LUVTruck.com

Well i got a call today from the machinist doing my engine work. Another cracked vortec head, this is the second one. the first head had a galled press in stud, that broke/cracked the boss when he pulled it. This one has a two inch crack in the exhaust seat almost to the outer edge. If you buy any of these used I would suggest getting them magnifluxed immediately. and do not buy them without a return policy. For what i've invested in these heads and the special manifold I could have bought a real set of heads that flowed better. Oh well thanks for letting me vent.

I hear ya... The 350 motor i got to build a 383 out of had both heads with cracks. The guy i bought the motor from swapped them out with a different set and i had those checked. They had cracks too but they'll be fixed when new seats are installed. But when i ran the numbers on the heads, they are 307-327 heads. I was never planning to use those heads on the 383 but they hardly seem worth dealing with. For the cost, i can buy better flowing heads

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Good luck!

Well i'm into this vortec deal for $600 and I still only have one good head. For $900 + a standard intake I could have a head that really flows like an iron eagle or pro topline.

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exactly... and they have a better port design and flow better out of the box with a lot of room to open them up even farther.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

hey what do you guys think about sportsman 2 heads

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''''Bottles are for babies''''
77 luv all original with working factory a/c
50,000 original miles

74 chevy luv 1/8th mile
bracket racer

99 chevy silverado supercharged 425hp daily driver.

They are old school iron dart heads but they still flow way better than any factory casting. I had a set on my motor for a while because I didnt have the $$ for the heads i wanted and i wanted to fire my motor off asap. these heads were formerly on a 383 motor before and put a 2800# mustang into the 10.50's all motor. it just wasnt enough for a big inch small block. in any case they were ported out to the bolt holes and they made about 280-290 CFM. not enough for a full race motor but certainly more than enough for a high perf street/strip motor. I'd say out of the box 200cc runners are good to about 400-425 maybe 450 hp. full race porting they are good to 550-575 hp range maybe a little more.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Anyone have any experiance with the austraian castings like strike force or pro comp on ebay? the prices on these are apealing and I could buy enough head for more/bigger motor later. I would really like to run aluminum. Also looking at GM fast burn heads, 210 runners, 58cc, .530 lift springs. My pistons are 9.7 to 1 @64cc. Wonder what 58cc s would do to my compression. I don't want to run race fuel.

Don't know much about those. I've heard of them but don't really know anybody thats run them. depending on what you want to do with your motor, I would even consider a set of Jegs aluminum castings. also check into RHS (formerly Pro Topline or Pro Action) heads. They advertise the biggest flow numbers of all the conventional 23* valve angle and conventional rocker arm style heads on the market today. I believe Comp Cams bought out the Protopline foundry in New Zealand and also bought out the old RHS company name and expanded their cam company into the cylinder head business.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

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From what I heard the pro topline, now RHS, are investment cast similar to a golf club head and require very little casting clean up.

the ones i got are from before comp cams reopened RHS. they are from the original Protopline series. Everything is getting the once over, TWICE!
I've heard stories, both good and bad.

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Well an update. The first two heads I bought local. I cracked one head pulling the studs. I bought the second head off of ebay, now the guy does not want to refund the money. Claims the head was good when he shipped it. I filed a complaint with written statment from machinist with his phone #. Guess we'll see if ebay gets my money back.

Thought I would update this. bought 2 more vortecs hoping to get good ones and ebay the third. Also cane across a 4 bolt 1pc seal 880 short block already machined with a lt-1 hotcom for the vortec set. Bought a set of gm fastburns for the luv motor, only thing left is the cam and roller rockers and motor and tranny can go in.

Just thought i'd update . The factory springs ,keepers and retainers are going to be marginal for the camshaft, so they will come off the fastburns and go on the ported vortec heads. I went with the Comp XR288hr cam , springs , keepers , and retainers. All the machine work should be done thursday. I'll wanting to get it fully assembled and in the truck before the end of the month.