Need help with heads...

[Zandoz]

I made an impulse purchase recently, and now I need advice on what exactly I've got, and what I'm going to need. What I bought is a set of rebuilt aluminum heads. They were presented as being for '87-89 GM 2.8L V6 for an S-10. Until now, I was under the impression that the aluminum heads were for Gen II engines, which were FWD only. What I have is an '89 Camaro 2.8L V6. Will these heads fit my engine? If they will fit, is it worth putting them on an otherwise good running engine? What would I need in addition to the heads, to make the swap?

[pocket-rocket]

Aluminum were fwd only. You could swap them on and build a hybrid and make more power though, but you would need to do a bit of extra work. It's not a straight bolt on operation. I'm not certain what all is required but you should be able to find the information you need on these forums.

On the flip side, I think those are gen 2 heads and if you are going to do a hybrid you should go with a gen 3 setup.

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[Superdave]

Those are gen 2 heads. Don't waste your time with them. Sell them to a FWD guy or use them as a door stop, lol

they could work with a gen 2 LIM and UIM but your compression will be stupid high and that setup flows no better than the iron heads you have now.

[SappySE107]

Are you sure they don't outflow the iron heads? Not that it matters, the effort isn't worth the results using them vs gen 3 heads but I don't know what the flow is between gen 1 and gen 2. Someday we will compare it here.

[Superdave]

The heads themselves do by a little but both the intake setups suck so it's a wash. I'll have to look but a few years ago i found flowbench results from both on the same bench somewhere on the net.


IF they were ported well they'll make some good power but you'll need to fabricate your own intake manifold, the gen 2 setup is just too small.


Ben, is your bench up and running?

[SappySE107]

no, we have the pipe ran for both 2" and 3", but the electrical and vacuum aren't done. The head adapter is almost done as well. I have some heads here I can flow, with manifolds as well. I was mostly curious on the results. I have done gen 2 heads but not gen 1.

[robertisaar]

i have some specs that i punched into desktop dyno a long time ago...... no idea where i got them though.

early iron heads

http://i.imgur.com/wRyCw.png

late iron heads

http://i.imgur.com/cLWNL.png

gen 2

http://i.imgur.com/Grzog.png

small port gen 3

http://i.imgur.com/hb3qh.png

large port gen 3

http://i.imgur.com/UqNVf.png

[Zandoz]

Those are gen 2 heads. Don't waste your time with them. Sell them to a FWD guy or use them as a door stop, lol

they could work with a gen 2 LIM and UIM but your compression will be stupid high and that setup flows no better than the iron heads you have now.

What kind of compression are you talking about? Would the old trick of thicker head gaskets work to get it back to reasonable levels? Am I correct in assuming I'll need Gen 2 rockers and push rods also?

If the head gasket trick will work, I guess I'll keep my eyes open for the necessary swap parts, and shelve the heads for now until my current ones are no longer up to snuff. Otherwise, if someone wants a set of rebuilt Gen 2 heads, I'll sell them for what I have in them....$85.

[Superdave]

13.6:1 with .040 head gaskets and 12.5:1 with .060 head gaskets.


Yes, you'd need the correct rockers and gen 2 pushrods. you won't really be gaining anything but a headache with that setup though.

[Zandoz]

Yeah, way too high of a compression ratio <sigh>. If anyone wants them, let me know