i have an 89 formula 305 tbi 5 speed.

i'm about ready to do my head and cam swap.

i was planning on going with a set of vortecs, but losing my egr isn't an option. i'm determined to keep it. even if i wanted to use one of my a.i.r. tubes to get exhaust gas for the egr, the edelbrock performer vortec doesn't have an egr provision.

so, i've been looking at other options. here's where i am:

option 1: i found a head rebuilder on ebay who'll sell me a set of remanufactured 58cc 305 ho heads (601 castings) with springs good to .550 lift, 3/8" screw-in studs and guideplates, stainless 1.94 intake and my choice of stainless 1.5 or 1.6 exhaust valves for 399.99, including shipping. he'll offer me a similar price on another casting if i decide to use different factory heads. he has 299 feedbacks, 100% positive, so i feel pretty good about him, especially after talking to him on the phone today.

a set of vortecs with the .550 lift spring and seat upgrade would run a little over 700.00 (including shipping) from scroggins dickey. a set of world products s/r torquers would run a bit over 800.00. using that 7-800.00 range as a budget and spending 400.00 or so to buy the heads, my question is whether 3-400.00 in porting and polishing would lead to similar flow and power to the vortecs from the 601s.

i like this option because the factory egr will work and they use pre-86 style intakes, so i can use a 2101 performer that i can find all day long used for 30-50 bucks and eventually go to a performer rpm air gap.

i'm wondering whether i'd be better with the 1.5 or 1.6 exhaust valves. these aren't high velocity heads like vortecs or fast burns, so i'm thinking the bigger valve would offer better exhaust flow.

i'm also wondering whether there'd be a better factory casting to go with than the 601s?

option 2: i'm looking at a set of used world products s/r torquer heads that i believe i can get for around 300.00. i'm not sure yet whether they're torquer 305's or not. waiting on the guy to get me the casting numbers.

if i can make that happen, these are better castings than any factory head i could get, so they'd require less porting and polishing. the price is also low enough that i could get a matched cam and valvetrain, do the porting and polishing i need and still stay in the 7-800.00 range.

which of these options would be better, or are there better options yet?