I know that I am not the only one on the thirdgen boards that have used a tap and die set and mig welder on the manifold to get vortec heads to fit a vortec bolt angle style of the slightly older intakes. It takes a while, a long while to look acceptable, but it can lower costs quite a bit, and if done right will be 100% reliable. This is not recommended without a GOOD welder.

 

using a proper intake is well worth the extra coin. since you bolted that old intake on, did you happen to notice that the ports on the intake dont quite match the ones on the head? the gain you'll increase with the proper intake over your rigged intake is well worth the extra $200 for the intake.

 

Port match. I know this is not as effective as a real bolt on intake.

 

what intake did you use that had enough meat above the ports to port match to a Vortec intake?

 

I used a MIG welder to add material to the exsisting manifold.

 

Well I just picked up a set of Vette L98's today. Only looked em over quickly, but heres what Ive seen: Intake ports look fairly clean, match up perfectly to a stock TPI felpro gasket(dont know the number) The bowls can definatley use some work... exhaust ports can stand to be polished as well. Over all, Im really impressed with these heads, especially for stock castings. Ill have some pics up later.

Oh, and the weight difference between these and iron l98s is crazy!

 

88 WS6 TransAm GTA,
Where did you get the heads from?

 

I got them from a semi-local place around here. I doubt theyll have any more for a while now. If they do, I might just pick up a set for the vert too!

Whats also great about the Vette l98 heads and Stealth Ram combo, is that the HSR, and its 86-pre bolt patterned intake will bolt right up to the Vette l98's beings that they all (88-91 Vette l98) still use the 86-pre bolt pattern.

 

Shaver Racing heads has Pro Lightning heads that flow better than vortecs and use normal SBC intakes. These are 750 dollars or so for an assembled set. When you take into considerstion that you don't need another intake its a steal.