.

 

yea im def. getting a full exhaust system..that was the first thing on my list for the car...how hard are cam swaps?

 

Easier than changing heads.

 

Doing a cam swap with the engine in the car is harder than changing heads. That front cover isn't a lot of fun.

Doing them both at the same time makes more sense. By that point, you might as well get the engine out and on a stand to make it easier to get the pan/front cover off. You can put in a new oil pump while you're at it that way, too.

The World heads are very good, but not necessarily out of the box. Every magazine test/article I've seen that used them had them pocket ported. I still think they're better than ported/worked-over stock heads, though.

One weakness of the '84 LG4 is the lower compression due to the dished pistons.