My friend showed me some GM heads that had the vortec style bolt pattern but they were aluminum. I thought that Vortecs were cast iron!

 

They probably were the LT-1/LT-4 heads.

 

Your friend probably had a set of Chevy Fast Burn heads. They are aluminum and have the same intake flange as the vortech heads. They usually sell for over a grand though. For that money you can get better, or for less than half of that you can get iron votechs.

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Tracy /AKA IROCKZ4me
'86 IROC-Z Camaro
"Cogito ergo zoom"

• 355 cid
• AFR heads
• Arizona Speed & Marine hydraulic roller cam w/ AFR hydra-rev kit
• modified SLP runners
• TRW forged pistons/ceramic coated
• fully balanced
• Edelbrock headers/ceramic coated
• SLP cat-back
• Paxton supercharger
• Nitrous Express nitrous oxide

EFI Performance Club on Yahoo

 

the Fast Burns are the Aluminum versions. Along with being vortec style they have the bolt pattern for standard intakes too. Edelbrock have also just come out with 2 "Vortec" type of heads called E-tec's

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-Tas
'89 Formula WS-6

305, TBI, auto, 14x3 chrome flat based open element with K&N, Milodon 160* thermo, functional Formula hood, cross-flow Flowmaster, '99z28 rear pipes and tips....

Soon to be installed:
Hooker 1-5/8" 50 state legal headers, Dynomax 3" I pipe (PN 44063 and 43248), Catco 3" cat, and injector spacer.

Super GRK_Taz World
F-Body Dual Exaust
EFI & Intake Options
AOL IM: superGRtaz

 

Are these the " reverse cooling types " or can they be drilled & tapped like the traditonal Vortecs & used on any small block He wants 200$ for the heads do u think that they will be okay for my 383 with flat top pistons?

 

Yes they do make aluminum Vortec's.A friend of mine has them on his 2000 Chevy pick up.

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Fast as a shark~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAVE NAPSTER!!!

 

No. These are GenI Vortecs. They are not GenII LT1/LT4/L99 heads. They have regular flow, they bolt to every small block chevy back to 1955. The only thing that makes them odd is the new intake pattern and the high intake ports. The aluminum Fast Burns have the traditional intake pattern on them too but since they are "Vortec" intake ports, they are very tall and so its best to use them with Vortec intakes or maybe high port tradtional intakes. I don't remember if the Edebrocks have the old bolt pattern on them too. I don't think they do.

I think the iron Vortec would only be good on a torque monster 383. If you want a high HP 383, the Fast Burns would be better.

Those heads are totaly different than the ones on our cars. The 2000 trucks use a GenIII engine that is based on the LS1. While they are still called Vortecs they are the new vortecs and not the ones we normally talk about on this site.

[This message has been edited by Tas (edited May 25, 2001).]

 

E-Tec heads just have the Vortec style manifold bolts on them. With the higher port it would be very hard to fit the ports to a regular GM intake.

 

The Fast Burn heads are not aluminum castings of the Vortecs. The FB heads have bigger ports, and bigger valves. The flow is all together different. Vortec heads were modeled after the LT-1 heads only with standard cooling. And the 2000 Chevy trucks don't have aluminum Vortec heads either. The block, and heads used in these trucks are versions of the LS-1. All this is from GM Performance Parts Dept. No flaming intended, just relaying what they said.



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Joshua Johnston
1991 Z-28
Flowmaster
K&N
305 / 5spd. (Temporary)

 

the new Chevy trucks do have Vortec heads but they are not the ones we normally talk about. They are the GenIII LS1 design-based Vortecs, 4.8L, 5.3L, 6.0L. We mostly talk about the GenI vortecs, L31, Vortec 350 heads. Of the GenIII Vortecs, most of them have iron blocks and aluminum heads. Although some of the early GenIII vortecs were all iron I believe now they all have iron blockes with aluminum heads.

 

Those heads didnt have a coolant cross-over so how would they work on a traditional block?

 

If they have no coolant passages then they are GenII heads not Vortec heads. GenII engines were the LT1,LT4, and L99(4.3L v8)

 

Thanx for clearing that up.

 

Just for those out there that think Vortecs are junk.... I got a friend with an 89 GMC K2500 that built a 383 with 9.3:1 CR, STOCK (right out of the box from the dealer) iron Vortec (L31) heads, very mild cam (202,208 @.050, 435", 450" I think), an Edelbrock dual plane intake made for Vortec heads, a Holley 650, and made 386Hp, 462ftlbs (@ crank). That engine runs extremely smooth and his truck has been known to eat up some cars (It also has a 6" lift and 35" tires). I am very impressed with the Vortec heads. He thought about the Fast Burns, but didn't have the extra $$$ for them. I think he did all right ......lol....

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1987 GTA L98 MD8 GH3
355 '97 Vortec 4-bolt block, TRW(suck) forged pistons 10:1 CR, TFS 23*, LT4 Hot Cam, Ported plenum and intake, SLP Siam Runners, Edelbrock TES, gutted Cat, Flowmaster, Home-made cold air system w/ K+N cone and AFPR, TB bypass, AirFoil, !AIR, !A/C, 2300 stall.

"Stop Lights timed for 35Mph are also timed for 140Mph"