my friend has a set of 243's off a z06 and he wants to sell them to me for a hair under $300 complete. should i get these or just save and get the PRC 2.5 5.3L heads?

 

buy the 243s ive been told many times that they are a better head all around.

buy the 243's then send them off to get worked over and you still prob spent less then the cost of new 5.3's

 

Explain your financing on this.

600 minumum to get cnc'ed then add shipping unless you have a shop nearby that cnc's lsx heads all the time so they know whet they're doing.
$200 for a valve job then how about some valves and springs and retainers and locks and seats and seals? I dont see where it's cheaper to spend $300 on heads and then have them done, so you tell me. He's at $1100 without parts and shipping if he takes your advice.

If he wants to hand port he can save money otherwise I dont see it being a better deal.

But those 243's and your doing your friend a favor. Save for the PRC's. They'll come with the springs you need as well.

 

sorry i never would have thought cnc was 600+

 

Have you ever inquired at a shop?

 

cnc is what ur not paying for, it's the hand porting, plus are all valves good? guides? springs? what about head flow? will the shop that performs porting perfom head flow? if u r on a budget then maybe but, I would have to have valves job, replace the valves that are bad, springs, guides, are heads level etc.. etc.. so many things to think about. unless, unless u know somebody that can hook u up on the deal!!! I would go for cnc heads and pay areound 1200.00 +- for a warranty too. .o2


fuerzaws6

 

Depends on whar cam you are going with. If its pretty mild I would use the 243's.

 

I have to vote 243's with hand porting. Matched with a good cam. You should see some really good power from that setup.

 

At the absolute largest it will be a TR230 but most likely it will be the TR228.

 

Buy some prc's and you wont look back. You can hand port all you want but unless you checking your work on a flow bench you have no clue if you've hurt or helped. Do you have the tools and the shop space as well? Hand porting your own heads sounds great until you actually try doing it. Its not that easy and your usually going to get just ok results not great and certainly not comparable to a professionaly ported head.

And the money is in the cnc. Most vendors dont hand port although there is at least one that I've heard of on here and one garage porter who does good work and has a flow bench. Having a proven cnc program cost money so they get to charge for it plus the machine itself isnt cheap. Its usually between 600-800 for porting. Cnc'ing the heads guarantees the same results all the time as well.

Do yourself a favor and buy the PRC's.

 

If they are in good condition and are indeed 243 castings, try to get them for under $300. Check out Livernois heads. They will give you a $300 core refund for your 243 heads if you buy any of there CNC'd LS6 Heads. www.livernoismotorsports.com

 

You can buy a new set of LS6/243 based CNC'd heads from Patriot for $1045 .http://www.patriot-performance.com/w...05234&DID=1225 If I were going to change heads and try to really make a good gain that's cost effective, that's the direction that I'd go at this time. You will run into other expenses (gaskets, push rods, etc) and it would be better to make the head change in one fell swoop in my opinion. this way, you'll get improved springs, all new parts from the get go.

Steve

 

$995.99 for our stage 1's

 

well if im going to get aftermarket heads it will most likely be the 5.3's because i think it woyld work better with the smaller cams i am looking at. i just didn't know if on a cam under a 230 duration if the 5.3's would make sigifigantly more power than the 243's.

 

Just to let you know stock ported and polished heads arent considered aftermarket. AFR, TFS, ET, Edelbrock.. those are after market. Aftermarket cost more because they are usually a superior design to the OEM, offer thicker decks and so forth. You should call a head sponsor or a real shop and talk to them. Not just someone who sells them. $995 is a great deal

 

Our web sales manager had a C5 Corvette with our stage 1- 243 heads and a 224/224 camshaft, with an LS6 intake it made 430rwhp through a stock Z06 Catback.

 

Yeah I was also going to comment on the Livernois heads. They get overlooked a lot just due to other companies posting on the board a lot. But I've personally seen impressive results from the Livernois heads. Better than some other budget CNC heads out there. Even the popular ones that the lemmings love.

Honestly with that small cam and budget heads, I can't see you getting a big enough difference to worry too much about it. They'll all be close enough that you won't know what you're missing.

 

i had never even heard of Livernois untill earlier last week. i am becoming very interested in their stage 2 ls6 heads. how do you think they would pair with this cam? 228/230@.050 .588/.591 114+1

 

We have a new program for the 243's that uses the TFS 215 intake valves, exhaust valves and valve job. It outflows the TFS 215 heads on our bench, uses a 225cc port, and on the Vengeance dyno just made 450 RWHP unlocked and 480 RWHP locked with a stock shortblock and the Vindicator cam. It isn't cheap, around $1200 to do your castings...but it will be the last head you will have to buy for your 3.90 bore block.

 

Tooley Keep your *** off the net

These are Vengeance HEADS

Get off the net and finish all my heads up.