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Options for heads.

Wunjee

Wunjee

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29 Palms CA
'Evening!

I picked up my first K5 recently. Really nice rust free California truck. '88 with 120k miles. Got a really good deal on it. But its got a bent valve on #2 and I'm looking for head options.

I know a lot of guys run Vortec heads. I know the OEM intake won't work with Vortec heads. Is there an intake that'll work with the Vortec heads and the stock OEM TBI? Still has to pass SMOG since it's in Cali so it needs EGR.

Besides Vortec heads are there any other good options to keep it inexpensive but make more power than the OEM 350 heads?

Thanks in advance!
 
Vortex heads are outdated by a decade. Literally any aftermarket head is better
 
The cost of the Vortec to TBI intake is quite high.
I would check out other options, but I would also question if it is worth it in a smog compliant application. Are you going to end up going down a rabbit hole of tuning an antiquated OBD1 system? What are your anticipated uses of the truck? Will stock performance suffice?
 
The truck is going to be a Sunday cruiser/occasional daily driver. A toy basically. I'm not looking to send hp/torque graphs to the moon, I was just thinking that while this needs to be done, something a little hotter than stock would be good. But if stock is the name of the game I'm totally fine with that too.
 
Wunjee said:
The truck is going to be a Sunday cruiser/occasional daily driver. A toy basically. I'm not looking to send hp/torque graphs to the moon, I was just thinking that while this needs to be done, something a little hotter than stock would be good. But if stock is the name of the game I'm totally fine with that too.
Click to expand...
I always go for more than stock. But I don't have to comply with smog stuff.
That changes things quite a bit.
I would suggest that you look before you jump.
Otherwise you will be staring at an LQ4 swap in minutes...
 
Just throw stock heads on it.

Vortecs won't be legal (no EGR) and will need OBD1 tuning and on and on.

An LS swap or stock I say, given your circumstances.
 
Either stock replacement, or iron or aluminum aftermarket will be great. Aluminum has the weight savings if you prefer it, but at a little more cost.

The question is, why does it have a bent valve? That is not a normal failure mode for stock engine, those will usually float the valves before it hurts anything. Its more common to have carbon buildup or just a leaking valve that needs a valve job than a bent valve.
 
Edelbrock has a set of aluminum swirl port 87 - up heads with bigger valves than stock swirl port heads. They are 50 state legal too. PN# 60859

060859_v1_3.jpg
 
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World Products Torquer heads are 50 state legal. Sure made the Jimmy wake up at least. I agree with Folkenheath, why the bent valve? I would be looking at your cam, pushrods and lifters as well to make sure the problem didn't originate there. Just make sure you find the root cause before you throw money at it.
 
Thanks for all the great info! I think I'm just going to take it back to stock for the time being.

We've already replaced all the lifters and pushrods. After we did that we found a rocker stud pulling loose and that was when my buddy decided to check for a bent valve and sure enough. He shoved a scope down into it and said he didn't see any damage to the cylinder itself but we'll see when the heads come off.

The guy I bought it from was the original owner. Said his grandson borrowed it a couple of years back and when it came back it was running badly. He didn't drive it after that except to smog it - and it actually passed smog. We found 3 or 4 broken pushrods and one lifter that'd been unseated and was free in the valley.

I can only guess that an 18 year-old with a V8 made poor decisions and beat up an otherwise nice 125k motor...
 
Stock TBI heads are the worse heads GM ever made. They bring the suck.
If it were me, I'd go with the Torquers or some Edelbrocks.
 
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