I bought an LQ4 from a friend that has the LQ9 pistons and a 228R cam(228/228 .588/.588 112 LSA). I was planning on getting aftermarket heads or having some work done on the stock 317 heads, but I just don't have any more money to spend on the engine. So my question is how much am I losing out here? Will that be too much cam for the heads or isn't it a big deal? Engine is going in an S-10. This is my first LS build so any advice would be appreciated.

 

317s are decent heads. I know a guy going mid 8's on stock 317's with turbocharged 408 so they decent. You could try and sell those and perhaps pick up a set of 243s but that might be to high of a compression ratio for you. If you have a dremel tool, you could always try hand ported them yourself, their are books on it too for guidance

 

Heads make or break power potential of your engine. Fortunatly stock heads on LS engines are fairly decent, but there is room for imporvment.

I flow tested some 317s and 243s and they both put out similar flow numbers that my old sbc AFR ($1600) heads did 10 years, and you can pick up #317s for a few hundred!

Our trucks are very fun with these engines!

 

Alright thats good enough for me right now. I just want to get my truck on the road for the summer. If Im not happy with it, but I doubt I won't be, heads will be an upgrade a few years from now.

 

Thats what I did too.