Hey guys, I'm going to throw a cam in my high mileage 5.3 and am not sure what to do about head work. I want to keep compression relatively stock as I'm not doing any bottom end work. So should I look for stock 862 head or mill something else. I'm working on a tight budget. I have 862's on my truck but am wont be able to have much down time. That is the reason for the head search. Ideally I would like to find a set of 862's, have them cleaned and checked out, then replace springs and toss them on the truck. But Im having a tough time finding any heads that arent scarred up bad or $500-600 for stock.

I plan to buy the 212/218 high lift Comp cam but on a 112 LSA instead of 114. I will replace lifters, oil pump, chain, along with springs and pushrods.

The truck is a 01 RCSB 4wd. I wont be revving the fire out of the truck. I'd rather have pulling power down low.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. If anyone has a set, please let me know. I hope I'm not breaking any rules here.

Thanks

Matt

 

some 243 heads would do the trick

 

As said above look for some 243 or 799 heads. They can usually be had for around $400 but need to be milled to retain your stock compression ratio. They would be a nice improvement in flow over your 862 heads though.

 

You must not be looking hard enough.

I see 706/862 heads for around $200 all the time. Sometimes less since everyone is afraid of the 706 castings.

Richard @ WCCH has a nice set up. He does a cnc port, puts a 1.95 Intake 1.57 Exhaust Valve And you can get them with GM corvette springs good to .570 lift.

Listed at the Bottom of the page--->WCCH Pricing
$898.00 Done on your heads
$1,148.00 Outright if you don't have cores
Dual springs is like $325 more but you wouldn't need them with that cam.

 

Hey- lemme know how that cam works out. Looks like it's good for some brutal low end..............

 

Sorry I havent replied. Thanks for the suggestions. I have found several sets for $200 but they are scarred up and have broken bolts in them. The bolts dont bother me but the scarring does. I have found a set for $300 that have been cleaned and checked. All I would have to do is install new springs and trunion upgrade.

Thanks again for all the help. 01 Sierra, it'll be a bit before I get the cam but I'll happily let you know what I think

Matt

 

I say get some 243s. ($400ish used all over ls1tech and this forum) then get them milled to 60cc($75ish at an average machine shop). More flow with ability to get P&P later and keep compression.

 

Interestingly I had come into a set of OEM / New Old Stock, 706's that I paid a fair price for. I even had them Dye Fluoro. Penetrant inspected to Mil-6866 sensitivity level I, (Military/aviation level scrutiny). They checked out great, no signs of porosity, etc. and maybe some of the nicer quality castings I've looked at in my 35 years of aerospace inspection.

I called WCCH today and ended up speaking with a tech. who I won't name, that told me that the whole "706 casting porosity stigma" was isolated to a certain production lot and relative time frame. Problem is it seems Castech's quality documentation was so poor that the cast lots/production periods cannot be identified. He went on to say that he had seen few if any with the leaky porosity issue. He said that during GM's Tech. Service Bulletin campaign instructing inspection, detection and replacement, it was found that other well know/preferred cast numbers were identified as porous as well.

Also said if I felt confident my 706's had top casting integrity, (as the DFP proved), he wouldn't be afraid of them. I'm due to call him back Monday and make arrangements to have the CNC port work done and my Comp Cams springs installed. It's either that or wait over 2 weeks worth of shipping and work flow time between here and the west coast. Otherwise I'd have to pull my 862's and have them Level II CNC ported.

Just thought I'd share what I had found out for what it's worth.

 

706's don't hurt my feelings at all.

Most of the ones that are prone to cracking have done so by now. They stopped using them after the 07 classic body style and most of those vehicles have upwards of 100K on them at this point.

If they do in the future, it will most likely be caused by poor cooling system maintenance or overheating.

 

BTW there are some 862's for sale for anyone looking over on the LS1tech side.

He is already down to $125

862 heads - LS1TECH