Garibaldi

Greetings:

I'm finally getting around to doing heads/cam/longtubes on my FRC.
I'm buying everything used, if I can. Anyway. I have the choice (right now anyway) to purchase a set of MTI 2E heads that will be "freshened" by the technician who owns them, or buy a set of Precision Porting and Coatings Stage 3 heads with only 2500 miles on them The MTIs are LS1 heads, the PP&Cs are 6 liter milled to 58cc combustion chambers.


MTI Stage 2E Cylinder Heads
hand porting of intake, and exhaust
major bowl work performed.
Ferrea 2.02" & 1.56" valves, factory valve seats.
High performance dual valve
lightweight titanium retainers
specially machined spring cups

PP&C:
Combustion chamber for maximum unshrouding
Chambers cc'd
Coat chambers and valves
Oversized stainless one piece intake and exhaust valves
Flow balance runners to within 3%
New valve springs


Total mods are:

Z06 intake, plenum, bridge and intake manifold
heads
Z06 timing chain
upgrade oil pump
underdrive pulley (if I get lucky)
224 224 .581 .581 112 cam
LG street longtubes
3.90 rear gears

The purpose of the mods is to provide more street performance with a minimal impact on driveability, more "squirt" with the 3.90s which will also give me a more usable MN6.

My question: which head makes more sense very used and "freshened" MTI or 2500 mile "used" PP&C LQ9 head?

Thanks, Gentlepeople, and Regards,

Garibaldi

WILWAXU

iTrader: (6)

The MTI 2E's provide a great "bang for the buck"

They've worked great on my car.

Order 66

I would go with the MTI heads.

jrp

iTrader: (16)

are you sure you understood that right; 6.0 heads milled to a 58cc chamber?! thats a almost a 100 thou mill.

Garibaldi

Good point. I thought all 6 liter heads were LQ9s, but these are 317 casting heads. Don't know if that changes the amount of milling. Here's what the seller said:
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The heads are stage 3 i have all paper work and flow sheet. the 317 casting is usually the best for forced induction because of the big 72 cc chambers lowering the compression but the intake and exuast runners sre the same as the #243 on a zo6 by having them angle milled to 58cc it bumps up the compression but will still run on pump gas.
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Thanks for the heads up!
GB

cantdrv65

iTrader: (3)

those MTI hand ported heads are a thing of beauty.

equandt

iTrader: (2)

No question, I'd go with the MTI heads. The cam you have chosen will work well with them.

93Polo

iTrader: (5)

I would hold out and look for a set of TEA stg 1.5 5.3s

TXZ28LS1

iTrader: (5)

heres my question, a few of you just said go with MTI.. but why doesnt alot of people run mti heads on here besides a few? is there really anything wrong with their heads?

cantdrv65

iTrader: (3)

No MTI ports an EXCELLENT head, but they are expensive.

SideStep

Are those your only two options??? I have run a set of MTI 2e heads and was not satisfied with them... I went to a set of AFR205s, more expensive, but I got great results...

cantdrv65

iTrader: (3)

Personally...Id go with the TSP PRC LS6 heads if budget is a consideration....hmmmmm I already did!

432rwhp untuned and stock LS6 intake.

JZ'sTA

iTrader: (23)

I would go MTI with those 2 options.
A stage 3 is overkill and probally has a larger valve then you need.
There are a few good options I would look into.
First you really need to check out the Dart 205 heads. Talk about a nice setup for the buck. If you worried about them not flowing as much get the flow number thing out of your head. While the flow numbers are important there is more to it then that.
Next look at what TEA and PRC offer. You want the compression up and that leave some very good options. TEA stage 1.5 5.3 heads. Awsome set of heads. They are priced around 1550 last I checked.
If you trying to stay under that check out the PRC LS6 stage 1 heads.
That is plenty of head for that cam choice.
Those are hella cheep, you get a better casting and they should work nicely.
Again dont get anything with a large valve or large intake/exhaust runner.
You best best would be the MTI's if you only have 2 choices but why go used when you can go new and still have a bad *** head?
Also the reason MTI is unpopular is because of the price.

TXZ28LS1

iTrader: (5)

mti 2e i believe are 1600 bucks.. thats not so bad. but i know few people say there heads arent all that, and some do. im looking at running their g1 cam or possibly the x1 cam. but im iffy bout the heads from all the reading i have done. i know they have 2e and 2r. i think the 2r flows more then the 2e. but i heard the 2e are good enough for the stock displacement block.

52172

iTrader: (2)

Personaly I would go with a set of TSP CNC'd DART heads with upgraded springs they cannot cost that much more than what you are paying for the used heads and if they do it is money well spent. Aftermarket DART castings have soooooo much things going for them.

Nate_Taufer

iTrader: (1)

+1. These heads are the shizz for a low budget car. Plus they're a brand new casting, flow close to the other heads mentioned and have a really small runner compared to the other two which will work wonderfully with your smaller cam.

Nate

93Polo

iTrader: (5)

What cam are you running?

WILWAXU

iTrader: (6)

MTI S2E's and an X1 cam pushed my car to a 10.77 @ 125 naturally aspirated. I gain 10+ mph in the quarter over my SI times.

IMHO, the 2E's are the best bang for the buck out there.

Garibaldi

Thanks, Guys for your opinions and suggestions. I checked out the options and called the sellers and talked to Bob at Precision Porting and Coatings about the Stage III heads he sells. In the end I went with the PP&C heads.

Here's why:

The MTI heads had lots of miles and were going to be "freshened" by the owner, which was too vague for me.

The other seller suggested I call PP&C, which I did. Bob explained why the seller's setup worked fine, how he angle-milled the 6liter heads, what springs, etc. were installed, and confirmed that the heads had very low mileage on them.

I made arrangements with the seller to purchase:

PP&C Stage 3 heads
Comp Cams XE-R? .224 .224 .581 112 cam and kit
Comp Cams ProMagnum hydraulic roller lifters with kit
Comp Cams ProMagnum full roller rockers and kit
Spacer for the valve covers to lift them to clear the rockers

I bought all of this for considerably less than $2k.

I understand the suggestions to buy parts that work synergistically with the cam choice. Maybe I'm suffering from delusion, but I think that for the price I got a very good foundation for a fun street car. I've checked with a couple of tuners and the person who is going to do the work and they all said that the setup I plan will give me a lot of torque and plenty of 30-100mph performance.

One thing I wonder about is why no one discussed the merits of the PP&C heads themselves. It seems as if they were dismissed out of hand, not even considered. What I'd like to know is why the comparison was between MTIs and a group of other heads. I don't think anyone considered the PP&Cs. Is it because no one here thinks they're any good or are they not familiar to the folks here?

Again, thanks very very much for your input. I appreciate it. Right now I'd like to hear your opinions of PP&C, either here by PM or email.

Thanks,
Garibaldi