chevytime

sup guys i just had a quick question about the lt1 engine when you upgrade your heads so u need to upgrade your bottom part of the engine becuz i need new heads now an people were tellin me i have to do that but im think about puttin a cam in there and some headers what all do I need with that

thanks

2000GTP

With the heads, your bottom end should be fine. Now if you throw in an aggressive, higher reving cam, that could potentially add risk to damaging the bottom end. There are still plenty of people running running both mild and wild heads/cam setups on stock shortblocks and still living to tell the tale.

showstoppers-96-Z/28

unless you build the motor for it, i wouldn't go too agressive either...unless you want to change the stall converter, go with a mild street cam, throw on some headers, open your intake a bit more (cold air, port intake, larger tb, etc.) and go with it. if you're going to put bigger & better heads on it, why not just build it to be what you want it to be?

chevytime

If I rebuild it what all do i need to do but i might just go with u guys told me

thanks again guys

Heat Seeker WS6

Im running the CC305 & ported AFR heads for the last 50K miles and the stock bottom end is 150K old!

BUBBA

To begin with, why do you need new heads? Upgrading heads can mean getting the stock heads ported or buying after market heads---depending on the cost and what you intend to do to the engine. I.e, what is the matter with your stock heads.

chevytime

my heads are cracked well just 1 of them are the reason for that was I stay in los angeles but I work by the beach so I put a new water pump on it and everything was good until i was half way to work then it red line bad so the next day i got some coolant and put it in there and it red line again but this time i didnt stop i had to get home nobody was goin to pick me up so I had to do what I had to do but I just want the car to run real good because ever since I got it i stay have to fix something

Mauiguyy911

well it sounds like you must have not put something back on right if your car overheated and cracked your heads after you put the new WP on, might have messed up your opti too if you were leaking coolant from not puttin the WP on right, so make sure you take a look at whats goin on with that before you put on some new heads and potentially damage those or worse

BUBBA

Lipstick on a pig-----sounds like you need to look into a crate engine. By the time you finish messing with that engine, you probaby could have picked up a relatively good long block at the bone yard, purchased an entire wrecked car with a good engine, or purchased a crate. If your engine was hot enough to cook the heads, it was probably close to catastropic failure anyway. Good Luck----JMHO

chevytime

the car has a new opti on it and I put on the water pump on right and it has no leaks and I bleeded the coolant to I but I know I need a new radiator its all rusted out but I got other question when your heads are cracked when you start the car does it shake someone told me they do but mines dont just a lil white somke come only from one pipe tho

Z28SORR

BINGO! When someone says "I need new heads", I want to hear the rest of the story.
There's a huge difference between I need and I want!

Z28SORR

They don't necessarily have to be cracked. They could be warped or you could have blown a head gasket. Unfortunately it's NEVER good to get an engine hot enough to do any of these things.
The least expensive fix, would be to take BUBBA's advise and try to find a good used LT1 out of a wrecked 4th Gen.

chevytime

If I just fix my heads an put the mid cam in there i should be good right im not goin to a bone yard an look for a use motor if I couldnt even get my own car home how im I goin to get the wrecked home or to a shop and if I buy a crate I might as will rebuild my engine

chevytime

I told the hole story

BUBBA

Sounds like a plan----if ony one of your heads is cracked, no point in buying two (they are both the same). Then just throw in your cam and you will be good to go. No point in going crazy about.