this is bluegrassz, i have a 89 rs changed over to 92 25th t-top z, with 350 tpi , viper blue with white stripes, just wanted to know if port and polish, valve work and milling will help stock tpi heads.

 

A good port and polish job will do you good but you have to make sure and get the three angle valve job aswell and if you are takin off the heads i would put them back on with ARP head stud kit and put on some fully roller rockers. summit sells them both the rockers are only 150 i think its a good deal!!

 

If you're interested in running stock or close to stock heads, let me suggest the Vette aluminum 58cc L98 heads. They're the same thing as the TPI 350 heads but with a smaller combustion chamber and aluminum. These are what come on the ZZ4 engines that people very commonly see 12's in. As far as playing with the stock heads, yea its a free mod, yea it will make power, but I'm not and I doubt that others are a fan of those heads at all.

Best of luck either way.

 

thanks for the info, im am going to pull the heads i think one may be cracked, water in the oil or it may just be a gasket, either way the heads have to come off, if one is cracked i may go with either vortec heads or afr 190's. how is the cost for head work compaired to new. limited budget

 

Head work is fairly reasonable depending on what you want done.

When you order a set of AFR heads you get to choose all/any options you want as far as components or machine work from the factory, they'll tap for temp sensors, the'll pocket them for springs, do anything pretty much.

I think decking a set of heads should be around $100, get a spring compressor and you can do any/all assembly yourself. A die grinder and you can do some machining. The only thing you can't do is hot tank, guides, and decking (for the most part)

good luck

 

I would say that if you want affordable power I would go with the vortec you can get new heads for bout 400 a pair and get your intake matched to the vortec style heads or you can buy a new TPI base that bolts right up to em. but i got the fealing that will give you the most bang for your buck. remember to replace all gaskets as you go. if you want higher compression get the heads milled or use racing head gaskets and Arp studs but there are ways to get around it. I do not like using aluminum heads myself due to the fact if you overheat it once you have the chance of total meltdown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

haha

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

There are more than enough production cars with aluminum heads to suggest that they're perfectly safe by now.

Granted you can warp them, but you dont just have to over heat, you have to be a flaming idiot

they're safe if you're carefull

If you're going to melt aluminum heads, you'd be beyond the point of damaging cast ones.

 

not a flame, just fyi...

the vette heads are way different. they use larger D shaped exaust ports, and the intake ports are larger than the iron heads.

 

bah


It was my attempt at a "quick" post

 

If I go with aftermarket heads, cast or aluminum, which heads can I get and still use the stock tpi base. its not that I dont want a aftermarket intake, but if I ported and polished the intake and runners, I could use the money to go for the new heads. building on a budget sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am working on an S-10 with TPI. I have a nice core out of an 89 1-ton truck. I plan on installing the LT1 roller cam setup, but I'm not sure about the heads. I can't use the Vortecs since they are missing the one exhaust manifolt hole. Does anyone know if the stock truck heads work well with TPI, or should I turn them in as a core for another set of center bolt heads. Which iron casting should I stay away from?

 

Im not sure but I think the best castings are the 906's