SpectreGTA91

I have a 1991 GTA and I just blew the head gasket on the passenger side. When I took off the head that blew the gasket, I saw that it had a small crack near the coolant passage. Gave me just enough justification for getting a new set of heads for the car...

Motor is:
L98 350 TPI
Bone stock
SLP 1 5/8 inch Tri-Y headers (Old design)
Stock bottom end
Stock L98 iron heads
stock camshaft... you get the point

I'd like to get some really good cylinder heads. Especially aluminum heads but if anybody has any suggestions for iron heads bring em on. No vortecs please, I don't want to spend for the base. Looking for good power but must be emissions legal, I live in New York City. Low and mid range response and a decent top end. I have a budget of about $2500 to spend on heads and cam. Oh and chip work is not a problem. I'll be burning my own calibration.

Oh, and one more catch, I got a Superram setup for free from a friend of mine that sold his car and owed me money. Catch is, he ported the Superram intake manifold to match AFR 195cc heads. These heads would be a little big for a 350, right? Anyway, bring on the suggestions. Thanks!

OMINOUS_87

Will you be performing the install labor?

SpectreGTA91

Yes, I'll be doing all the work myself. I never take my car to the shop anymore unless it's to have the yearly safety and emissions check done.

Pony Killer

That super ram would be a bit over the top for a normal street aplication... especially since it's hogged out... you may wanna try to sell that sucker would give your budget i kick in the butt.

BTW... if you blew a head gasket it maybe prudent to go throught he bottom end.. that coolant destroys the bearings. with th emoney you recoup on the super ram you can do a rebuild on the bottome end.


I'd go with the Trick flow 23* heads and the Comp XR 269hr12 cam 218/224 duration. .495/.503 lift. and get some runners for it, maybe siamese the base up some.

IROC of 88

keep your super ram, get some pro action lightning aluminum 200 cc heads, and comp cams 280hr 224/224 .525/.525 cam, and some 1.6 roller rockers. heads and cam should be around 1100-1200 for that... leaves you with 1300 to rebuild the bottom half...

91Z28-350

Pro Action has no EGR passages. I think AFR is the only one that has, at least that I've come across.

SpectreGTA91

Yeah, Pro Lightning heads don't have heat risers. Othewise, I would've been all over the Pro-Lightnings. Those heads are a really good deal. The only heads that Pro-Topline makes are the Pro-Torker iron heads, and they only give 30HP increase over stock. I figure if I'm going to spend money on heads, I'll just spend it right.

It comes down to head size then. I'd like to get the AFR 195s milled down to 64cc to matched my hogged out Superram manifold, but are these heads too big for a 350? Would I be better off with the AFR 180cc heads with the intake ports opened up to match my intake base?

Thanks for the suggestions, keep em coming!

TRAXION

Go with a tried and true setup. AFR195s to match your superram and the GM HOT cam. That combo is good for low 12's. However, this setup wouldn't be complete without a higher stall torque converter. Get something equivalent to the PI and Yank converters .... around 2800 stall should do it nice and still feel very close to stock.

Tim

91Z28-350

Wouldn't the LPE219 work better for the SuperRam?

OMINOUS_87

The 219 cam is a great cam, but I will go out on a limb here and say that it by no means a magic cam. The word on street is usually that nothing else compares to it so dont think of running anything else in your SR motor, but I dont agree. The damn 219 is real expensive and kinda limits your ability to use a power adder in the future withought changing out the 219 for something else with more exhaust duration.

There are already examples of 11.9-12.0 second cars running the comp XR276HR-12 and a SR. Magnum TPI is one and David 91RS/Z28 is another, David 91RS/Z28 was first by the way for those of us who like to know who the true pioneers are, usually they are members of this board. I will be another on this list to run this combo, the comp cams XR276HR-12 and SR on my 383 but will not have any track data till September as it is 110 degrees on average here in Phoenix till then, plus I havent fired up the new motor yet.

Also listen to Trax's recomendation on the converter. The stock converter will limit the ability of your new setup, a 2800 Vig should be good for ~.5 in the quarter over whatever the new combo puts out with the stock converter. However it is not required right away, it could be installed later when more cash is in your hands.

Once you break into this range of power there is alot to be considered. Fueling, tuning, suspension, drivetrain, etc... If you go this route you will be in the big-boys league.

Also here is some of the latest buzz on the 219 cam at the vette forum.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=589401

camarojoe

Good link, Ominous. I actually had read that post a week back when nobody had responded. I was wondering why also, since everyone there seems to love the LPE cams. They probably were shocked that it didn't make more power than the zz-9. But if you look closely at his mods you notice he is NOT running AFR's or Lingenfelter ported D-ports. Trickflows do not flow near as good as either of these heads on the exhaust side, which would negate the gains which could be had from running the LPE 219 (single pattern) cam. Therefore this info may be somewhat meaningless to most guys on that website since almost everyone runs AFR's with their superram setups, and most of them run 11's with their AFR/SR/219 setups.

