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best heads for towing and mpg

michael0584

michael0584

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The valve guides on my 882 heads are worn and causing my K10 to smoke while idling. I do not want to spend any money on the 882 heads so I am looking at either Vortec or TBI heads. I know the Vortecs will give me more HP but all I really care about is low end torque for towing and MPG. I am leaning towards the tbi heads just because they are cheaper and much easier to find. Seems like everyone thinks the Vortecs are gold plated and they seem more prone to be cracked. I know I will have to buy a new intake either way. Should I just go with the TBI heads or hold out for a deal on Vortecs? I think either one should be a nice upgrade from the 76cc 882s. My motor is a 350 bored .060 with a towing/rv cam and quadrajet.
 
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Tbi heads are just as prone to cracking and flow horrible. 882,993,441,487 are only good for hobby stock racing. Get Vortecs. Not new from GM ones but greasy ones off a 96-99 chevy. The 062s are the best and you can Id them by the 3 small triangles on the end. They have velocity for tq and flow for hp. They are the best stock head or head in the 160cc size you can buy and beat many bigger heads but aren't lazy down low.
 
Keep in mind, the intake to swap Vortec to TBI/carb is a bit pricey if memory serves. But, the Vortec heads will outdo any pos TBI heads hands down no questions asked. But honestly, you would really benefit from yanking the entire Vortec motor, and doing as I call a el cheapo rebuild. Rings, bearings, and of course the required cam and valve springs. Hone it yourself and your ready to rock with quite a bit more HP/TQ over a carbed or TBI motor. Even with a stock cam they were leaps and bounds ahead of the motors before them. And, you can still buy the intake to slap a carb on it and no one would be the wiser that it isnt a stock motor except for keen eyes spotting the centerbolt valve covers.
 
the tbi's are centerbolt too
 
I dont think the tbi heads are nearly as bad for a street truck as everybody makes them out to be.

An engine builder near me has been building a 350 with flat tops, STOCK tbi heads, and a comp 260. These are carbed motors, and pull hard all the way to 5k.
 
Does anyone still use the s/r torquers? Wouldn't have to switch to an expensive manifold...
 
I haven't heard nearly as much of the TBI heads cracking as the Vortecs, and I know they do make power.

An interesting dyno would be a set of TBI heads vs. a set of Vortecs back to back on the same motor. The ramp in the TBI heads is supposed to accomplish the same thing as the heart shaped combustion chamber, it would be beneficial to know if that's the case. If nothing else though, at any RPM that ramp should hinder flow, which *should* give the nod to the Vortecs. Kind of expected to find a test already done like that, but don't see any. Obviously the pre-TBI heads are at a very large disadvantage compared to even the TBI ones.
 
I'll call a few more junk yards today. And I am keeping an eye on. A set of rebuilt vortecs on eBay. I found a set of rebuilt tbi heads with 10k miles on them for $100. But I'll keep looking for vortecs. My motor has been rebuilt. I rebuilt it 7yrs ago and it probably has about 1000 miles on it now. It sat with about 2 miles on it in my blazer for 7yrs. I just put it in the k10 a few months ago and have now put some miles on it.
 
The Texas summer heat is moving in, so I've decided to leave the 882 heads on for now and go ahead and replace the valve seals as a temporary fix. I'll spend my money now on putting ac back in the truck. The vortec heads can wait till cooler weather.
 
I replaced the valve seals. All the heads had were the oring seals. I put umbrella seals on the exhaust and positive seals on the intake, and new oring seals on both. So far no noticeable oil burning.
 
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