CHEVY 350 HEADS... VORTEC?????

[KINGofKINGS28]

I got an engine over the weekend, and the guy I got it from says that it has vortech heads... so i have been looking around on-line and saw that vortec heads have the "saw-tooth" logo (wavy lines) stamped on the end of the head... so i take a look and these have 2 lines stamped at each end (looks like this -------> l l

anyone know what kind of heads have a stamp with that????????

 

[axisg]

pull off a valve cover and get the casting number. As well how many bolt holes are there on each side to bolt down the intake ??

 

[megaladon6]

if they're vortecs they will have centerbolt valve covers/

 

[Doober]

Vortecs will have 4 bolts per head for the intake, and the casting number will end in either 906, 059, 062, or 520. I got this info from Mortec.com (I thought it was only 906 or 062).

Did they look like this?

If so they're an older head... 333881, 74-75, 350, 76cc chamber, 2.02/1.60

 

[KINGofKINGS28]

I pulled the valve cover and looked at the cylinder head #. the # is 14102193


i looked around on-line and it doesnt look like this is a vortec head.. also the intake manifold thats on it is an edelbrock #2101. and that intake os not for a vortec head/ edelbrock has different manifolds for vortecs.


but the valve covers do have the center bolts. are there any other heads that have center bolt valve covers???????

 

[megaladon6]

86-88 350ci TBI injection "swirl port" heads IIRC they are a similar concept to the vortecs but not as good. but i think they are a decent head.

 

[KINGofKINGS28]

Thanks for the help...

im seeing that some people like them and some dont.... lol

the guy who had the engine said it ran perfect and only has like 7000 miles on it since it was rebuilt...


im not lookin for crazy *ss power, im not gonna race it .......

i opened the engine up and everything looked real clean...

 

[Doober]

You'll probably be happier with a set of Vortecs. The TBI heads are built to make torque down low, and (along with the small cam) seem to give up by 4k rpm. If you're into trying new things you could probably port the intakes bigtime (keep some of the ramp) and make semi-decent power. I put a set of Vortecs with a Comp XE268H cam in my '88 motor and can't believe the difference it made compared to the stock TBI heads it had on it previously.

 

[KINGofKINGS28]

so this guy is probally full of sh*t then when he tells me the engine has 300-325 hp???


he put and edelbrock cam in it... the engines a 1980...



i know basic stuff about engines, i just started to try to learn more about them......

 

[Doober]

Not necessarily... but he probably overestimated the output. It would still probably run pretty good with a cam, but the heads won't give much room to breathe up top. The Vortecs are done more around 6k rpm, maybe a little more if you port the exhaust, but you'll need to find a happy medium between power/streetability. My cam is near the limit far as a 'mild' street cam goes, going higher will start getting into a choppy/lopey idle. It still makes great power, and you could drive it in stop & go traffic without issue (I've done it before ).