Sorry I am a bit late, but you say your current heads flow "as good as stock 243 castings," which leads me to believe you still have plenty of room for improvement. I would recommend looking into some ported 243's from Livernois. I just bought a set of Livernois Stage 1 heads for only $800 (plus $50 shipping) during their December $200 off all heads promo. Their flow numbers are pretty good, comparable to the PRC 5.3 and LS6 heads but much cheaper. Even at the full price of $1000 plus $50 shipping, I believe you can achieve around 30whp over stock 243 like heads, which meets your price per HP requirement. ($1050 ÷ 30hp = $35/1whp). They also offer "stage 2" heads for $1399, they told me the only difference is that the stage 2 come with dual valve springs already. I already have a set of BTR platinums so I went with the stage 1s. Their customer service was great as well. Sorry I didn't notice this thread a bit sooner, I maybe could have notified you in time to possibly get a set for $200 off.

Yeah, like I said. I don't wanna mess with the complications of swapping from 97-98 heads to later ones... And I say they flow as well, cause its awful close to better lol. In the end I would spend more like 1500-1750 to swap over to 243s... definitely not worth it when I already have ported heads that may have some left on the table even. If im going to go to ported 243s I'm probably gonna port them myself cause I am trying to do everything for cheap. My budget right now is 6k, and I only have 500 left in that at the mod list I'm looking at. Unless I get a nice fat scholarship for college, then I can spend a bit more ;)

We can get you everything on your original with list plus some upgrades and a comparable cam for $1776 shipped. (minus ls6 intake)
Looks like itll save you quite a bit over what you have listed, ahundred or more likely, and you will still have a great setup that is durable and dependable and will make great power.

I definitely understand that. My plans for a "budget" cam only swap have quickly turned into a full on Heads/Cam build. I was unaware of any major difficulty swapping 806 heads with 243 style heads. I know you need the valve covers and coil pack brackets, both that can be had for cheap, and of course new head gaskets, which are about $40. The 806 rockers work on the newer style heads as well from what I know? Why do you say it would end up costing 1,500 to 1750?

A lot of that is in the 243s themselves

I'm not expecting to gain like 20 percent or anything. Really don't expect to gain a ton. I just love the sound of an E85 engine at start up, among other things.