Hey guys with the combo in my sig if i got a set of vortec heads machined for a big cam ad my same intake but for the vortecs do you think it would make my car alot faster? I was thinking I would have a good chance at maybe a 12.9999999 lol. Also do you think my gas milage would be much worse? I was thinking maybe a little but not much cause its still ogt the 1.94/1.50 valves. well any input is great, thanks

 

doubt it, but if you do do that, you will have to get a different manifold.

 

I myself thought long and hard about doing the Vortec head swap... but I realized a few things. 1) If you buy them you need the $400 intake, then you need larger valvesprings and machine work to fit them, then theres always a possibility that the heads may be cracked if they're used. Most of them are or were repaired. There was a big problem with them that resulted in recalls from the factory.

So in my thoughts it would make a nice power gain, but for the price involved I'd rather buy something aftermarket for more $ than go thru everything with the Vortecs. By the time you're done you end up spending the same amount of money once you take into consideration the $400 manifold.

 

The Vortec heads are good for one thing...

A mildly built street engine. They make good torque and HP for what they are, but they are what they are, and that's stock, light weight heads.

People use them like they're Fast Burns. They throw them on a 350 with 10.5:1 (or higher) compression with a radical cam and beat the snot out of them. They aren't made for that. They aren't made for nitrous. They aren't made for forced induction. They're "made" for a stock 350.

If you keep the comp. ration below 10:1, keep the cam tame (not a 7500 RPM cam), and keep them cool, they work fine.

Pay attention to all the write-ups in all the magazines. The comp ratio is kept below 10:1. The RPMs are kept below 6000 RPMs. The peak HP almost always ends up ~5500 RPM.

They do that for a reason.

IIRC, a majority of the heads that get cracked are the ones in HD 3/4 tons and 1 tons.

 

ive seen sets of em going for $460 new so its kind of a waste to get ones from a junk yard when they can be had new for so cheap. Thats one of the reservations ive had about getting a junkyard set is the fact that they might be cracked.

 

Alot of jys will gaurentee thet the heads aren't cracked though.