hello guys, this winter i'm getting a HSR, cam, intake, bigger injectors, and heads.....i was looking at AFR's for 1300 bucks, and that is a bit outta my price range...what i got now is an aluminum headed vette motor (L98)....I was wondering if there was a good head for abotu 800 for the pair, or somewhere around that price range....i wanna make power in about the 400-500HP range...

 

For aluminum, your current heads are about the best. They DO have excellent potential when properly ported. There aren't really anything else in aluminum in that price range.

For iron Pro-Action Iron Lightnings seem to have decent flow numbers. However, some people have stated that they believe the actual flow is noticeably less than stated.

http://www.protopline.com/index.htm

 

i read that thread about the protype for the vortec stealth ram??? when is that supposed to hit the shelves...maybe i'll just get vortec heads..those baby's can be ported out pretty good from what I've heard....which should I do, wait for the vortecs, or get mine ported?

 

vortec heads are great set of factory heads...actually so are the l98 tpi heads cast or aluminum. i was in the same boat as you a few months back and ended up finding an extremly nice set of edelbrock performer rpm heads on the cheap. mabey you will luck up too, id really have liked the afrs but the price is just 2 high.

 

yea i was looking at the performer RPMS too....but the victor JR's are better yet aren't they? is 450-500 HP easily attainable with the RPMS are the victor jr's?

 

Edelbrock 6085 head is direct replacement and works pretty good. But for the money AFR is the way to go. The GM aluminum L98 head is a pretty decent head though....maybe spend some money and have them worked over.

 

i just simply don't/never will have the money for the AFR's...i could see if i was in my 20's or 30's, but i'm an 18 year old kid, i gotta keep myself on a budget here....maybe i'll just go ahead and get my alum's reworked.....i got a good machine shop in my town that does a lot of engine work for race teams and what not...how much do you guys think it will costs for a port job and everything else that needs to be done to the heads...600 or so? should they know exactly what needs to be done, or do I need to tell them?

 

Klumb15,

Check out the John Lingenfelter on modifying small block chevy engines book. You will see that what you already have is a great set of Corvette heads. I personally know guys running these heads, and would not trade em for AFRs or Edelbrocks, etc.

Dont get me wrong, Im not bashing aftermarket heads, but you already own them. These heads are great for 350s 383s, and yes 406s too.

The smaller, high velocity ports might just be the ticket, as compared to larger intake ports that are more suited to a higher RPM engine.

 

Cost aside, anyone who would take a L98 vette head over an AFR would be off their rocker. Heads are THE most important item when it comes to making power. The one advantage that the vette head has is it's weight....those things are superlight when compared to an aluminum AFR head.

Anywho, the vette heads are good heads, if you don't have the cash I would just have them touched up a bit. You should be able to get some minor port work done along with refreshing them for under $800.....consider getting new springs while your at it.

Just a side note, I had the 6085 heads on a 406 that I built only because I got them for $600 brand new in the box, they worked fine...however when I switched to the 185 AFR heads it was a hudge difference....night and day.

 

I beleive Brutalform is inferring "once you work them over a little" not "bone stock". At least, that's the way I read it.

 

see im only 26 yrs old. i wish i had more money to buy the afrs, sure they are the best heads out there right now but at 2k they had better be. just my .02$ but there are affordable aftermarket heads out there used and new or rework the l98 heads. i chose the edelbrocks b/c i got them for only 450$ and they only had 3000 miles on them.

 

Im not going to get into a debate over AFR heads or any other for that matter. If I mentioned every horror story that Ive been told about AFRs, World War III would begin on this thread. Yes, I have never experienced any AFR problems first hand, and I can guarentee you I never will either.

 

dont underestimate the gm L98 alum.heads,LPE uses these heads and get tons of power for them!in fact there is a guy using those heads with 14.1comp,1200 cfm throttle body in a 83 z28 and it runs mid 10s.......LPE is the best!

 

JOHN LINGENFELTER R.I.P.

 

I don't think anyone here underestimates that head.....but you must also consider it will take you an additonal $1000 or so to make those heads perform that well. Much cheaper in the long run to start with a head that can easily handle the modifications to make big power in my opinion....once again, if you have the money.

 

a $1,000 to make the flow well? i wouldnt think THAT much, but i guess it matters who is charging what, to get it done.

i have the L98 irons and i have new 1.60 exhaust valves put in, hot tanked, magnafluxed ect. and it only cost me 195$..

but since you are talking about bowl work, porting, polishing, new valves...yeah it gets up there.. maybe it costs more for aluminum work? i dont know.

i think most people also underestimate the power of trickflows, and vortec's.. but im not going to start that debate at all..

 

It's not all about the port work either when it comes down to price, although that does get quite expensive to have it done right, you also have to put in quality components....that is, if you what to do it right. Check out these bad mamma-jambas
http://www.lingenfelter.com/lingenfe...id=7&pf%5Fid=9

 

will the l98 heads bolt on to camaro/trans-am l98 or do I need a differant inake manifold?

 

Klumb15: You are in Michigan, so you should be able to locate a local place to port your current alu. heads. I think that if I already owned Corvette alu heads, that I would get them ported a bit and install larger valves if needed.

 

any answers to my question did the l98 vettes have differant intake manifolds or are they the same?

 

there the same, direct bolt in

 

I have $500 in port work in my 113 castings. This is the most money my local shops charge for max porting on a factory head. They will not break out the tig welder and recontour the port on a factory head. "I" felt the money I spent justified the results gained in my case. I also owned the heads. No regrets on my part. Car runs strong and durability/throttle response is great. I was also happy with the et's. Just my .02

 

Scoggin Dickey offers the vette heads with port-job. costs $360 more than the stock heads.

 

Not exactly. There's a missing accessory bolt hole for serp setups, no EGR crossover, and the bolt angles are for 86-earlier manifolds.

 

Good catch regarding the missing bolt hole. I forgot about that. We put a set on a camaro about 10 years ago and ran into that problem. We worked around it somehow though. I don't remember if we drilled and tapped it or just left that bolt out.

 

well guys, i'm kinda in a different boat now....all the money i had set aside to get my vette heads ported, i spent on drivetrain parts like eaton posi, 373 gears, and transmission work...i figured why dramatically increase horsepower, and keep a stock drivetrain, and i figured if i had that much hp, i would have to replace drivetrain parts soon or later anyways....but my new plan is to get the holley stealth ram like planned, but also i'm sending my heads in to get cleaned up and to get a new valvetrain put on...i figured i mines well get them shaved to bump up compression, because, correct me if i'm wrong, milling heads is pretty cheap to do by a machine shop? i have 9.5 to 1 compression right now, how much can I possibly expect out of milling my heads? How high do i want to run? some people say 11 to 1 is way to much, but i was reading, and the old Zr1 motors had 11 to 1? am i expecting too much out of milling my heads to get that high of compression? also i've been looking at cams, mostly the comp cam extreme energy series...the one i've been looking at is Xtreme Energy XR282HR Hydraulic Roller Camshaft, which is second from the highest lift one...Lift: .510''/.520''
Duration: 282°/288°
RPM Range: 2200-5800 those are the specs....would it be practical to run that much lift with stock size ports, or does that not really matter? i was thinking maybe why have that much lift if i can't get that much air/fuel in there, or is that not a problem? also is that a good match for the stealth ram? the next step up is 2800-6200 rpm range, and i don't think the stealth ram can even breathe up to 6200 rpms...what do you guys think?

 

I want to run the lt1 conversion and vette heads...any probs?

 

still need some answers...