I'm not poor I'm cheap!

Scrapped the cast iron heads because I found a good set of aluminum's with a cam from a 96 Vette

 

You know the "Vette" LT1 stuff is the same as the f-body LT1 stuff right? Those might be 561 casting heads which are not worthwhile, the Stock Eliminator guys find them to be the worst performers and the serious head porters don't like them because they are too thin.

I would not swap out any stock heads for other stock heads, complete waste of time and money. I would leave the iron heads on and if you bought 374 or 643 casting heads save them for porting later. The cam is not worth swapping either, in bolton form they make similar peak numbers but by all accounts the b-body makes a little better very lowend torque.

The negatives about the iron heads posted here fail to consider the lower compression will offset the likelyhood of detonation from the additional timing, those engines were tuned 87 octane from the factory and the f-body got a 91 octane tune. Back when I first got into the b-body thing it was real common for guys to run f-body tuning and higher octane to compliment in their b-bodies, it worked fine

 

They are the 643 castings. So I should be fine as long as I run 91 and change the knock sensors. I haven't pulled the heads yet they made good compression when I checked them averaging 180 psi.

 

180psi is LOW for a stock LT1.

 

This was a test done with oil in the pan and cranked with the starter. The motor has been sitting for at least a year possibly longer. The guy I bought it from pulled it out of a running car. He told me he had it for 6 months and I have owned it for for 6 months. Should I put some oil in the cylinders then retest or are the rings shot? Whats a good stock iron head psi 200+?

 

You want engine warm, injectors disconnected, throttle blades blocked open, consistant number of cranks per cylinder. The objective is not to see the absolute value, the objective is to look for the degree of variation from cylinder to cylinder.

 

So you are going to run premium.I understand the iron heads make a tic more power than the aluminum castings.

 

I ran my test on a engine stand since I have no way to warm the engine what should I do? Injectors were still hooked up.

 

Are you saying aluminum heads require premium? Or iron? To help with the detonation.

 

Aluminum heads require premium.