With winter upon us im looking to make some changes. Im going port the intake, go with a slightly bigger cam maybe a 306 and put lt's on. Im at a loss with what heads/valves to go. I had stock ported heads in mind but i dunno yet

 

Asking yourself whats your budget and whats your goal is always a good place to start.

I picked up some ebay cores myself (heads and manifold) and sent them off to Lloyd Elliot for portwork/rebuild, so I wouldnt have a dissambled project in my garage forever.

Unless you are shooting for top of the line everything, I think ported stockers are more than sufficient.

 

AI/LE. Moratorium on the CC306 is currently in place.

 

I was thinking ported stockers are the best bang for the buck especially since im not upgrading the bottom end anytime soon. What should i do about valves are the stockers fine or go bigger?

 

When you order ported heads from either AI or LE, they do all that for you. Look at their respective webpages for valve sizes.

And FWIW, valve size is not nearly as important as many people make it out to be.

 

stock ported heads will be just fine, I just sold a pair last week 2.

 

Like said, with your particular setup a set of ported stock heads will be sufficient while being a good bang for the buck. Just make sure you have them done by a company or someone who is well-versed in LT1 heads.

 

There's nothing special about lt1 heads.

 

Correct but how many poor performing heads/cam setups have we seen on here when the heads were ported by some random hometown person?

I'd stick to the tried and true LE, Ai, Lingenfelter, etc. etc. so you know what you will get in the end.

 

That has to do with the porter. There's plenty of people out there who don't specialize in lt1 heads that can port a head that out performs most heads online.

 

O really, WHO? show me the statistics proving they can outflow a competitors head.

 

Because flow #'s are the benchmark on how good a head is.

 

Ok as for heads, yes due to the stock shortblock you wouldn't want to go too large on the cylinder head. Myself and many I know have had great luck with AI I would look into their cnc'd stock castings. It will save you money on a set of castings and they do great work. And honestly if you get the heads from them speak with them about the cam as well....they should be able to give you a package deal and save you some money over the cc306...and i guarantee they WILL make more power than that cc cam. I'd be happy to share some spec of my old 355 I had if you'd like. The car went 11.40 @ 121 Naturally Aspirated at a 3500lb raceweight.


guys dont turn this into another one of these my edick is bigger than your edick compeitions lol.....just answer the dudes ? lol....

 

I kinda want to do the same thing, ported heads and intake with a cam, but would the LT4 heads/intake be better to start with than the LT1 h/I?

 

Apparently the LT4 intake has more material that you can take off so it can support more HP but I dont think they are necessary.

 

Im going talk to my local shop first since theyve done a 409 and an ls1 for us and then put in a call to ai/le and go from there. Alot of good info in here for ppl just starting out
thanks guys!

 

Do a set of le1's with aftermarket valves. Ive talked to Llyod lots of times, they will flow a little shy of Le2's and maybe be 7-8hp less at peak. For the money thats a tough route to beat.

 

Totally agree on the 306 cam. My AI setup came with one of their smallest cams and I can guarantee it out performs the 306 on a smaller duration.