akitagandy
Member
Is anybody running vortech heads on a early 350? I was told that they would help with performance and MPG. Any info ?
Vortech heads
- Thread starter akitagandy
- Start date
bobby6319
Member
they make a little more power but you are limited to intakes and have to run center bolt valve covers don't know about mpg's also i don't think they will handle as much lift. if you are worried about gas milage just steal some out of the wifes car she'll never know
HAceT
Member
sschutze
Member
I ran Vortec heads on a '77 350 I built for my El Camino. They flow better than the stock heads and are advertised to add 20+ HP. If you take the time to port and polish them you can expect a little more. I don't know that they will help much with fuel economy.
ellis8500
Member
If you do some more research, you will find that installing higher flow rate heads and not changing anything else usually results in marginal gains in torque and HP and, sometimes, has the opposite effect. Intake, fuel volume, cam, heads and exhaust work best in a given RPM band when they are a balanced system. Flow rates and flow velocities being in the optimum range are critical. As one increases flow volume capacity in a given system, the power band RPM range increases in order to maintain flow velocity. The auto maunufacturers do a pretty good job of matching components. So it's common to find that in order to get the potential gains from a new cylinder head, one also has to change the camshaft and the valve springs and the intake and the carb [injectors]....... and so on. The point here is if you really want to build up an engine with a given power curve in mind, then start with a bare block and select the components that will get you there.
Case in point involves Mustang owners. The Mustang Ford 302 had the E7T heads. The later Ford Explorer 302's had GT40P heads which have higher flow capacity than the E7T's. So to gain some power the Mustang guys figured they could put on the GT40P heads and get a few more HP which they did. They also had to put on new exhaust headers. Because of a change in spark plug angle, the E7T headers won't work on GT40P heads. But, they soon realized that the factory camshaft was limiting the full potential of the GT40P's. So, get a "Bigger" cam. Whoops....gotta get new valve springs too. Gosh, stock Mustang intake is limiting flow. Get one off an Explorer. That's funny, it matched the GT40P heads. So, what started as a head swap ended up being an entire top end build. There are many articles written that tell one just how to do all of this.
I went through all of this planning and research when deciding what to do with my engine build up. But, I did realize that a stock Ford 302 with a slightly bigger cam would sound good and have enough torque to spin the tires really good. So, decided to save some money and just update the camshaft. We'll see how that works out and, someday, if I want to jazz things up a bit, I can always tear into that engine and add more power.
Case in point involves Mustang owners. The Mustang Ford 302 had the E7T heads. The later Ford Explorer 302's had GT40P heads which have higher flow capacity than the E7T's. So to gain some power the Mustang guys figured they could put on the GT40P heads and get a few more HP which they did. They also had to put on new exhaust headers. Because of a change in spark plug angle, the E7T headers won't work on GT40P heads. But, they soon realized that the factory camshaft was limiting the full potential of the GT40P's. So, get a "Bigger" cam. Whoops....gotta get new valve springs too. Gosh, stock Mustang intake is limiting flow. Get one off an Explorer. That's funny, it matched the GT40P heads. So, what started as a head swap ended up being an entire top end build. There are many articles written that tell one just how to do all of this.
I went through all of this planning and research when deciding what to do with my engine build up. But, I did realize that a stock Ford 302 with a slightly bigger cam would sound good and have enough torque to spin the tires really good. So, decided to save some money and just update the camshaft. We'll see how that works out and, someday, if I want to jazz things up a bit, I can always tear into that engine and add more power.
Hotrod46
Member
Votec heads are bad about cracking around the valves. They don't like a lot of heat, either. I know that doesn't make sense because new engines are supposed to be designed to run hotter than older motors. I know that my local head guy says that around 75% of all used Vortec heads they see are cracked.
My personal experience with them is that when I was building the engine for my bucket I started with a 1999 Vortec engine. It had a cracked head. After going through 8 Vortec heads and not finding a head that wasn't cracked, I decided that I would go in another direction.
If I was going to run them, I would buy new heads and make sure I had a good cooling system. For what new Vortec heads plus the Vortec intake will cost, you could get heavier cast aftermarket heads that are as good or better.
Mike
My personal experience with them is that when I was building the engine for my bucket I started with a 1999 Vortec engine. It had a cracked head. After going through 8 Vortec heads and not finding a head that wasn't cracked, I decided that I would go in another direction.
If I was going to run them, I would buy new heads and make sure I had a good cooling system. For what new Vortec heads plus the Vortec intake will cost, you could get heavier cast aftermarket heads that are as good or better.
Mike
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