I'm going to be somewhat of a guinea pig with my car. I'm going to run the cam in my sig with a heavily ported SR and I'm going to message the AFR's also. I'm going for high 11's at around 115 N/A. And this time I'm having a lock racing shop put the shortblock together, so my chances of having a dog of an engine are slim to none.

camarojoe

SpectreGTA,
Sorry, I forgot to give you my opinions on what heads to get. Look into getting the AFR's for your combo with the $$ you have. They're the best quality I've seen and they can be ported to make more cfm per intake port size than practically any other 23 degree SBC head. Remember velocity is just as important as cfm flow, that's why AFR are the best, IMO. These heads are perfect for a SR setup and out of the box I'd go with a cam with about .555 lift. A lot of people like the 219 cam, but it's a little mild to me for a 383, but it'd be great in a 355. I'd also recommend a single pattern cam with these heads and intake, regardless of what other people have run. The vette guys are way ahead of what people run here with dual pattern cams and SRams. Most of them do use 219 cam. Good luck.

Joe

OMINOUS_87

camarojoe

The vette guys also weigh in on average at least a couple of hundred pounds less then the thirdgens along with the fact they can hook like mothas out of the hole where we tend to blow off our tires.

Those reasons have alot to do with why they run faster mod for mod.

camarojoe

I didn't forget to figure weight in on my statements, I know how much vettes way. Both f-bods and vettes hook the same when running drag radials or slicks. I don't know of either type of car that runs good times with a superram and street tires, LOL. My point is not about vettes running a couple of tenths faster, but rather what combo works best with the superram.

SpectreGTA91

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to go ahead and order the AFR 195s today. I have to still decide on going with the HOT cam, the LPE 219 or the Comp XR276HR-12.

On the comp cams catalog, it says the XR276HR with 112 LSA is intended for modded 350 TPI engines. If I go with this cam, would I lose a lot of power down low? I'm eventually going to go with a higher stall but after doing this engine work, I won't have money left over for a stall for another 6 months to a year.

camarojoe

SpectreGTA, good choice on the heads, you'll be most happy. About the cam, I would suggest you run a single pattern cam with the superram. Ski_dwn_it is running a superramed 406 witha single pattern solid roller (242/242 dur.@.050) and stock AFR heads, his 1/4 time is 11.1 at 124. He's putting down 430rwhp. That should be all the info you need when selecting a cam for your setup. I'd recommend the 219 and I actually will have one for sale as soon as I get my engine apart. Let me know if your interested. It will be ready to ship by the end of this month. It's a perfect cam for a 350 superram engine. I'm switching to the cam in my sig, since I have more CI, although many love the LPE cam in 383's. I want my engine to be a little more extreme, though. Good luck with the engine buildup and pay extra attention, to the shortblock assembly. Make sure you get the engine bored w/ a plate, and I'd recommend getting the block decked to help out w/ detonation. Good luck.

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

The XR276HR-12 is an AWESOME cam. I run that cam in my tuned port motor. See sig. My motor has ALL you want down low, torque is not a problem!

OMINOUS_87

If it were my choice I would only consider the XR276HR-12 Vs. 219, I would probably leave the hotcam out. To my knowledge the fastest 350 NA Superram thirdgen is David 91RS/Z28. He is running a 350 ported SR with the XR276HR AFR 190, 12.0@114mph. Buckeyeroc is running a 350 SR 219cam AFR 190, 12.4@109.5mph, JohnnyIroc is running similair to buckeyeroc but with 383, 12.2@113.

All those numbers are well and good but there are still other factors to consider that are different between those combos: trans, stall, exhaust, tuning, etc...

Both the XR276HR and the 219 have potential for high 11s.

I made my choice and am running the XR276HR-12 cam in my 383. Single pattern cams are great for cars with very high flowing exhaust ports in the head and real great exhaust system to back it up, your exhaust system is good but not great. I like to have a little bit of extra exhaust duration for combo flexibility, such as the 100 shot I will probably run. You wont be giving up anything in the low end TQ department with either cam, so dont worry. As for the little more intake duration with the compcam, I am sure that your AFR 195s and ported SR wont mind it at all.

The XR276HR-12 will also give your car a nice lope and a killer sound at idle, the 219 cam sounds a bit mild.

I vote again for the XR276HR-12!

SpectreGTA91

Sounds good to me... I'll be running original SLP Tri-Ys to dual cats, and a flowmaster exhuast. I think I will go with the Comp XR. Now, to the party pooper part of this equation. The reason why I was thinking about the GM HOT cam was because I know that it can be tuned to be able to pass emissions. With the proper PROM tuning and if I keep all my smog equipment, can I pass with the XR276HR? I've read the article about Magnum TPI in GMHTP about them using the same cam in a 396 motor and massing NJ emissions so...

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that cam "can" pass emissions with the proper tuning.

The cam that was used in the Magnum TPI car was NOT the XR276HR-12. It was a custom grind that had almost identical numbers, but that particular custom cam had a 114 LSA and 110 ICA. The XR276HR-12 has a 112 LSA and 108 ICA.

It would be easier to pass emissions with a 114 LSA at the sacrafice of a little HP.

Mike

OMINOUS_87

All of the above mentioned cams will pass emisions as long as there is a cat in the exhaust system and the car is tuned properly.