[nate68]

change the springs, even if you're putting in a small cam. put your temp sensor in the intake manifold, do port work to at least the exhaust side (the flow on the exhaust side sucks) its basically what edelbrock did with their "E-tec heads" cuz they knew that the exhaust flow isnt great. screw in studs are nice but thats just something i like to do. don't forget self aligning rockers OR!!! screw in studs and guideplates and you can run regular rockers, (dont use stock ones, gm rockers suck) regular full roller rockers won't fit i dont believe, but they make ones for vortecs that are narrower (self aligning) dont run self aligning and guideplates together. guideplates won't work with stock style centerbolt valve covers (ya know the black ones, the aftermarket chrome ones (wiht the red bowtie) prolly won't fit either) i used aftermarket ones from southern rods, the only downside is that the valve covers are a pain in the rear to get on with the valve covers i have, they gasket doesn't stay in the area real well and u hafta hold it on while u put em on (it sucks) but with the stock valve covers the gaskets stayed in them fine. maybe my valve covers suck i dont know. but they dont leak like regular small block valve covers do.