yourbeat

hey guys, long story short. i baught my 2000 TA last yr, shortly after the car threw a rod. the warranty company paid for the motor swap. the shop who swapped the motor snapped exhaust manifold bolts off in the head and cross threaded #7 plug hole pretty bad. i didnt notice all this until i did my headers. needless to say these heads are jacked up and need to go. im in a jam because its my DD i saved for years to buy this car and this shop who did the motor reall screwed me...

im wondering if i should
A-buy 241's and leave them as is just to have good working heads before something more drastic happens bc my heads are jacked
B- buy 241's and have them worked over a little bit
C- buy 243's and leave them stock as is.

i need to go the most efficiant cost effective way as possible. doing all the work myself this time so i would like to gain some power for all the time and effort but more importantly i dont want anything more serious to happen to my car from driving with these current heads.

i have a tsp 224/227 cam and pac springs for .650 brand new already. i plan to install that down the road since i dont think i can afford all that goes with the cam swap along with the heads all at once.

with all that in mind who has some good advice for a younger and pretty new LS fbody owner??? any help is greatly appreciated!

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Buy a cheap stock casting head.. Have them milled and a lite port job and install them.

I suggest doing your springs while they are off... I would also recommend a set of ls7 lifters while they are off.

yourbeat

is it ok to install this pac springs now without doing the cam till later on? and stock casting head as in just get some 241's worked being the best bang for the buck?

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Yes, springs can go on now.

Yes, stock 241s worked is what I could run... They will only be slightly more than stock 243s but out perform them.

yourbeat

gotchya, ok then ill do the lifters and springs before i install them, then when i do the cam later i can do the rods, timing chain etc. im trying to fit a ls6 intake into the budget to while everything is going to be apart for the head install

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

Don't push yourself.. I can swap an intake in under an hour... First time you could still do it in under 2.

No reason to do that while the heads are off unless you just really feel the urge. Having the heads off isn't going to make it any easier really.

yourbeat

my buddy has a lift in his garage, i was going to just drop the motor out and lift the car off of it, then put the heads, intake headers etc on all at once then lower the car back down.

yourbeat

which is why it sucks i cant do the heads cam intake etc all at once because i could have it all done in one weekend, but stuff happens. i just dont want my baby to get any worse by driving around how she sits now

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

If it were me.........

I would skip the intake and get the last couple things for the cam swap...

All you need are push rods, timing chain, oil pump.. Those can be picked up fairly cheap (less than an intake).
I would even consider skipping the port work to complete the cam swap... Just get ARP heads bolts so when you are ready to port them all you have to do is buy new gaskets and the labor of removing/installing the heads.

If I went through all that, the car would have a cam in it.

yourbeat

you know what sir, you do make a valid point lol i know 2 big things with a cam is breathing, i have slp longtubes but i i didnt want to choke the car out with a cam running the stock shitty intake. but this isnt a very big cam by anymeans so you do make a valid point.

lemons12

iTrader: (71)

When I was 17 and broke... I installed in an Ms4/pacesetters Xpipe dumped/4400 converter at the same time. Few months later I added a ported 90/90... Then a month or so later 410s.. After than I bought some stg 1 PRC ls6 heads.

Just do what you can when you can.

Might not be optimal at the time, just have a plan in mind and work towards it.

yourbeat

i dont intend to go crazy, i was just planning to upgrade my heads, intake, cam....down the road a rear w/gears...i thought about spraying a 100shot down the road also. but i dnt want the car to be anything crazy i still want it to remain very streetable but have some ***** when i wanna mess around.

IllusionalTA

iTrader: (9)

I consider my car street able, get your duckets in order, do it all while its apart .. Don't take shortcuts . They'll only screw you in the grand scheme..