Got a 90 bird with a L98, 97k on the engine. car runs beautiful. still got some *****. id like to put some dart cast heads on it since its a cast block, and with that a mild cam. got to do a timing chain soon as well, so id like to do all the work at the same time. my friend told me that i would have to pull the block out of the car, since the part where the head gasket goes is probably warped, so id have to get it resurfaced, so it wont have a leaking head gasket. its only worth pulling the block if im putting a 383 in its place, and thats more money than ive got to spend right now. do these cast blocks warp? i would like to put some heads on this car, but i would hate to spend all that money, just to find that my engine is toasted, or that the head gasket leaks b/c its warped. the 350 is a great, very powerful motor, and ill keep it in there for as long as it lasts, but is it worth the work? or should i just save my money? its not that im power hungry, it just seems logical to me that when you pull an engine, you must replace it with a bigger one. its not a race car, i just like to have fun with it. what should i do? work the 350, or save up for the 383?

 

well take the heads off and get a flat edge (steel piece perfectly flat) and a feeler gauge and work your way around it. That's how the old timers do it. And i'm not sure the max. allowed but i'm sure a couple .001" would not hurt with good gaskets. That's my cheap way!

 

thanks man, sounds like a good idea

 

I put a set of aluminum heads on my L98 with no problem, and it had 120,000 miles on it. Im about to pull my cam out, its a very streetable cam. Since I dont drive it every day anymore, Im going to put in a bigger cam. Specs are 202/212 with .540/.551 lift on a 113 (the lift is with 1.6 rr's). Very streetable cam and hits a baby lick on the exhaust. If youre interested in it let me know