I am narrowing my Heads and Cam search down and was wondering if I would see any additional power from ported LS6 heads as opposed to LS1.

Katech sells State 2 LS6 heads and I am thinking about those.

 

I'm in the same boat and would probably go with LS6 heads on a h/c job....btw, how much are the heads?

 

$3380.00 with LS1 head exchange, includes Heads, Cam and Ported Throttle Body.
http://www.katechengines.com/

Here's the numbers:

Stainless steeel. intake valve - 2.020"
Stainless steel exhaust valve - 1.575"



[Modified by wave_3, 3:13 PM 1/7/2002]

 

Yes, ported LS6 heads will give you about 15 or so additional rwhp over similarly ported LS1 heads.

 

Aggressively ported LS1 heads will yield you between 5-7RWHP for the same LS6 heads. If you have LS1 heads go with them ported, if you have LS6 heads go with LS6 ported. Unless you don't mind paying the $1300 for the LS6 core charge then swap your LS1 heads out. Notice that Katech requires an exchange of LS1 heads for LS6 heads and more money.....I had to struggle with this until I saw the flow numbers....then I didn't worry about it. 10-20 RWHP will come down to the driver.

Just ask ARE they will steer you into the right direction...or MTI...or Cartek...or MMS...or (not)HMS...or Norris Motorsports..LG Motorsports...DRM...Lignefelter..Mallett .oh I got carried away sorry.

It comes down to the money....some people pay $700 for an air cleaner and don't think twice about it.

 

I had ported ls1 heads and really did not like the way the car felt.. I will be taking them off in the next day or two and porting a set of LS-6 heads.. I will let you guys know how they work.. I have heard anywhere from 15 to 20 rwhp more from the LS-6 heads..

 

I'm looking forward to hearing about the results :D

 

Buck ... trust me, he's a picky one .... :D The guy who did his heads, supposedly frogged up. :confused:

 

I pretty much narrowed it down to the ARE Stage 2 or the Katech LS6 Package. The extra few hundred for the LS6 heads doesn't bother me.

Has anyone used the LPE Heads? They seem pretty inexpensive for something that LPE sells.

 

Ditto on that.

 

Peak numbers may go up a little on the LS6 heads. Your curve will get fatter as well. Your propensity to detonate will also be diminished by the combustion chamber design.

All in all, the LS6 head is a better design. The LS1 is such a good design though that this will not make that big of a difference unless someone is looking for the hands down ultimate setup. Of course, deep pockets helps the matter also. :yesnod:

 

Do you sell ported LS6 heads?

 

Yes Sir, we do! We don't have any cores for LS6 heads, but we have done customers LS6 heads. If you can shedule ahead of time, we can turn them around pretty quick also. :)

Let me know if you have any questions about them. I would be more than happy to answer them.

 

With you being over in northeast Ohio, I would suggest you consider Lingenfelter. He did the engine build on my car and with the LS1 Heads and Cam package and programming I dynoed 386 rwhp. This was on a new, unbroken in engine. The driveability and performance has been great. The torque curve on his dynograph is very smooth from 2500 rpm to 6500 rpm. Some tuners use a little more aggressive cam than LPE but the smoothness of his torque curve is great. Good Luck with whatever decision you make.
Whiteboy=LPE for Me, lol :chevy

 

Chris...did you ever get the programming corrected on your car ? I know when you sent it out yourself and not having the shop that installed the heads doing it it cam back not right. Even with this "poor" programming running 12.0's is not too bad, especially since you did not put too many runs on the car to "feel it out" with the heads and cam installed.

 

The LPE heads I saw looked like a real hit and miss proposition or maybe all stage 1 heads are. I got the stage three heads with 1.60/2.08 valves I think. I didn't install them yet but I see there was a lot of work in them compared to others I have seem. I think you can do way better than Katech price for better heads from other tuners. I wouldn't bother buying LS6 heads if you don't already have. Unless your on an unlimited budget. I didn't do heads before because I would rather wait and get what I wanted than settle. Thank goodness I got them as a gift. I don't know what mine were but I a surethey were expensive.

