Help with headers...

[MARKDTN]

Originally Posted by 406 Q-ship

I would go with the vortec's, cheaper than rebuilding a set of early heads. Besides the performance of the vortec will leave the old school camel humps in the dust (unless you spend money getting them ported....alot). Becareful when buying heads that are claimed to be vortecs, they only came on GM pickups from 1996 to 1998, and GM large vans after 1996 till I don't know when. The 5.7 vortec head is slightly better than the 5.0 vortec. There are a few people who will try to pass off the old TBI head (CRAP head) as a vortec, the easiest way to tell is that TBI's have an exhaust crossover when the vortec does not. They are still available new from GM Performance parts or one of the many GMPP dealers (Scoggins). The Factory Vortec can only take to .485 lift or the spring retainer will hit the valve seal, Scoggins sells a modified head that will take more lift.

What he said. Vortecs are the way to go. If you have double humps, sell them for their historical and collector value. By the time you do the right machine work on a set of old heads, you can probably buy the Vortecs.