zachzacharyzak

Trying to decided on some direct bolt on heads for my 1976 l48 corvette. I'm not looking into changing the cam (Just replaced the radiator and did the shroud twice not in the mood to do it again) My set up is very minor so far. Just an edlebrock performer intake manifold, new headers, and 650 carb. I've seen alot on the forum about different heads to put on it I was just hoping for a list of a few that would make it easy for me to decide and "easy" to install. Thank you!

bluedawg

I would figure that since you've got headers on the stock heads that you'll want to go with a straight plug head, I know that you don't want to pull the radiator to do a cam swap now, but 60% of the work is done with the heads off, I strongly urge you to change the cam while your at it. As far as heads go, on the l48 when I did the top end, I went with edelbrock rpms, they were fair priced and performed as such. I don't know what I got to the rear wheels before the cam change(like you I didn't want to do the cam at that time, did it later and after all the work wish I'd done them at the same time) but after the cam (xe262h), wiand action plus intake and 1.6 rockers, I got 260 to the rear wheels. I think that if I'd gone with better heads, afr, brodix or even edelbrock's better head I would have came in closer to 300 at the rear wheels and might not have built my 400". You'll want an intake runner in the 170cc to 180cc, but then the question you've got to ask your self is are you going to build a little bigger engine down the road like a 383" if so you'll want to comprimise now and go with a 195cc. So before we go to much farther, what is the goal and what are the future plans?

zachzacharyzak

I would love to make it a 383 but at this time I have hardly any time to start that (or the experience). My goal is for it to be fun 300 to the wheels would be great but I'd certainly settle for 280. The 76 was very well taken care of. Bought it off my mother in law. She had it since high school in 77. My main thing is to make it fun and original. Later on get a c5 and make that into a monster.

bluedawg

I'd go AFR 180cc and comp's xe270hr, performer airgap intgake, 2400 rpm stall and 3.55 or 3.7 rear gears, use a .015'' gasket between the heads and block. That would net you the smile to your face that would take a week to remove unless your mother in law comes to visit.

zachzacharyzak

Okay those seem pretty good. Any lower budget heads that I could keep the stock cam in for now?

bluedawg

Ok, so answer these questions:
*budget
*goal
*rear gear
*stall
condition of the bottom end.

so if you went with a set of heads for now, the out come will still be dependant on the head quality. Vortecs are a good low budget head that take a couple of extra parts to make them work. When I did the l48, I bought the 1.6 rockers to try and avoid doing the cam and al though the made a difference over the stock lift, the cam swap was night and day, then a little further down the road I put the 1.6's on with the new cam, again added more power, not huge gains with them but some. I am a fan of not skimping with the heads. You will have to change springs when you change cam's but If I were in your position, I'd buy afr 180's and either wait until i was in the mood to do the camshaft or put them on with the intention of doing the camshaft at a later date along with the valve springs and lifters. but honestly besides the radiator, water pump and timing cover there isn't much to going with the cam now, unless budget doesn't allow. If that's the case and the afr's are in the budget, go that way, just be sure to use the .015" head gasket, if the budget doesn't allow the afr's look at scroggin dickey perfomance for the upgraded vortecs that come with screw in studs and are clearnced to allow a little mor lift. Youd need to google them to see what other part's you'd need to go that way. I don't know if you can get the vortecs in the 58cc chambers but any direction that you could get you compression up would support a larger camshaft later on down the road. If you do end up doing heads and not came right away, buy a set of roller tip 1.6 to 1 rockers to add a little lift. Another option is to surf craigs list or ebay looking for deals, just be cautious of foreign junk. **Oh and a lot of members have use profiler heads which have been gain a good reputation on cf and flow about as well as afrs accourding to the manufacturers website and might be the way to go, but I've never used them yet.

terrys6t8roadster

I agree with bluedawg on the AFR heads. I took off a set of Dart pro 1s from my 350 and compared them to the AFR that were going on. The AFRs have a better flow porting, I was very impressed. Should of taken pictures. We even compared them to a set of old 2.02 iron heads, no comparison. With heads you get what you pay for.
Quoting someone smarter than me " All your power comes from your heads and cam combo".
Also I'm a firm believer in having the valve springs matched to the cam. If memory is still working, the mid 70's GM engines had soft cams and were notorious for rounding out lobes. [To much spring pressure = round cam]. T

zachzacharyzak

Okay so after thinking I'm going to to do the cam. To answer those questions
budget- 1000
goal 275-300
rear gear stock
stall stock
condition of the bottom end good
I'm not very good at selecting all the parts I would need to fit my budget in that price range so part numbers would help alot

bluedawg

I strongly recomend a roller cam, but it don't fit the budget. So:
vorted heads from scrogindickeyperformance. (no more than 64cc chambers.
xe262h cam, lifter and spring kit.
.015'' steel shim head gasket.
performer rpm intake for vortec heads.