 

That's just WRONG. Not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight...

 

John, Don't have any idea what heads you saw from LPE that you thought were hit and miss?? I will tell you I am no expert on heads myself! With that same thought I will say to you that I have toured LPE facility on three ocasions and the high tech machine work and hand crafted combination of work that goes into LPE heads is anything but Hit and Miss!! Thinking you missed your call on that one. There are many excellant supporting vendors on our forum that produce excellant results on a H/C package. LPE is one of them. When considering a H/C package price is only one of the considerations to think about. Geography is one, and price is one and quality of service is also very important. IMHO!! Sincerely Whiteboy :mad :mad

 

Guy some of the posts here I disagree with, in particular the ones vouching for the ported LS1 head route. Here are the examples why a guy with stock LS1 heads should go ported LS6s:

1) All factors kept constant (cam, head porter, tuning, etc...): the ported LS6s on 346cid should net one 15-20 flywheel hp bonus.

2) That #1 advantage gives the LS6 ported head C5 owner more options such as forfeit the hp advantage over the ported LS1s, and use a milder smoother more discrete sleeper cam. In other words, let's say you have a 120mph trap speed objective, well the one with ported LS6 heads can do it with a smoother more docile cam than the guy with ported LS1s. Worth it for the small premium.

3) The small price premium is $1400 for bare LS6 heads minus $500 if you sold your fully assembled stock LS1 heads. Net $900 premium!

4) By buying LS6 ported heads you have less downtime since you can drive around while the LS6 heads get ported and in one weekend swap the heads. In as little 2-3 days you will have transformed you car into a beast versus those guys who port the heads that came with the car and end up waiting 2 weeks to 6 weeks to get the job done.

5) As a corollary to #4, having your original heads pulled out and the shortblock exposed to the elements, dust, grit, and other stuff is always a bad thing. Not to mention with 2 to 6 weeks of the shortblock staying put, the chances of significant corrosion on the cylinder walls is great. Since the texture of the cylinder walls is critical for engine life, the impact at best nil but at worst detrimental to long-term engine life.

6) While the benefits of LS6 heads versus LS1 heads are 15-20 peak flywheel hp on a 346cid, the advantages I think are even greater with boost and/or big cubic inch mods. So the benefits are good off the bat, but later when you say stroke and bore the motor to say 420+cubes the differences may be 25-30 flywheel hp! Which also means you can forfeit the hp advantages and go for a really driveable cam such as what LPE does for his 500hp 427cid smog-legal pkg.

7) 15-20hp for $900 sounds nice, but that's just the peak hp story. I think the LS6 heads have broad rpm band gains over the LS1s.

In short the LS6 head route is one of the best $$$ spent on making the LS-motors make lots of power. And last but not least, in a world of underdeveloped aftermarket go-fast parts, you can rest assured that the $900 premium spent to get the LS6 heads is well worth it since it's GM-designed.

 

Is this from your experience or is this what you think it will give you. (honest question as I do not know you)
The person paying the $900 premium for a few more ponies is not likely to leave a few ponies on the table so he can go with a smaller cam...IMHO

OK, I will go with that although $500 is a premium for used LS1 heads.

We currently have approximately 11 sets of LS1 heads on the shelf to be used as cores. There is no down time in either situation except for the install time. :)

See #4 :)

Again, is this from experience or is this a guestimate....
Although I think your numbers may be a little optomistic, I definitly agree with an improvement over the entire range. :yesnod:
GM also designed the rods, the PVC, the pistons, the rings, headlight motors, clutch hydraulics, etc. etc. that a few of us have had trouble with in the past. Although I think the LS1/LS6 engine is nothing short of amazing, just because it comes from GM does not automatically instill confidence in me. ;)

All in all, the room to grow in the cubes dept to fit the heads, I totally agree with. As for the benifits on the stock bottom end, I think they might be a little overstated here, but they are real and good! Whether or not this is the right mod for someone is pretty much based on that individuals situation and only that person can decide if it is worth it to him/her or not. :cheers: