glassdave

iTrader: (1)

anybody have any experience with these. was looking for a few more bolt on ponies for my small blocks. right now i have fresh stock 260 long blocks with stainless tube risers and 4 inch thru hulls, weind dual plane 360 intakes, compcams 270's, stock merc t-bolt ign and q-jets. i have heard the vortech heads are good for 30 to 50 hp gain over stock and are pretty reasonably priced. i know there are better aftermarket heads but i would rather not sink that kinda coin in this boat as i will probably upgrade in the next year or so. was also thinking about alittle more cam along with the head swap. thanks all.

cuda

The intakes you have won't fit on a Votec head I don't think.

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

yep. hafta swap intakes too. not a prob if its worth the HP. am looking for about 325-350 HP or so. what about 1.60 rockers? will they help or hurt?

the boat is a 26 foot chris scorpion by the way for those that dont know. twin sbc's with alphas

articfriends

iTrader: (1)

Ive used the vortec heads on a factory stock circle track car ,our clas didn't allow aftermarket heads and they worked quite well.We re-drilled the head for a normal intake but there isn't much meat for threads near the water cross-over so it was sorta cobbed. Keep in mind they have really tall/narrow ports and don't line up well with many intakes unless you modify the intake or buy one of the new manifolds out specifically designed for them.They also come with push in studs and no guide plates,if i remember correctly they are supposed to use self aligning rockers. They are only about 220$ a piece new,fully dressed but if you buy them and add the cost of upgrading the valves,springs,retainers,adding screw in studs,guideplates and paying double for intakes that bolt on them they lose their savings over a decent turnkey head fast. If you were going to run them with a small cam and not miodify them at all they are a true bargain ,Smitty

cuda

You should be able to see that power without Vortec heads. The 350 Tempest motors came in a 300 hp stock, and the ill fated 320 EFI was right there. The Tempest and the EFI are the exact same engine, other than the FI. You will have to do some head work if you run a cam with over 480 lift.

I started out with a basket case 320 Efi. I thought about the Vortec heads, but decided to go with some regular 202's. I bought a set of them completely rebuilt for around $350. One of the deciding factors was I couldn't for the life of my find a cast iron intake for the Vortec.

Island Time

Dave,

Looking at doing the same upgrade this winter. What intake manifold are you looking at. I will probably go closed cooling for the salt water here as I haven't found any cast iron manifolds for those heads.

FlyFast

I do have a cast iron intake for the vortec heads. Hundred bucks and it is yours. I have the vortec heads with an edelbrock airgap on a 355 and it rips. I run full closed cooling so I don't need the cast iron intake. My vortec motor is a huge difference from the stock 350. For the money I think it is a good package.

bobl

I've built more than a dozen 350's in the last 2 years like you have. I use the Vortec heads & Air gap intake. Upgrade to the Crane 104224 Roller cam or the 113941 flat tappet hydraulic. I generally do a bowl blend on the heads. This engine will produce over 350 HP at 5000 RPM. You can't beat the Vortec heads for a mild 350.

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

great info guys, just what i was looking for.

bobl- i will look into that cam. those are the hp #'s i am looking for. looks like a good recipe to me.

island time and cuda- heres a link to Paceparts. they offer cast iron vortech manifolds for $164.00 as well as a bunch others for this aplication. i think i will go with the Airgaps though. i've heard the really work well. by the way cude do you still have the EFI stuff that was on that motor?

articfriends- do you have a website of where you get these heads. that sounds like a good price. they are $260.00 at pace.

flyfast- what are you running that motor in?

thanks again guys.

cuda

I wonder if that's a new product for Pace, because I remember looking for one on their site.