Engine rebuild questions

[schwinnman67]

I'm sure this has been asked a few times, but most of the answers I see are older posts. Looking for
up to date ideas.
I have a 92 K1500 5.7l. I'm thinking about having the original engine rebuilt and I do want to see if I
can get a little more HP/Torque out of it. So, here are the questions...

1. What heads should I use? I have no problem using iron heads if it keeps costs down.
2. What cam? I do tow occasionally with the truck, but most of the time it's just driven to work
3. What else (budget friendly) can be done to it?

Thanks in advance

 

[Erik the Awful]

I do want to see if I can get a little more HP/Torque out of it.

How much more? Heads are a significant expense. Honestly, if I were looking for a mild power increase, but I was also daily driving it, I'd do some home porting on the TBI heads and reuse them. Gas mileage is important on a daily.

What do you tow with the truck? An 8' trailer with a mower, or a 24' bumper-pull RV?

 

[schwinnman67]

I have a 12' tent trailer and occasionally I use a car dolly and tow a car. It's not my daily driver, but is my bicycle hauler. It also sees use during the snow.
I'm not expecting miracles with power gains, but know that there is room for improvement.

 

[Erik the Awful]

If the original engine is fine, leave it alone and put a better exhaust on it. The stock exhaust is terrible.

 

[schwinnman67]

The original engine has 210K on it, so it's a little tired. The oil pressure gets a little on the low side at idle and I have a seeping head gasket.
The current exhaust is a an aftermarket cat (old pellet style was 1/2 plugged) 3" inlet/outlet. Looks like 3" into muffler with single tail pipe on right side (appears to be 2 1/4 ). I do have plans to replace cat back with 3" single.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Stock downpipes? If so, ditch them and go bigger.

Lowest-buck:
Rebuild the engine, home port the heads, $50 Enginetech cam. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/chevrolet,1992,c1500+pickup,5.7l+v8,1031285,engine,camshaft,5260

More money:
At this point you're also going to have to upgrade your fuel injection. Either pump up your fuel pressure, bigger injectors, and tune the TBI, or switch to aftermarket EFI or a carburetor.
If your engine has the roller provisions, get the spider, dogbones, and lifters from a later motor. Call your favorite cam maker and buy the roller cam they recommend. You can switch to LS2/LS6 valvesprings, Comp Cams 787-16 retainers, and umbrella valve seals so you can fit more lift on the stock heads.

Even more money:
Heads
Stroker kit

 

[schwinnman67]

Stock down pipes..
I'm sure with the mileage on my truck that rebuilding the TBI would be a good idea. Is there a post here that isn't too outdated to improve the TBI? The reason I asked about the heads is that I heard the truck heads are restrictive. If I were to get a set of JY heads, what would be the ones to have?
I never heard of Enginetech.. It says in the listing that it might not be computer compatible.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Edit: I was responding to Erik's post
^^^This. I have a Lunati Voodoo 10120700 flat tappet cam (with 1.6 full roller rockers). If I had to do it over, I'd get a roller cam. I didn't know my block was already set up for one. It's a Mr Goodwrench long block from ~2000. Depending on how much money you want to spend, aluminum heads are the way to go. The Summit Racing 162108 heads are fairly reasonable @$1100 for the pair. 46mm bored Throttle Body gives you 650 CFM. Summit Racing shorty headers. The JBA 2831SY "Y" pipe flows much better than the stock down pipes. 3" from Y to tail pipe. Then, tune it!