L31  Vortec  Heads

Jan. 28th - Back in July '00 when i decided to go ahead with this project, Victor [my buddy at work] told me about the "affordable" Vortec heads. That is pretty much what helped me make the decision to put together a 200+ horse power motor. When i was still in the "thinking about it" mode, i knew i was not going to want to pay $1000 or more for 'adequate' heads, and when Vic told me about the Vortec's for $212 each, plans were kicked into gear, and the heads were the first parts i bought.

L31 Small Block Chevy Vortec Heads - There are 2 castings. Unless your buying these new like i am, be AWARE of the casting numbers. The casting numbers i have are 12558062, this casting has 64cc chambers, 170cc intake runners and 1.94/1.5 valves, The valve spring seats can be safely machined out to 1.440" and the ID [inside diameter] can be taken down to around .630".

Casting #10239906 has specially hardened exhaust seats that kill low and mid-lift flow [losing 20% of its flow at 0.120" lift], these heads came in 3/4 and 1-ton trucks and should be avoided.

Feb. 15th - I had ordered and recieved an Edelbrock Super Victor Vortec Intake Manifold. [$190.00]. I've wanted this manifold since last August, it's time has come. Also ordered Comp Cams guide plates for 3/8's push rod, and ARP Rocker Arm Studs.

How To Get "Install Height" - Take springs Bind Height, add Cam's LIFT, add .100 thousands = Install Height

March 10th - On the 28th i'd picked up a MSD 6AL ignition box [$205] and an ATI All-In-Wonder PCI 32 meg Video card for my PC so i can make the drag videos and post them on the Video's Site. I'd also dropped off my heads at Blairs Speed Shop in Covina for them to install the Comp Cams guide plates for 3/8's push rod, ARP Rocker Arm Studs, "Z" Springs, and have the push rod holes slightly opened up. [$138] Bud at Blairs recommended that since my motor will be a daily driver, i should keep the OPEN pressure of the Springs below 300lbs or i'll kill my cam below 1600 rpms. If this was more of a "racing" application i could have gone with a stronger dual spring. The "Z" spring [derives from Z28 i believe?] .

[/EDIT] Febuary 2004 - The "Z" springs are junk, and i cant believe the guys at Blairs Speed Shop in Azusa ever recommended them for me, anyways, im installing Isky 6005 dual w/dampner springs currently... see page 8 for details.

Of the 5 pics above, the farthest one to the right is 1024x768...all the others are standard 640x480 for quicker downloads [for those of you on a dial-up 56k connection]   Above, you can see the head work done by Blairs, Bob and i also put our intakes next to each other to show more similarities than differences, then did the same with our heads. His 396 is actually a 408ci [bored .060 over], so his bore is 4.060, my block [stroked] is 377ci with a 4.0 bore. Both our blocks have a 3.75 stroke. The biggest differences between our motors is mine will be 11:1 compression [flat top pistons] "Heart" - shaped 64cc chamber heads, Bobs is 13.2:1 [serious pop-up pistons] with closed-chamber heads. It is easy to see the huge difference in the exhaust ports of the big block heads. Can also see i will have to do a little port matching on my Vortec Heads. Bob will be sending his heads to Blairs soon to have larger exhaust valves installed.

April 1st - Over the last few weeks, I've ordered a B&M Pro Stick shifter from Summit Racing. I've also ordered my Vortec Intake gaskets, intake bolt kit and SCE Copper Head gaskets [.031" thick, 4.0 - 4.060", should give me 11.03:1 compression] from Scoogin Dickey. As far as the heads go, i think port matching is next. The shifter i installed last weekend the same night i got it, Friday night. I would have taken some "during installation" shots, but my V6 has a couple valve cover leaks, tranny leaks, and other STUFF leaks, so i was pretty grungy, a half a can of carburator cleaner in area's around the linkage made things a little easier, but routing the 5' cable around the right side of the tranny made things a little messy. Friday night i got the shifter in, but was still only 90% done, the next day i hooked up the 'nuetral-safety switch' and made easy shifter linkage adjustments. Right now i have to leave the center counsole in because it holds my window and hatch switches, later i plan to relocate/replace these switches and remove the counsole all together. The stock shifter mounts basically the same, but the 'stick' itself sits farther to the right about 2", so i cant get counsole gear indicator piece back on right now. You can also see the 'Berlinetta' package leaves me NO PLACE to put a AM/FM/CD player.

April 05th - Taking my heads to Dana at Peterson Racing Heads. Dana is going to flow and port match my heads for me. Below is a pic of my shortblock and ARP Head Studs. Dana works for Brad Anderson.

April 23rd - Picked up my heads from Dana and also ordered my solid Moroso motor mounts. Dana cleaned up the inside of my Edelbrock Victor Sr. manifold, and also shaped the chamber at the bottom of the valve guides. As you can see, the ports out of the box are damn near perfect as far as gasket matching.

May 29th - Dang SMOG. Cost me 225$, but it had to be done. Still have to pay another 50$ or so for registration out of my next check. Will also be getting a IROC steering box for 25$ from a guy in a local 3rd gen car club. I also managed to pick a Streetdampr for 220$ from Summit Racing Prod. last week. In between working on bobs motor, i painted it flat gloss black and installed it on the 28th with plenty of clearence of the 2-piece timing chain cover bolts.

June 9th - We installed the street damper and had to "modify" the timing tab. What a pain in the ass. The Streedampr is a wierd design [see pics] and without spending 30$ for a Tavia adjustable timing marker we were pretty much SOL and had to deal with what was available. We then sprayed the SCE .031" copper head gaskets with copper coat [3 coats], applyed some silly-cone to the ARP head studs and bolted on the heads i bought 11 months ago...torqued them down to 85lbs that was recommended by ARP. I'd also picked up 3/8's "swedge" one-piece Manley push rods.

June 14th - Shot down to Speed-O-Motive and picked up Crane aluminum 1.6 roller rocker arms.

 

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