joelster

L98 heads flow around 165cfm and have a dog**** chamber design. They are not even close to LT1 heads.

Similar in that GM cast them, yes, but that is about it. A stock LT1 will flow around 205-210cfm and has the Vortec or Fast-burn style chamber which itself makes more power.

It makes no sense to me to go through all of that labor replacing the cylinder heads, but to leave the stock camshaft in there. The stock camshaft is done by 5500rpm, so having a head that can flow real well up top and not having the valvetrain to support it makes no sense. A cam swap in our cars is a chore to do, but if the heads are off it would take an extra hour.

Orr89rocz

The irons may not be similar but the aluminums are. If you dont believe me, go ask Lloyd Elliott.

They dont flow 165cfm either... they are closer to 180's for iron and 190's for aluminum. Some have seen as high as 200's. LT1's i've seen anywhere from 200-225cfm. The LT1's are a bit better yes.

I agree but thats not what the OP asked. He has money to do heads now to fix the gasket issue...which needs done or else he cant drive the car. HE does not have funds for both cam and heads at the same time. In order to fix this, why put on another set of stock heads if he will change them down the road for something better? If you get a head with a proper port design and velocity profile, it will NOT hurt anything by using stock cam. Just because the cam is done by 5500 does not mean it wont pick up power with a larger head. The better the heads, the smaller the cam can be. If you havent done it, then how can you say it wont work? From results I have seen on similar setups, I would be confident in a good running car with stock cam and ported heads as long as the heads were ported correctly.

I'd just run 1.6 rockers while your at it to set yourself up for future cam swap that will likely use 1.6 rockers anyway to get lift in the high .500's which will help, deending on the future goals...i'm just assuming here. Maybe he wont need high lift.

If the goals do not require extensive port jobs or if he will be happy with a cam only setup, then put stock heads back on. To me it sounded like the OP was dead set on heads cam down the road for a stout LT build.

And I have a 4th gen, I can see how extensive the cam swap would be but its really not all that bad.

joelster

I didn't say it wouldn't work, I said that it makes no sense. It is a lot of labor and money for minimal gain. He has $1500 to spend. Yes he can do heads and cam for $1500.

$1200 for LT1 LE1 heads and any custom billet cam mentioned above.

That gives him a little wiggle room to get himself some cores.

Axeslinger0u812

I went ahead and bought those le1's that were mentioned earlier. It sounds like a decent set of heads that can do some good things with an added cam in the future. After calling clegg, they had no stock heads available, and i just couldn't bring myself to get the edelbrocks after reading up on them. If I had the time to let the car sit, I definitely would've continued looking for a stock replacement and having them worked on, or grabbing those trick flow 185's. On the whole though, I'm pretty excited about these le1's. Can't wait to get them on and just hear her run again. Hopefully, after this, I can enjoy this site more than constantly being frustrated when I sign on, lol. Thanks for the input guys. Maybe I'll post a video when she's chugging agin.

95zsean

Good move!! You wont be disappointed.

Orr89rocz

Yes the LE1's are a good bang for your buck with the cam. For some reason I was under the impression you only had money for the heads at the moment

Axeslinger0u812

I do, Lol. But only because my head is cracked and I'm on a time crunch. I'm just getting the le1's for now, so I can get the car running before we move. I'm probably going to call Lloyd later and get the matching cam for it at some point in the future, but yeah, just heads for now.

joelster

Dude, go pick a cam out now. Check the classifieds. SOMEONE will have a hotcam or a comp 503 for under $200. That will get you an honest 30-40hp more right there.

ACE1252

Agreed, but the cam will require springs and SA roller rockers at a minimum. If the money is not there to do it right, best to wait and save for the good stuff.

Orr89rocz

The heads you are getting can be set up with the proper springs now since its not much more money. Infact I thought he already did that on LE1 heads? Rockers that can be abit more pricey but I'd venture to say you could run stockers for abit until you can afford the ones you really need. I think comp cams still makes the magnum roller tip rockers that will work on your heads for under 200 bucks. I ran them on my old L98 self aligning. Good budget rocker that can also get you by on most mild cam setups. More aggressive higher spring pressure stuff may need a better rocker.

May not be optimal but could get you by for awhile.

96capricemgr

As evident by what the OEMs do roller tip is pointless, fulcrum is where a roller pays off.

Orr89rocz

Yes that may be the case, but for a budget rocker thats better/stronger than stock stamped rockers, the roller tip magnums are hard to beat.

Bersaglieri

This. XE502, Hotcam, XE503 all great camshafts for stock bottom end cars. Congrats on getting those LE1 heads, they are a GREAT budget head option.

If you spend money on rockers go full roller rocker. Don't cheap out and get roller tip and don't cheap out and buy junk Proform, Chinese, ebay ones. The lowest I'd go on rockers would be Harland Sharp.

-Dustin-

96capricemgr

Can you document that? How about some stock rocker failure examples?

Orr89rocz

Havent seen failures in normal applications but its common in racing classes like stock eliminator and such. Have heard from other engine builders that stock stamped rockers will have inconsistant lift ratios and tend to flex if used on higher rpm higher spring pressure systems. Some guys are saying too low of a spring pressure will have the pushrod going thru the rocker arm cup! They've seen it happen in classes requiring stock rockers and stock diameter valvesprings... Too low of pressure and they had failures. Not sure why that is tho.
Some of the stock eliminator guys run typical hyd roller spring pressures and 7500 rpm on stock style rocker arms...using a 7/16" stud rocker made by Elgin specially designed for it. Other stuff would fail.

The magnums are much more beefier by design. You can look at them side by side and see this but even they are limited to certain spring pressures. Even then, some ppl claim to have issues with that style of rocker but I never did on my car.
For all out builds you need a much stronger rocker arm which tend to be full roller types. Most upgrade to those rockers for valvetrain strength and stability which tends to show small hp increases...rather than reduced friction, although that is a factor. Depends on the build but there is little to be gained in going full roller over other versions if keeping ratios the same. These were on more race oriented engines. Some say they see 5-10hp in higher rpms.

Ed Wright said he saw 4rwhp on a stock LT1 with 1.6 full roller aluminums vs stock stamped. But I would think those rockers are much stronger and less prone to a failure. When you throw in aggressive cam lobes, high spring pressures, it makes sense to use stiffer pushrods and stronger rocker arms.