Hey guys, were putting a motor together a motor for my dads 88 formy 350 and had big plans, but not he's changing his mind around. He wants to run bottom 13 high 12.

88 formula
99 350 vortec block
Forged pistons
Forged rods
Stock crank

Were going to keep the tpi and do a little home porting. He has a set of stock vortec heads and a set of stock heads from the tpi motor. He wants to use the tpi heads, I am trying to convince him to run the vortecs. We were gonna run the lt4 hot cam with these heads and ported intake. Now with the stock heads, I don't even know if he should waste money on the cam. Either way the heads will need new springs for the cam. He is set on a set of shorty headers and a decent 3" exhaust from the y back. What would you do if it were your build?

 

You can't run the Vortec heads with the stock TPI base. The Vortec heads require a special Vortec intake. Edelbrock makes a Vortec TPI base for about $450. Honestly, you're just as well off porting the stock L98 heads. Especially if you're running stock TPI pieces. Porting the base and plenum to improve flow will give you gains along with porting the heads. This combo will respond well to the LT4 cam. Check for interference between the valve spring retainer and valve stem seal at full lift. You may need to have the heads machined to make it work. I've built TPIs using ported stock heads and ported stock TPI with a cam very similar to the LT4 and had very good results.