Ok... before everybody just starts screaming AFR, this is more of an inquisitive question more than just asking for a reccomendation. GMHTP had a question in the newest issue in the Q & A section from an 85 Vette owner that's looking for more performance. The guy responded with the following combo that he recommends:

Edelbrock heads with bowl work & milled down to raise compression

ZZ9 or some other cam - I can't remember which manufacturer/part number he had, but it was one that opened the valves pretty fast, and he recommended installing it 2 degrees retarded
2,200-ish stall converter

That was pretty much it. He said that he's installed it in many, many corvettes, and it's always good for low 12s!!! That sounds wicked fast for a stock L98 with heads and cam. I'm sure this is with all the regular bolt ons too, but still... we're not talking miniram or super ram here.

He gave his reasoning behind it and it made a lot of sense. The low rpm power band on the TPI cars necessitates a head like the edelbrock that has a lot of velocity, and that high flow heads (such as the AFRs) will not be an optimum head for a TPI LTR application.

Anyway... now that I regurgitated half of the write-up, I just wanted to know what other peoples opinions were on this. low 12s from that combination sounds pretty hard to swallow, but considering what the edelbrock heads cost compared to AFRs, this would be great if it is legit. Is anybody on here running a similar combo?

 

From everything I have seen AFR's are the way to go, but Edelbrock does have a kit now with heads base and runners for less than cost of just the AFR heads.

 

You can get AFR 180's. They should be very similar to the ported L98 Al heads Lingenfelter offers. Lingenfelter really likes the smaller runners for his engines. In his book, he gives praise to both the Edelbrocks and AFRs.

 

Jim,

I have the Edelbrock 6085 AL heads, but no work done to them, and the ZZ9 cam installed in my Iroc. If I'm not mistaken they are 60cc chambers anyway.
The cam is installed straight up, to the best of my knowledge, and I had new lifters installed too as well as 1.5 RR. I have a TCI Saturday Night Special torque convertor, which seeems to stall at 1500rpms and a TPIS custom chip for this setup.
Also I have 2.77 gears and all stock intake parts with just the plenum ported. Also except for a TPIS panhard bar the chasis is stock too and NO SFC.
The best I've done at the track is 13.87 @ 98.9 (with a 60' of 2.08 with street tires) but I didn't adjust the AFPR, which was set at 42psi, and the timing. I think I still have a slight vaccum leak but most of all the chip still needs tweaking. I think I could get into 13.7 or even 13.6X with better 60' times and increasing the fuel pressure and playing with the timing.
Chip tuning could yeild 2 more tenths and a better torque convertor (YANK 2800) could yeild 2 more tenths and I have not even said anything about the intake or firming up the suspension.

Plus the cam and other parts noted above only had about 7000 miles on it but the car seems to be faster than before only the nest time at the track will tell.

So I hope to get this car/engine into the 12's with the stock bottom end and perhaps even lower with the 2.77 gears. I just need the money and time to buy parts and do the mods.
But yes I think you could get into the low 12.5's with proper gears and tuning and intake.
I post at your site and will keep you informed of the progress if you want as I mod and run it.

 

Yeah, that last post pretty much discredits the edelbrocks, unported. Most people can go 100 mph on stock heads like I did. I bolted on afr heads with no other mods, with lower compression than my L98s (plus the Al heat loss phenomenon) and gained 5 tenths. But sure I may be the slowest person with a 350 and Afr heads, but I have a peanut cam!!

 

The other cam was the Accel/LPE 211.....

 

I don't know why the Vortec Fastburn are never cosidered, they are just over $1000 for a pair.

 

Cause you need a different intake to bolt it up to and then that adds $400 to the bill. But those heads and that intake will make nice HP:hail: .

 

Actually, that Scoggin Dickey Vortec manifold uses the same 1.47" diameter runners as the stock TPI base. The ONLY reason that combo makes power is because of the heads. I wish that SDPC used a larger runner size. Because of that, and the fact that for the same $1,400 as the fast burns and SDPC intake, you can get Edelbrock or Trick Flows and a much higher flow Accel baseplate. Same cost, and in the long run you're miles ahead. Whether I go with TFs/Edelbrocks or AFRs is up in the air, but most likely I'll run AFR 190s.

 

What other cam MikeH?

 

The articule that Jim was refering to in his first post, suggested using the ZZ9 or the Accel/LPE 211 cam. I think Ray T. Bohacz was the author.