Thread: chevy heads suggestions

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I'm building a 350 for a 1973 chevy nova, and I know a guy that has some older style vortec heads. They are #14102193. My question is what are the specs on these heads, and what parts are suggested? They are bare castings and have never been used before. He bought them straight from GM. He said I can have them cause he has other projects (a disassembled 1973 porsche 911 in his attic) I plan on having mild buildup. Nothing extreme. I'd like to make these heads work for my application. Not to mention I'm on a budget (17 years old).

I would appreciate any feedback from you guys. You all seem to know alot and I think I could learn from all of you. There are some younguns still keeping hot rodding alive.

Evidently there are newer and older Vortec heads and this has been discussed in the past, check out:

http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sho...2404#post72404

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

What You have is 86-88, 350 heads, 1.94/1.5001 valves. They were used with elecrtronic fuel injection.

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So i need special rockers, special intake (the stock intake from the 350 looked like it lined up). This is my first engine build, I have a fair understanding of heads, but I don't know exactly what parts (brands) I should buy? What could I reuse from the junkyard? I plan on this buildup being less than 350 hp.

Thanks to everyone that has already responded.

193s are swirl port heads not Vortec heads, generally considered good for fuel economy and bad for hi performance.

The 14102193 was a '87-up truck head. Your 350 manifold should bolt up.

The 193 castings (suffix of the casting number) were used in GM light trucks and fullsize GM passenger cars during (approx) 1987-95. They are called "swirl port" heads because the intake port directly under the intake valve has an incline that causes the intake flow to rotate before it enters the cylinder.

This is done so that the air/fuel mixture (A) speeds aound the cylinder and that helps (B) shear the air/fuel mix as it passes the protrusion of the spark plug nose, and (C) causes the mixture to burn more smoothly and rapidly once the plug fires.

GM considered those heads (193 casting, as well as the 191 casting on some trucks, plus the 187 casting used 87-95 on 305 engines, and the v6 version of the same head used on the LB4 v6) to be fast-burn heads in the literature of the day. The fast-burn also allowed slightly (static) higher compression ratio to be used even on 87 octane fuel, and the fast burn also helped reduce emissions.

The major whine people have with those heads, a complaint that is repeated on GMHTP's website as well as on the web site of one of the major GM parts sellers (Sallee?) is that the heads don't flow well. Of course none of those critics post flow data showing how good/bad they are nor do they compare them with other contemporary small-port production heads. And the obstruction ramp in the port is almost entirely shielded by the pushrod wall, except for the region very close to the valve stem.... so the statement about obstructed airflow is an overstatement.

As it turns out, the 193 heads flow about as well (or as poorly) as the 083 iron heads used on the 3rd gen Fcar L98 engine. The 193 heads flow slightly less on the intake side, but much better on the exhaust side. See this thread, and others at the Thirdgen.org web site. The heads are not nearly as bad as nearly everyone says (without proof) and can be ported to decent flow levels especially for small-volume port GM production iron heads. The cited link to the TGO website gives several examples if you wade through the lengthy thread. HTH.