Hows this for an engine build?

[woody31]

They get a bad rep because they don't do well for high rev horsepower, but do great for torque if you open them up.

x2 on this,,i ran some tbi early vortec heads on a 362 cubic inch small block,,won many a feature in a i.m.c.a. modified with that motor,,put in a light weight s-10 and went low 12s,,,so it can be made to work,,you just need to do the right research and the o.p has done so,,good luck on the build,,

 

[TylerZ281500]

they can be opened up but still wont be anything close to anything else. i did it on mine when i first had it, you could tell more was there that the heads were restricting it was upsetting

 

[Scrufdog]

Looking over multiple threads, especially this one, http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tbi/336750-tbi-tpi-heads-headflow.html , and the threads linked within, a ported 193 head seems to be just fine, especially on low RPM motors. Flow data on a stock vs ported 193 creates a great torque head. Obviously they hit their ceiling above 4500RPM, but thats fine for my application... a daily driver/family mobile with a little more push. Also, once you consider I can get a set of 193 heads on the cheap and do the porting myself, the power vs cost factor is very nice. I figure, at most, I'll have $450-$500 in the heads if I go ahead and replace the valves/springs/retainers/rockers. As I said earlier, the valves themselves might stay stock, but a set of undercut valves should get me a little bit more power, so we'll see how the budget shakes out.

At the end of the day, I figure I'll have a much better engine for about $1500, since I'll be doing the work myself. That's really not so bad, especially since I'll know whats in it and it wont have over 200,000 miles on it like the current engine has.

 

[slippy3002]

Keep an eye out on craigslist and the junk yard. A lot of times you can come across a set of double hump heads on the cheap.

Sent from Robl@nd

 

[TylerZ281500]

double humps dont have serpentine accesory holes i dont think.

 

[Scrufdog]

double humps dont have serpentine accesory holes i dont think.

Thats the other thing, if I stick with the stock heads I dont have to worry about bolting up all the brackets.

 

[slippy3002]

Vortec heads can be had cheap at a junkyard too.

Sent from Robl@nd