OnlyACamaroCanbeAZ28

Getting ready to do a Cam swap on my 98 Ls1 camaro. Car is currently stock other than longtubes with full exhaust and just bought a ls6 intake. Im using a ASA cam even though i know most here dont like the camshaft because of its low lift. its not a peak power cam but power under the curve and torque curve is pretty nice for a usebale street car imo. Im looking at possibly doing a set of stock 862 heads at the same time to bump compression. are they worth changing though and will there be any drawbacks such as ability to flow air at high rpms with the 862's? are they really owrth the cost of swapping in stock form versus my current 806's?

anheuserbusch08

iTrader: (11)

itll help but not much. better if u just invest in some 243s

garygnu

799 heads are good to.

anheuserbusch08

iTrader: (11)

those too

HCI2000SS

iTrader: (2)

I have the 862 castings (mods in sig) and they've ported and reworked by Texas Speed. They do pretty damn good modified like this, but not so sure about stock

OnlyACamaroCanbeAZ28

Yes i know the 243/799 castings are the best stock cathedral port head but im on a budget and $450 for those heads is a little much for me right now.

Have money set aside for the cam and all and dont think the heads would be a whole lot of extra work while im there . plus having them off gives me an excuse to put in some ls7 lifters too. Stock ls1 compression is 10.1 and the 5.3's 862's would put me at about the 10.9 from the math ive done. I know the 862's use a smaller valve so not sure if that would be okay to leave as it is or not. If they flow the same as a ls1 806 head im fine with that, just dont want to bump up compression and lose to much air flow. The asa cam is already not know to create high peak numbers but its great for useable power under the curve

Ive searched a lot but no one really uses these in stock form unless they are using boost so its hard to find research. Everyone says there great in ported form but if i had the cash to do that Id just buy a slightly bigger cam, torque converter and ported ls6 heads but since I dont heres where I am. By the way my main interest in these 862 heads is that I can get a pair of 85,xxx heads complete for around $100.

IF they flow basically the same and IF I can use the stock 862's valves I guess the question then becomes is the extra cost of new head-gaskets, valve covers (free,already have an extra set), and head bolts, worth the added .80 bump in compression? Whats your opinion?

mark21742

1 point gain in compression (10:1 to 11:1) gives an average 4% gain in tq and HP across the entire rpm range.

Milling is cheap and you might think about just pulling yours and having a shop mill .020"-.040" off of them and getting a good valve job.

Also if you pull your heads buy a new set of ls2 lifter trays. The last time I bought them I think it was around $14?

OnlyACamaroCanbeAZ28

I would expect the car with the cam, LT's and ls6 intake to make around 375 rwhp so using the approx 4% gain thats around 15 hp. Not a lot but i feel like the low end response in throttle would kind of make it worth it. the head bolts and gaskets wont run that much.

My original goal was to just do the cam right now but i picked up the ls6 intake cheap and saw these heads a friend had who I am buying some other parts off of for another vehicle. I have another LSX project im working on so this is just for fun and i want to keep it reliable although it has not been my dd for a while now and never will be again. The cost involved in milling and downtime really makes me want to avoid that route. The same goes with the 862 heads. IF I have to get a valve job on them and change out the valves, valve stems,and probably deck to ensure they are flat its going to kind of offset the original cheap price of them and really not be worth the cost imo.

If I can bolt on the 862 heads in stock form, pick up approx 15 hp, and have better throttle response im down for it. Really wish I could find someone else who has done this to check out there numbers.

Cra-Z Larry

Maybe leave your 806s on for now and just do the cam, then as the budget allows send the 862s out for a CNC and valve upgrade. Accumulate your parts then do the heads, lifters and possibly a thinner head gasket for even more compression later! Just a thought!! Good Luck!!

Bloombox1

I am doing that exact swap now I had a competition valve job done and upgraded the intake valve to the stock 806 head size. Mine are not ported but I had the ports glass beaded and I put in z06 valve springs. ill post some numbers when I am done.