Hi everyone,

I've been looking all over the net till my eyes are blurry, and I need some advice.

I have a '98 tahoe daily driver, 5.7L about 110K, recent tune up -- plugs, wires, rotor, new spider. I'm subject to CA smog regs.

My cylinder heads are cracked, so since I have to replace them, I'm looking into upgrading to an aftermarket pair.

I've been reading about chevy performance, dart, edelbrock -- all supposedly have better flow rate than stock. I spoke to the guys at enginequest, and they claim that their heads are a 25 horsepower bolt on, but what do I know?

So my questions:

1. Are any of these heads worth the extra $, or would I be better off just getting stock replacements?

2. If they are worth it, please advise which to consider, which to avoid, best bang for the buck, etc.

Oh and for what its worth, I will be installing headers when the replacement heads go on.

 

well im not up to date on the older motors but if the heads flow more then stock and have the same to a tad more compression then stock you should get a nice boost in power. if you do go with aftermarket heads i would still look at getting a new tune or retune if you dont have one yet as the heads will need it.

 

First off, Welcome to the site.

Second off, we really need to know what your goals are for this truck- be as specific as possible.

Another big question is, what is your price range on modifications, including new heads.

Once we know these answers, you can get much better advice because for most builds, aftermarket heads would be overkill.

 

Thanks for the responses.

My goals are:

1. get back on the road, as its my daily driver
2. since its already apart and I'm already replacing things, use it as an opportunity to make more power and make the truck more fun to drive

As for my budget, here's how I'm looking at it

set of headers = $400 - $ 500
blackbear tune = $300


as for the heads --

so far from what Ive seen, stock spec replacements look like they're @ $350 / each assembled, but I could stretch that to say $ 700 - $ 800 /each if there is a really good reason.

And this is where I'm confused.

When I look at all of the different head options and I compare specs, intake runner volume, CFM, etc, I have no idea what those numbers translate to in terms of real world horsepower, so I cannot determine if the price difference between a $350 head and an $800 head is worth it to me.

If it was a matter of this or that head makes "x" horsepower over the stock vortec head, it would be easy to choose ...