im looking to get more bang for my buck. i have a 03 lq9 with 317's,longtubes,
e fans,performabuilt 4l60e coming soon and was wondering should i port the heads i have now or buy an aftermarket set of heads. i believe having my heads ported trough wcc will cost $1600 plus shipping if i read it right,or i could buy an aftermarket head for a little bit more ($2000-2500) more.
also the cam i have right now is my buddys old custom cam 226/230 558/568 112lsa. basically what do i need in a set of heads and cam to get me on upwards of 450 rwhp. this set up is going into my rcsb

 

depending on how much you want to spend, could just sell yours and pick up a set of 243 heads. it will bump your compression up to what an ls2 is..

 

an unmilled 317, is not much of a n/a performance head, even milled they are not that great, one thing they are perfect for is boost. if your gunna boost they motor, blower or turbo 317s are great, but not good for n/a

 

so i guess know one knows? im asking do i have my 317's ported,buy another stock ported head,or buy an aftermarket head? im willing to buy a aftermarket set if its gonna be worth my while ill buy a set. i know trickflow,edlebrock, afr all have heads out. im new to the lsx game and want to do it right the first time. so if i need to spend some coin i will. thanks in advance

 

317s ported by the right people is a great NA head. I believe TEA's stage 3 317s flow north of 330 cfm. I would go for a trickflow head if you have the money.

 

which trick flow head on the lq9

 

Depends how much compression you want.

The LS6 heads (243s) would work really well for around 11.1:1 compression

 

i would like to put 450 n/a down to the wheels so what ever gets there better

 

I would try to find a set of 243's at a fair price, and have them ported. I had mine milled, ported, polished, 5 angle valve job, and lunati springs installed for around $700. I would look around at some local shops and just talk to the guys in your area and see what they are capable of.

 

for that kind of power you might want to go with l92 heads on a stroker motor.