does anyone know where i can pick up a set of 262 turbo heads? it seems like these are the heads to get.
993 heads are all over the place, so if i cant find any 262 turbos, ima settle for them.
other than that any other ideas for a good cylinder head that has an OEM casting number?

if the "292" turbo heads are what you are referring to i think they are ultra rare and very scarce.the 462 (double hump)is a good oem head for extra pep.the 461 (double hump)is also good.the 461x is even better but very rare these days.one piece of advice though..make sure they are in "ready-to-run" condition before you buy or you could spend as much to rebuild them as just getting a new set of aftermarkets.also,some of them may have the small valve option but that can be to your advantage because of the possibility of sunken valves due to several past rebuilds.if so, you can have the larger 202 valves installed and it would be like having brand new valve seats when they are cut for the new valves.also,this would bring the valve height back to the original specs.

Isn't the Bowtie # II head a 292 head or what is as close to it as you can buy nowaday's???

pdq67

Or is that a # VI head??? pdq67

oh yeah,the 993's are "open" chamber heads that will drop your compression.other good "closed chamber" casting numbers are 291,040,186,414,492,041.most of these have 64cc chambers,the 461's have 62cc's,and a few as much as 67cc's.the 040 and 041's have a triangle(or wedge-shaped) stamp on the leading edge instead of the usual camel humps.hope this helps.

pdq67,the chevrolet 292 "turbo" head was released in 1973 with several improvements over the earlier angle plug heads.it was part# 3965784 with the casting #340292.the bowtie head was released in early 1980 with even more improvements over the others.

The 292 head was a "standard" big valve casting, that had some port work and angled plugs. Chevy said (at the time) that it was "...improved performance cylinder head within production casting and machining limitations." It WAS NOT a ground-up performance design, so much as a "tweaked" stock head.

So, yeah, if you're racing in a class that requires stock head castings, that could be a good choice if you have headers that'll clear the angled plugs.

The first "Chevrolet Power" book has a couple of pages of recommended modifications to that head. This book would have been released by Chevy in '75.

If you aren't restricted by a rule book, you'll spend LESS money for MUCH BETTER heads by going aftermarket.

just for the sake of conversation(and knowledge),i wonder how many of the CRANE TURBO FIREBALL cylinder heads were made? they were based on the 292 castings but were fully ported by CRANE CAMS INC.and offered polished combustion chambers and "excellent performance out-of- the-box." these would be a cool collectors item now.

BruteSBC asked about oem casting # which makes me think the heads he is looking for are for passing tech in a racing application. If this is the case, and you can use center bolt head, then the vortec are the best that a small amount of $$ can buy

well im really just looking for a good head that i can do some good porting to, and go with 2.02 valves. i didnt want to spend a whole lot of money so if vortec is the way to go, thats maybe do-able, what do they normally go for per pair?

Brute,

The vortec out flows any of the old heads right out of the box. To get a better head you will spend alot more $$. The vortec gives you the biggest bang for the buck. I paid about $650 for a brand new set from GM and then had new springs installed. The stock springs can not take a lot of lift. Itraded the vortec for a set of Pro Action which is an aftermarket vortec style that has a slightly thicker deck surface and the ports have rased bottoms to flow even better. These heads are about $800 complete, but I got an even trade due to the fact that the person I traded needed stock factory castings for a class of garvey racing he competes in. The GM heads were brand new and I never even fired the motor when I traded for the Pro Actions which were also new in the box so I can't tell you how the ran, but all the garvey guys swear but them. They get the flow from a stock casting without the big bucks modifing the older style just to get slightly more hp.

so if i call up any GM dealer they will have vortec heads for a pre 85 block accessable? if not how did you get yours?

thanks alot for the input its really helpful, it seems like vortec is the way to go.

also, where in new jersey are you?

thanks

mike

BruteSBC, you might want to check out the prices and vortec options at www.sdpc2000.com (http://www.sdpc2000.com) Look under engine components > cylinder heads > spdc vortec. Don't think anyone has better prices.