Just a reminder, I'm already running an aftermarket exhaust. I have shorty tube headers running to true duals with an X-pipe crossover.
I understand that the TBI heads provide more torque at lower RPM than Vortec heads, but the thing I keep coming back to is something someone posted somewhere once to simplify engines: it's just a big air pump, so for more power you want to be able to pull in more air and be able to push out more air. I have the capacity to push out more air now with my upgraded exhaust, so I just need to be able to get more air into it to take advantage of that.
I am trying to follow along, but there's a lot of conflicting opinions across the internet at large when it comes to TBI heads. For that matter, Googling any head I've found for sale turns up a bunch of results about how bad that head is. Either Chevy has never made a truly good 350 head, or every single head has it's own group of vocal haters. For years I've always heard that TBI heads are the most consitrictive head you can run, as they were designed around late 80s environmental restrictions rather than giving you the full potential of your engine. This is actually the first time I've seen the consensus in the other direction, defending TBI heads as a superior option. That's not me arguing against anyone's points here, I'm still way too much of a noob to these things to argue that anyone is wrong. In fact, all of the points I've seen in defense of the TBI heads sound like great advice. It just has me on the fence.
While I was trying to learn about the advantages/disadvantages to flat tappet vs. roller cams, I came across some threads on Camaro and F-body forums that seem to indicate swapping LT1 roller cam setups into TBI blocks with roller provisions is a somewhat known modification. Using a factory LT1 roller cam supposedly is a good balance that isn't much more aggressive than our factory flat tappet, which allows it to play nice with TBI/TPI systems. Since I'm now stuck with this spare LT1 block, I'm thinking about stealing the cam/lifters/rockers/retainer rail/etc. and using it in my build if I find out my block does have roller provisions. The caveat I read on that is that the TBI heads don't have enough flow to take advantage of it, but swapping to Vortec heads makes for a good match. That has me kinda reconsidering going the Vortec route, especially the more I've read through the Vortec swap thread to understand the process better.