When budget allow:
2200-2400 rpm stall converter and shift kit.
3.55 rear gears.
1.6 roller tip rockers.

Pretty much what i put on the top end of my l48 and made 258 rwhp. Camshaft break in is critical and using oil that will support the flat tappet camshaft is a must. You got them all picked out, tell us about them.

Silvertone

I really want to plug the ProFiler heads. I've got 195s on my 385. I spent weeks researching flow comparisons with AFR, they're just as good and $500 less! The only trick I found was mating my favorite old headers to the D shaped ports. A little welding and grinding...voila!

bluedawg

I don't have any issues with Profiler heads, just have never used them, I cant say that i've heard anything bad about them though.

zachzacharyzak

Would the vortec heads be compatible with the edelbrock eps manifold?

bluedawg

I believe that the vortec heads need an intake that matches both the port design and bolt pattern.

96 lt-4

Look for a used pair of performance heads.Trick Flow,edelbrock,Chinese no name,vortec,etc.I have bought 3 sets of used heads(trick flow 195,trick flow twisted wedge,and LT1 AFR 180's in the last year and never paid more than 650 for a pair.Ebay,craigslist,local racers,etc.Local engine builders may have some laying around or know who just upgraded.

$1000 does not leave you much room (if any) after heads.Are you doing the labor or paying for it?

Heads with new springs and 1.6 rockers would wake it up a lot.Be prepared to do some tuning after to realize all the potential gains.Recurve the distributor also.

zachzacharyzak

Okay so I'm taking every ones suggestions and doing research to see what best suits me. How do you feel about top end kits?http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sm...model/corvette

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sm...model/corvette

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sm...model/corvette

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edelbrock-2038-Power-Package-Top-End-Engine-Kit-Chevy-5-7L-350-/261942919327?hash=item3cfd03c09f&vxp=mtr

bluedawg

looks like it would make some power, but that cam will want gears and a stall converter. while your researching, look at scroggin dickey.

zachzacharyzak

When you say the cam will want the gears and the stall converter do you just mean for better performance or will it not run properly without that?

bluedawg

i just looked at the first link, but if i recall correctly the duration on the camshaft was 224 and 230 @ .050" with that cam I'd figure that you want 2400 rpm on the stall converter and 3.55 to 1 gears, it actually looked like a fair combo for the money, and if you used a .015'' gasket for the heads you'd get the compression up to about 9 to 1 which would work with that cam shaft. the converter would help in two ways, the first is that it would bring you into the rpm range of the camshaft and the second would be that the rpm wouldn't drop so much when you put it into gear. the gears the same it would help you get into the rpm range of the cam quicker. When you go up in duration usually you loose a little bottom end in trade for top end. the stall converter and gears would take away the low end loss by getting you to the rpm range sooner if not instantly. If you look at the rpm range of the combo on the first link, it states 2400 to 6000 rpm probably makes good power up to 5500 5600 rpm and levels out before it starts to drop off.

zachzacharyzak

okay so to get the best bang for my buck with the first one i should purchase those 2 things as well? However if i didn't (at this time) i would still notice an improvement overall correct? What about the other links?

96 lt-4

Keep it simple if you are relatively new to this.It is easy to get caught up in the modification game.Especially when this mod needs this to support it and that one needs something else also.Then you have spent a ton of money and have a car that is not as fun to drive and you are burnt out on it.

Pick a set of aluminum heads with 64cc chambers and the intake runner size in the 170-180cc range.Get some 1.6 roller rockers to go with it.Swap them on and consider headers as an option to get the most out of it even if done later.

For that matter recurve your distributor(or buy an aftermarket one with a performance curve built in) and put some headers on it as well like it is and you may decide it is fast enough.Even if you decide to mod it further those two mods will enhance anything else you do.