SpectreGTA91

I have a 1991 GTA with the L98. I was planning on running the Superram intake setup. A friend of mine sold his car and owed me some money so he gave me his intake setup. He ported out the manifold to match felpro 1205 gaskets as well. Since I had everything else apart, I figured I'd swap out the heads and cam too. The motor has only 50,000 miles on it so I'll just keep the bottom end stock for now. I'm looking for max power with good streetability, and the catch is, I have to pass the NYC yearly emissions test. Can anybody recommend a good head and cam combo for this 350? Any and all suggestions welcomed... thanks!

gmgod

If the intake you got was a superram I would suggest getting the lpe 219 cam and a set of afr190's - get ready to burn a chip.

SpectreGTA91

Thanks for the reply. I had already considered going AFRs, and the AFR heads with the cam falls within my budget (though marginally). I have about $2000 to spend.

I'm a little concerned though, because this will be the first head swap I do on an engine. Are the AFR 190s a little too big for a 350? How about the 180s? Would those work better in improving low and mid-range response on a 350? The motor I have right now is stock from the bottom end up. It blew the passenger side head gasket and after taking the heads off I noticed that the head was cracked so I need replacements. Figured I may as well get replacements that will give the car some *****...

I was looking at AFR's website and their AFR 180s and 190s come with 68cc and 76cc combustion chambers. I was hoping that they had them available in 58cc combustion chambers so I could get the same compression ratio as in the Corvette L98s. The stock L98 iron heads I know have 64cc chambers. This would drop the compression down on my motor if I am using stock pistons, correct? If I go with the 68cc chambers will the dro in compression still net me a good power increase, or will I have a better power increase with a higher compression head? Thanks!

BTW, I'm set on the chip. I got a friend who knows how to do that kind of stuff...

MelloYello

If I was on a tight budget, I would just save the money - but if you have to spend it, I would either get a set of pro topline iron heads or vortechs with the vortech specific base. BTW, I wouldn't get a superram either - too much hassle - get a miniram if you dont have emissions or they dont look under the hood.

SpectreGTA91

Wish I could save it and do a full engine build-up, but the cylinder head that blew the gasket is also cracked so I need to replace it. I looked at the Pro-Topline heads. They're nice but have no heat riser to make them emissions legal. Only the Pro-Torker heads have heat risers, but I want good heads now so I won't have to buy another set in the future when I finally do the rebuild. I also have the Superram already. Got it for free... anybody else have any suggestions? Thanks.

MelloYello

So you think that the heat riser has any signifigant effect on your vehicle emissions or that someone could tell that your heads have no heat riser by just looking at them (assuming they look under the hood and get the PN)?

gmgod

The AFR's have a thick enough deck to be milled to achieve a chamber volume of 58 cc's ( or mabee even 53? ). But looking toward future builds I think I would get the 68 cc ones and keep them that way. As for the 190cc head being too big for a 350, I'm sure there a little large for a MILD one but I think they would be just about right for one with a lt4 hot or lpe 219 cam.