Hey guys I need a little help. I cant seem to find it anywhere but what was the casting numbers on the good factory heads for tpi. I am putting tpi on my chevy truck and want to get rid of the crapy 193 heads. Any help would be appriciated

 

IIRC, the casting number for the cylinder head is under the valve cover.

 

i know that but i need to buy heads and need to know which ones to get

 

On your heavy chevy truck, I wouldn't swap to TPI heads. The 083s are TERRIBLE heads. The 193s actually match the torque curve of the TPI setup MUCH better. Just upgrade the camshaft to something better than the OE TBI truck grind and put a full exhaust system on it. Then work at tuning the ECM. It will suprise you.

My engine pulled better with TBI swirl ports under 4,500 rpm (especially in the off-idle to 2,500 rpm range)than it does with my current Ported 906 Vortecs. Over 5,000 rpm the stock runners really hold back the HP potential of the Ported Vortecs. At the 6,000 rpm fuel shut-off I was around 60 HP up with the Vortecs over the TBI heads. Engines were IDENTICAL except the heads and lower intake manifolds.

 

well thats what i think ill do then. i was under the impression that the 193 swirl port heads sucked and i would be better with stock tpi heads. but thats all im looking for is torque, dont care bout high rpm and horsepower thanks

 

now i do have another question. will all year tpi manifolds fit on my 193 heads or does it need to be from a 87 and up engine

 

The 85 and 86 manifolds will fit if you elongate the center bolt holes.. In fact my original base was from an 86. 87+ is a direct bolt-on and I would actually recomeend a 1990+ without the cold start injector and valve.

What year TBI truck do you have?

 

Stock TPI heads are slow buning, low flowing pieces of junk, IMO. At the mild lift and duration of the stock GM cams, the TBI heads actually flow just as well on the intake side and flow better on the exhaust, in addition to require less timing for a complete burn.

I love low-end torque, but have now stalled and geared around the lack of it. I pull just as hard out of the hole and harder from a roll but that takes money. For a relatively stock rig, TBI heads are the way to go.

 

i have a 1988 but im building an engine from a 1997 but cant afford the base for vortec heads right now, maybe later. now ive seen most people on here run a factory lt1 or lt4 hot cams on there tpi engines is that still a good came to go with running the 193 heads. do you know what the most lift i can run without machine work on these heads. how do you like the setup with vortecs on it

 

I have to read more carefully.

 

EQ cylinder heads have vortec casting (906)with conventional 55 - 86 intake bolt pattern , sure beats $500 for a vortec intake

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

Thats neat. ive already got vortec heads i wonder if it will work if i have them drilled for the older bolt pattern, but is there enough material on the manifold to cover the intake ports on the vortec

 

From what I have read you cannot redrill vortec heads to the old bolt pattern, these heads are hybrids.