My dad is willing to let me swap heads in the near future on my 355 sbc. He isn't keen on getting new heads but rather looking at a salvage yard that we go to for some old, good casting heads. Most of these heads will be from the muscle car era, so the castings will probably range from 60's to early/mid '70s. What castings should I look for and what machine work should I be willing to look at to take one of these heads and make them really incredible and get a lot of horse out of them? Also, is anything required in a head swap, or is it basically just unbolt old heads, put on a new gasket, and drop in new heads (besides the obvious of adjusting valves and such). The current cam I have is a Crane Cam 272 Energizer. Thank you for your help.

Vortecs beat the pants off any of the older heads,,,and no machine work needed,of course you have the expense of self aligning rockers and a new intake. Aw c'mon dad graemlins/hurray.gif

I would go with what Bob said, they will be
cheaper in the long run to boot. Machine work
gets into $ in a hurry on heads.

By the time you take an old set of Turbo heads or camel humps, magnaflux, mill them for flatness, get hardened exaust seats,a good valve job,new valve guides, new valves, springs,retainers,and keepers, you could have enough rapped in them to have bought a new pair of dart iron eagles, sportsman II's or somthing similar. you could port the hell out of those old factory heads and never get the performance of the aftermarket head. So watch where you spend your$$$

Why doe's your dad want inferior flowing heads that will cost more in the long run and make less HP :confused:

Originally posted by thrasher:
Why doe's your dad want inferior flowing heads that will cost more in the long run and make less HP :confused: I think because he doesn't really know the difference. He may think that these old heads will provide 'sufficient' horsepower over machining my current heads. Of course, there's no such thing as 'sufficient' horsepower to a teen like me! I'm sure that with you guy's input I'll be able to sway him into some nice heads though. What are the best heads to get new and machine to get some good horsepower? I've read Sportsman II's with some pocket porting can be amazing. Assuming my current 2-bbl 355 is around 245 HP with stock heads, any estimates on what some of those heads would give me? Of course, I'd switch to a 4-bbl if I got new heads..

If you do go with Vortecs, keep in mind that you'll need to verify that they will allow the lift of your cam. You may need to change to Z28 springs and different locks/retainers.

It depends on how much cam you want to use.
You should also consider where you want to go with the motor.
If you don't plan on using a cam that is bigger that say a Comp XE274H then you should take a serious look at the GM Vortec or the Pro Topline Vortec heads.I would lean tward the Pro Topline.
Look at this
http://www.chevelles.com/forum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=017528

The GM Vortec will need a bit of machining when you get to good valve lifts.I am not an expert on the Vortec head by any means.I would do a search on them.If you can't find the info you need post a question.You will get a reply from someone who knows that's for sure.I have heard that you can also buy them new from a dealer(Scogin Dickey I think)with the machining done.

Thanks for all the info guys.

If this actually goes through, is a head-swap a simple change of gasket and bolt the head on, or are there other issues I should be aware of?

ditto on wasting time,money and long hours porting and machining old heads!i started porting a set of camel-humps and after the 30th hour of tedious grinding i decided it would be a good move to buy some dart iron eagles.i have heard things about converting the vortecs to fit older blocks or something about the intake manifold bolt pattern or angles being different from older heads,so you might want to ask someone about these things before you commit.personally,if you're not going too radical,you might consider the sportsman II's, sr torquers or the street/strip iron eagles...i'll be the first to admit i'm not very knowledgable about the possible pitfalls of the vortecs.no offense guys!

The GM Vortec and the Pro Topline Vortec requires a manifold made for them.Right now I believe the only company offering intakes for them is Edelbrock.
You can get the Performer,RPM,RPM Air Gap,and the Super Victor.

Keep reading the link I posted above for more details about SBC street heads.Look for my posts and the replies that MikeS gives.

I'm prety sure the PRO Topline Torker 202/160 head will make more power than the World Products S/R Torquers.This may be a rout you might want to take if you didn't want to purchasae a special intake for the Vortec heads.

I think the GM Vortec and the Pro Vortec has a more efficient combustion chamber though.