I was gonna get the pro vortecs to save some money and get a good street head, and heard good things about this head. I already talked to the guy off ebay and he seems like a very straight up and knowledable guy and they're a great deal at $450 bare shipped. But this is until I saw the pro lightnings which I found for $540 bare. And these heads by the flow numbers seem to way outperform the vortecs. And since I have to get a vortec style intake, they would actually be cheaper too. Am I missing something, or why would anyone get the pro vortecs over the lightnings unless I guess you already have the intake? Are the flow numbers deceiving?....Do the vortecs still maybe outperform these heads because of the velocity at lower lifts and rpms or what?....Please help, I'm buying these in the next cple days. Which heads are better? This is for a 350 small block, 268 Extreme Energy cam, etc.....basic setup

 

The price for the vortecs seems kind of steep for some bare heads. You didn't mention if they were aluminum or cast heads. A complete set of cast vortec heads shouldn't run you more than about $360 and the aluminum vortecs complete about $575. I'm not familiar with the Top Line Lightnings, but the Vortecs, with the right setup, can be moderately better than the stock heads. But there are much better heads out there. Do a "heads" search of the archives and you'll find a ton of useful info...

 

Thanks for the effort there Sluggo, but if you weren't familiar with the products I was speaking of, then I don't know why you responded......The Pro Topline Vortecs are beefed up and modified, and are a steal at $450 shipped. And where do you know that you can get new, complete vortecs for a 350 chevy for $370??.....yeah right.....and Aluminum vortecs?.....never heard of em. And I know there are better heads out there, but not in my price range. And do the research Sluggo, the Pro Topline Lightnings are some of the best flowing small block iron heads you can buy. Thanks anyway, but please someone with some knowledge of what I'm talking about.

 

Geez, the guy was just trying to help you out, so you didn't find it useful, no need to bash the guy. Insulting someone on your 2nd post isn't a good first impression.

As far as the heads go, like he said, you can do a search on this board and the aftermarket product review board and probably get all the info you need.
I myself bought the Lightnings in aluminum for $749 shipped to my door. Like you said, they're flow #s are great, but from what some people have said flow isn't everything. Then again, I was on a budget myself, so I went with the Pro L's because I didn't want to buy another intake for one.

Check out www.proshaver.com that's where I bought mine from, they were on sale though.

 

Sorry, wasn't trying to bash the guy, but it was obvious he didn't really even read my post in detail, just a little frustrating gettin advice from someone who didn't even read that I said "Bare" castings, and I was asking a specific question about heads that he admitedly didn't know anything about. Not trying to bash, just really need some helpful advice from someone with experience with these, I'm a little frustrated. I was just about to purchase and need these heads right away, and need to know which way to go. I'll try not to take my frustrations out on anyone else, please help.....thanks

 

Also I tried checking the board archives and didn't find any info really from anyone with experience with both these heads. Or even anyone who has these heads and what kind of performance they're getting. Also the guy I was gonna buy the vortecs from "Alex" on ebay, sent me the flow numbers on these pro topline vortecs, and I'm not suppose to share them, so I won't but, what I do wanna say and what is bothering me is that the numbers are actually sightly lower than what the numbers I've seen published are on stock vortecs....strange....

 

Ahh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, when I first looked into them, no one really had any hard facts on them, but there were a few that said they had success with them IIRC. I figured with the flow #s they show and the price, they were the best I could get for my budget.

And as far as that "ebay" guy, I wouldn't trust them unless you happen to know the guy personally. There must be a reason why he doesn't want you sharing the flow #s, I mean come on, so what if you post them, what we're going to go out and buy them all???

 

There was a recent thread anout these Toplines, and purchasing from someone off Ebay.

I don't recall if the any results were posted, but I do recall that the transaction from ebay went smooth.