Hello all,


I recently got a blown head gasket on my 89 GTA and am looking for clarification on what vortec heads will work on my 350. I have the edelbrock vortec intake manifold with runners already so I figure ill swap heads while im down there anyway. will everything bolt right back up like stock or are modifications needed? thanks

 

Yes but if you are using TPI exhaust manifolds those will not bolt up you will need to get headers. I found that out with my last swap. Thing is if you are wanting to keep smog legal they have headers with air tubes now that will accomodate you and the added power is well worth the price swapping over to headers.

 

I have edelbrock headers installed right now, not sure if those will work ill have to find out which ones they are

 

also can you recommend a good, cheaper head? im ok with iron heads, don't want to spend the cahs on aluminum.

 

For 650-700 a set Vortecs bout as cheap and best bang for buck. The 083 TPI heads aren't bad. Dart makes a good head not too pricey.. If youre not wanting a huge HP gain man Vortecs are the way to go and believe me they will definitely make great power over any stock GM head out of the box. They are great heads.

 

SOME Vortec heads bolt up just fine to TPI manifolds, just have to pay attention and make sure the set you get has the 7th bolt hole. Similar to the water pump bypass port in a Vortec block. Some Vortec blocks have the bypass hole cast/machined into them. I have a couple that a machined for mechanical fuel pumps as well.