HippieCustoms

Ok,, I am going to take you guys advice and buy some new heads, now which ones to buy? I know it has a lot to do with personal preferance, but I am not a chevy guy and am not sure which is the best road to go. So....what I have is a 21 foot Wellcraft Eclipse Cuddy. It has a 5.7-alpha set up. so far it has through hull exhaust and a performer intake and velocity stack K&N flame arrestor. With that it runs 53 on my gps with a 19 pitch cleaver turning 4600 r's. What I have to put in it already here at the house, just not on the boat, is a set of Stainless Marine exhaust manifolds and stainless risers, a set of crane gold self aligning roller rockers, and an extreme marine xm262 K kit. Now....I need a set of heads that will bring this all together. Was looking at the vortecs, know I will need an intake, was looking at the World Sportsman II's, also pro topline....etc...once again, I am not a chevy guy and need some more input..Would love to go from the 19pitch prop to a 23. Can I, or am I asking for too much? Any and all input will be appreciated.....Thanks, Hippie.

rws

iTrader: (3)

Hi,

There are a few of us Small Block Guys here, I run a 406 in my 20' Cigarette. The intake runners should kept small on a 350 I think that 180 cc intake runners would work good on your application Air Flow Research makes a 180 cc. and 195 cc. head in aluminum I have heard only good about AFR. I run 200 cc .Ported Dart Pro1 Aluminum Heads on my 406,But I have heard some negitive comments about pro 1's. I run an edelbrock Victor Jr intake,But the dual plane Performer will work fine up to 5500 I used to run one.Also try different props a cleaver is old school. Also you did not say if you run in fresh or salt water if it is fresh only then go with aluminum.Salt keep the iron.Also make sure that you have matching springs for your cam.As far a valves go
I have had good luck with Manley race flow intake and severe duty exhaust.However on my big block stuff I have Manley Inconal Exhaust valves.

Good Luck
Rob

olysan

I'd go with the vortecs unless you plan to stroke the 5.7 . Anything else would be overkill, and the 180cc runners of the vortecs will help your torque at low rpm. You'll want to run closer to 5000 rpm to get the most out of that cam. My guess is that you'll be able to spin a 3 blade 21 pitch prop around 5000 with your combo.

Mike

HippieCustoms

I do plan on stroking the 5.7 out to a 383, but not until next winter. I want to do this in steps. I have built a good number of cars and trucks and am always plagued by the "It doesn't feel as fast as it used to....." if I make some gains this winter and some more next, it will keep this fun for me. I am also ok with going with the vortec heads, I actually have a line on an intake for the vortecs, but am not sure if I should go for it. It is the cast iron pancake style gm for a quadrajet. It just seems to be too flat to me...If Im gonna run up around 5000, seems like the intake should have alittle rise...I may be wrong....Thanks and keep it coming....
Hippie

cuda

I considered Vortec for my SBC I'm building. I went with non vortec for the following reasons. I boat in salt water and cannot find a lined intake for the vortec, or a cast iron one because these heads were built for FI car engines. Also, you will have to do machine work to them if you plan on running a cam with over .480 lift.

I ended up getting some standard heads that had 2.02 valves and screw in studs. I don't remember which casting number I used, but the guy who builds them usually has several different castings available.

The cost of the heads was $350.

olysan

Well if you're going to stroke it.... let me tell you my experience.

I built a 406 using the vortecs. I've been happy with the performance, but I have a feeling that there's some horsepower tied up in there. I'm having them machined for bigger valves now.

They're a great value stock, but if you want more I think you'd be better off spending a little more up front on a World Products, or Dart head. Just make sure you go with the smaller volume runers.

Mike

traviss

if your plan on stroking it , you could use the AFR 190-195cc head. I run the 210cc AFR heads on my 383, but they need a little more rpm, mine will spin 6000-6200. But the AFR heads are a bit pricey


Travis

HippieCustoms

ttt

Liberator21

Hey Hippie!
GM Performance makes a High Rise iron manifold for the Vortec head. It's patterned after the Z28 aluminum manifold, and the non Vortec Iron version was used on the OMC 270 HP King Cobra 350. I'm using the non Vortec version on my 383. The part number you would need for the manifold for Vortec Head version is: 12366573. It's $187.00 from gmpartsdirect.com. This place has the best prices I found on GM performance parts anywhere. I bought my heads and manifold from them. Ground shipping for the manifold to New York was like $48.00! but what do you want, it's cast iron! The UPS guy hated me!

Paul

wetterthebetter

i have the sportman 2 on my 350 and picked up 8mph, but they are also worked a little, with a stock cam I used to have them on a 383 in the race car and they worked great i love them just my .02 worth
later stan