Heads

[DTrain]

I've been looking for some new heads for my truck, I've learned there are quite a few heads with alot of different variables to them. What I have is a stock 350 in an '84 silverado. The only performance upgrade I have done is an aftermarket bigger carb and some sort of coil pack dist. cap. What I am wanting to do is upgrade my heads a little without having to tear down and build the motor. So I need some advice on heads that will allow me to use the stock cam. Do I even need to get different ones? Can I just build mine up a little at the head shop? I am open to your thoughts. Thanks

[454Man]

Subscribing because I'm in the same boat. Crave more power.

[slammed79]

All depends on budget, and the condition your short block is in. best bang for your buck imo is the gm vortec heads. They flow better than your stock heads, you'll need to change the intake manifold.

How big of a carb did you put on? Anything much bigger than 600 cfm is too much for a stock 350. Over carburating an engine will actually rob power and waste gas.

[DTrain]

A buddy of mine also told me I should do vortec heads, seems like maybe the route I should go. Im already in the market for a new intake, so that's no problem. The carb I upgraded to is a Holley 670, I was told I could tune it down a little? Do you think that's too big? I haven't driven the truck since I put it on, I'm waiting for a new throttle cable bracket to come in the mail. I'm not to worried about the gas mileage as this truck is my weekender, but I don't want to loose power.

[slammed79]

I'd prolly wait til you do the heads and intake, then see how it responds. Are you thinking about a cam swap too?

[1980c10]

I have a 350 with vortech heads and a holley 670 I replaced the jets with larger jets to allow more fuel in

[frotosride]

The best bang for your buck would definately be vortec heads if you are trying to retain all the factory rotating assembly. I say this because they are good heads and give you much better flow over any pre vortec head. If you do decide on going with vortec or any other head and still not wanting to change the cam I wouldn't reccomend going with intake runners that are larger than 180-185. The reason being is that the stock cam will not suport the airflow of larger heads and your performance is likely to go down the drain.
The up side is that a cam and lifter kit that wil give you a lot better performance and suport greater flow characteristics, are rather cheap. On top of the fact that you will have the top end torn down for the heads. just plan the head swap around an oil change so you can drop thepan and take the timing sover off to replace the cam.  Cheap insurance...geat a new timing set too while you are in there. Once again going vortec will definately make you more eager to mash the loud pedal.

[DTrain]

Now my interest is peaked about an upgraded cam. What are good ones to look at? I really only know about comp cams. What are some other good ones to look into?

[frotosride]

There are a lot of good name brands out there like comp, lunati, howards, isky, crane,edelbrock, but if you are keeping on a budget keep in mind that a lot of name brand cam manufactures make off brand cams that large compines call their own like jegs and summit. Jegs and Summit call them budget cams but don't write them of because thay can give u a substantial power gain for a minumum price. Twomajor areas to look at when getting a cam are the valve lift virsus the max lift on the head and if you buy assembled heads make sure that they are set up for springs that compliment the type of cam you are using...ie hydraulic/ hyd roller, mechanical flat and mechanical roller. Honestly unless you plan to make this a drag only truck and want to put the time into adjusting the lash every couple of passes then I would completly rule out the mechanical cam.
Each of these companies have what I call a beginners list of cams for a specific purpose. Like almost all of them have cams specifically for trucks. If you go this route then get on that is made for 4x4's or towing because they are designed to get you the low end torque you need toget these ariplows moving down the road.

If you do a search on cams here you weill find numerouse threads and almost all of them wil tell you exactly why to choose that cam over another and then you choose what works best for you if you decide not to go with a truck specific cam.

[78 Chevyrado]

Get some vortec heads, and keep the intake runners below 170cc.  bout 165cc is best for low end stump puller.

[drtch1]

Look at the new Car Craft mag this month. It has a shootout on 8 aluminum heads. The aluminum heads are just a little more that the vortec heads. The put the vortec to shame. And you can keep your intake manifold.

[Korndiggity]

I threw a set of aluminum pro comp heads on my 84 4x4. 2.02/1.60 64cc chambers, and I thiiiiink either 180 or 190cc intake runners. Awesome set of heads and they didn't break the bank. They were around 6hundo. Got em from Skip White Performance. Everything went right back where it was supposed to-

[454Man]

I threw a set of aluminum pro comp heads on my 84 4x4. 2.02/1.60 64cc chambers, and I thiiiiink either 180 or 190cc intake runners. Awesome set of heads and they didn't break the bank. They were around 6hundo. Got em from Skip White Performance. Everything went right back where it was supposed to-

How's the tq feel?

[Korndiggity]

It feels pretty good-I have more of a top end cam in it as well. Had her on the trails in AK today, and she is a screamer!

[454Man]

Awesome! Would you use these heads in your daily driver, or would they eat gas tooo much, I understand you don't have a small cam but I had to ask.
I want to get away from these tbi heads:)