Vader, I thought you might know this one cause I read a post where you talked about the LO5 caprice engine and the swirl port heads. I have been looking at this crate engine as a replacement for my 305 TBI and I was thinking about replacing the stock LO5 heads with the 285 hp crate heads casting #14096217? Are they a lot better than the LO5 heads? I have never seen a post about these heads and could not find anything on the archives.(I posted a similar question earlier but no luck)
I know they are 64 CC chambers which are less than the LO5 which are supposed to be around 70cc so how much would they kick up the compression ratio from the stock 9.3:1`?
Thoughts from anyone else welcome too.
I appreciate it...........bob

PS...I know about the vortec crate,but I don't want to mess around with plumbing in an egr and modifying lines and linkage to fit the intake.



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91 camaro RS L03 convert,
t-5, ultimate TBI mods,TBI spacer,SLP 1 5/8 headers,
3"cat back, 3.42 torsen posi,alston SFC's,Global West LCA relocation brackets

 

RSilver,

That reduction in chamber volume (all else being equal on a 350) should bump you to right about 9.8:1. This isn't unmanageable, but you'll have to watch fuel octane and timing settings a little more.

I have "unswirled" some intake ports with some success, but if you're not into heavy home porting, you might want to check out those heads, but watch the intake bolt angles. The center bolt might not be at teh correct angle for your intake. They don't have huge valves nor ports, but could be "massaged" a little easier than the swirlies since you would probably have less material removal.

For what you might spend on those heads from the catalog, you probably could get some tighter chambered heads with larger ports and valves. Head prices are pretty cheap compared to rework labor costs, so unless you're into doing it yourself, you might want to buy a boxed set ready to go.

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Later,
Vader
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Vader, thanks for taking the time to answer this. I am back and forth on what to do but Its good to know about the compression issue.
Very tempting to just put in the crate LO5, a cam a manifold and be done with it.BUT, potential for more power is not something to overlook. Thanks again........bob