Many have done P&P heads. Some shaved to increase compression. My question is: How about if I do a cam without doing the heads? What am I missing? I understand the $ savings by doing them at the same time but $1,200 for heads just does not seem cost effective to HP gain.

Your thoughts & experience appreciated.

 

Lots of people just do a cam and leave the stock heads till they put in a bigger motor, or maybe just want the extra 35-55 rwhp. The cam by itself is going to give a bigger gain than the heads will... Usually 50-75 rwhp from a good cam like our C cam (236/238 on a 112, .605/.608 lift), or our S cam (238/242 on a 113, .610/.615 lift). You'll notice a significant gain from just doing a cam.... Heads after a cam install are more like, you can tell a difference, but it's not a huge difference.

Chuck @ HPE
281-448-1300

Horsepower Engineering
Mon-Fri: 9-7
Closed Weekends

 

Chuck is the expert, but you can see significant gains from heads after a cam install. I did cam only, then did a decent set of ported heads and saw another 30rwhp on top of the cam. Cam is more bang for the buck, so if you had to choose one or the other I think the cam is the way to go. Looking at it like that, the $1200 for a set of heads is not as cost effective. However, if you had a cam, you are not going to get 30rwhp more unless you drop the $1200. Cam only and you are in the 400rwhp range, heads and cam and you are 430-450rwhp range. Individual results may vary

 

I'll be interested to see the results of the new 6.2 litre heads GM Perf is coming out with for $750 a pair fully dressed flowing 330 at .600 out of the box - now you need a manifold too but that is only $475 including a fuel rail with 60 lb injectors. This from this month's GM High Tech Performance and Hot Rod.

That is a smoking deal. AFR must be shaking in their boots.

 

One word. Velocity. AFR will probably make more power with less cfm.

 

I think you are stuck on Dyno sheets and HP numbers. Heads will give you more mid range torque and let your car make power quicker. While they may only add 20 Hp peak on a dyno, they may very well give you .4 on the race track. Do you want to go fast or have a pretty dyno sheet? Get the heads with the cam, you will save a bunch of money, it will cost you less if both are done at the same time. HP is not cheap, and your old heads can be sold for $300-$400 so subtract that money.

Dave

 

Who is buying heads for $300-$400 ?

 

A pretty dyno sheet to me is one with a big flat TQ curve. I pay very little attention to the HP numbers.

 

Thanks guys. Will continue to evaluate.

 

John

When I added heads/cam I went from 340 rwhp to 443 rwhp. I have AFR 225 heads and they cost me $2600 from Andy at A&A. The labor was a non-issue since they had to take everything off to do the cam.

Come on, we old guys need to stick together. Do the heads/cam, then you can do the supercharger

Jeff

 

 

You don't remove the heads to do a cam. You can change springs with the heads in the car very easily.

 

You can sell the 243 cast heads all day long for $350 at ls1tech.com, $400 if you wait it out.

I had a set for sale a month ago and 5 people wanted them for $350. One was from the C5 section on thie board.

Dave

 

Questions:
1. That's $2600 for heads alone, or with the cam also? Installed price?
2. What about heads / cam without headers vs. with headers? Trying to tame the sound.
3. Jeff, what is your cam like in the spectrum of mild to wild?
4. I'd considering heads with a mild cam, no headers...how much power, cost?

 

Tell me more

 

Hey JT

If you want to be cost effective how about 1.85 rockers & replace the stock valve springs parts are appoximately $1,000.00.

If you are going to get crazy then you might as well plan your modifications out piece by piece. The car has been out two years now so you will not have to worry about being a guinea pig.

 

Here's more than you want to know:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=499059

Basically LS7 heads (almost) for bargain basement price. AFR's are $2,600 for heads alone. The Patriot 5.3 CnC ported milled heads I had were $1,100 I think and flowed the "magic" 300 CFM on the intake. Most, including me, would tell you to not bother with heads and cam if you're not doing headers. It's like cramming a potato in your tailpipe. There are non-header cams around but they are designed for emission states that have to keep the cats and manifolds.

Here's a big write up on heads/cams I did a year ago if you are interested:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...um_id=1&arch=1

You really should drive a cam car before you take the plunge. I'm not going cam this time in my daily driver (at least not for a while, but I do hate going this slow!!!). I'm just going with headers and gears, they provided the most SOTP satisfaction in daily driving for me in my last car. A cam car is fast but has its downsides too.

We have good factory heads, I would not change them for my daily driving/light track use. Just not cost effective to me. You can get 400-420 RWHP pretty easy with our heads, once you go above this HP level NA drivability suffers in my opinion for daily driving. Plus once you go below 11.5 at our track all the rules change (just don't want a rollbar i a street car), and you can get to that level with cam, headers and gears.

I'll figure this on HP/Cost. Just a rough estimate:

Headers - 25 hp, $1.5k +
Underdrive pulley 10-hp, $250, free install with cam
Cam - 40-50 hp, $2.5k
Heads - 30 hp, $2-$3k if done with the cam
Tune - 20 hp, $500

I added 104 RWHP in my last car for about $6k with all the extras.

 

I'm with you man. Thanks.

 

Joe G,

Holly Mother of Information

I'll be reading the rest of the day.

Thanks

 

You might look at the PRC Street LS6 heads we offer them complete for 999.99 & they flow BIG air! The heads are built complete cnc with a cnc valve job!
http://www.texas-speed.com/shop/item...d=649&catid=20

Checkout the flow data & videos of the cnc seat & guide machine.

If you use your cores it will only cost $650!!

Jason
Texas Speed