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Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

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Old 10-10-2007, 06:56 PM
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Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

Ok, i am buying an engine from a 80 camaro to put in mine, its almost stock exept it has a edelbrock dome and a accel supercoil. Now, i believe to have read on the site that some poeple have been using vortec heads of newer 90-98ish chevy pickups, is this a straight fit, does anything else need to be changed and as for power wise, those it give it lots of power for what you are paying or is their a cheaper way to do this, i can also get the heads off of a 305 h.o. (off 85 firebird) would these also work or is their something better for the price, thanks.
Old 10-10-2007, 07:18 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

would a 268/268 duration .454/.454 lift cam be too much for this, i would also like to change headers and possibly later change a holly 650cfm double pumper carb.
Old 10-10-2007, 07:19 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

a edelbrock dome


Leaving that aside....

The 350 out of an 80 Camaro would be a smooger turd of the most turdly variety; 8¼:, 882 heads, 929 cam, etc. The full smogger treatment. All 180 HP of it.

However, it's no diffferent from any other small block, as far as what will make it run good.

HEADS

The Vortec heads will bolt right up to ANY Chevy small block, 1955 on up; no ifs ands or buts. 17 head bolts per side. Done.

The only thing you'll HAVE TO change, is the intake manifold. "Vortec" is GM-speak for "we put the intake ports in a different place"; so all of this hooey you here about "drill the bolt holes" is just that, hooey. The PORTS don't match. So, if you "drill the bolt holes" instead of getting a Vortec-specific intake, it will have a discontinuity in the port that makes it smaller than what's already there.

I'd get the Vortecs, and an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold; and put whatever carb is on it, on it.

It'd be a good time to get rid of that joke 929 cam, but you don't have to; it's not that much worse than what the CPI (Vortec) truck motors came with.

I notice you say
90-98ish
From 90 to 95, the heads are an ABSOLUTE STEAMING BUCKET OF ..... organic fertilizer. DO NOT spend money to get those heads; in fact, I would shoot anybody on sight that I caught littering my property with them. But that's just me. I've hauled PILES of heads better than that, to the scrap yard. I've even paid somebody else to take them so I wouldn't have to bother with all the work and wear on my truck for $10 worth of cast iron. Let them enjoy it, an I'll enjoy having the trash gone out of my sight.

Vortec heads came on 96-up trucks, vans, etc. You can identify them by their casting numbers. They will end in 906 or 062. There are no others. There are no "almost as good". There are no "early Vortecs". People will even try to dose you with my all-time favorite, "pre-Vortec", which is an accurate description of ALL SBC heads from 1955 to 1995. Means nothing. If they're not 906 or 062, they're NOT Vortecs, and they're NOT worth the price of Vortecs, so DON'T pay Vortec money for them.

The 90-95 truck heads will be casting # 193. If you see those, then in the immortal words of Monty Python, Run Away!!

The 305 heads would be OK too, especially for one of those horrible deep-dish-piston low-compression 70s motors, but the Vortecs would be FAR FAR better. Just make sure they're REALLY Vortecs, and don't get ripped off. Seems to be happening alot these days.

No that old HE268 is not an appropriate cam for that combo. Good cam for its day; but we've learned a thing or 2 about cams since then. Not only that, but the running conditions for engines (FUEL) have changed since then.

Last edited by sofakingdom; 10-10-2007 at 07:25 PM.
Old 10-10-2007, 07:31 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

will exhaust manifoils bolt right up? I plan on putting headers anyway, probably hooker shorty's
Old 10-10-2007, 07:37 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

Yup. 6 bolts a side.

MANIFOLDS? Then it doesn't really too much matter what heads you get, they won't do anything. Go ahead and get the headers. Just make sure they ARE NOT specifically for LG4 cars.
Old 10-11-2007, 04:56 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

Vortec heads are notorious for poor exhaust flow. They like split pattern cams, nice wide split patterns are good.

I still want to know what an edelbrock dome is. That's all new terminology to me.
Old 10-12-2007, 03:36 PM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

lol sorry about that out here where i live that how we call the intake manifoil
Old 10-19-2007, 02:05 AM
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Re: Vortec heads on 80 z28 350

they require self aligning rocker arms too
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