Vortec Heads - The Big Issues You Need To Know About

This videos goes over the big problems of the Chevy Vortec cylinder heads. These are 062 Vortec heads that I use on my 1990 Third Gen Camaro.

The Vortec cylinder head has 64cc combustion chambers, 170cc intake ports and hardened valve seats.

The biggest issue with these heads are the valve springs. they come stock with around .450" max lift which isn't a very large cam shaft.

You'll need to upgrade to beehive springs or cut the valve seat down to fit a larger spring.

The benefits outweigh the negatives and these heads are worth the time and money.

[majoraslayer]

I have 8 of these junk heads piled up in my garage right now because the machine shop found cracks every time I bought some and had them checked. I've talked to so many others who have had exactly the same experience, and the machinist said about 1 out of every 12 he checks is actually good. There may be about 20 good GM-produced V8 Vortec heads left out there somewhere in the world, but going forward I'm treating all used Vortec heads as cracked. In the end I ended up buying some aftermarket heads for my build. Even the cheapest Chinesium heads have a revised design that solves the main problems that caused all of the factory heads to constantly crack. To save everyone else the same heartache, I recommend EVERYONE treat used factory heads as cracked and just spend the money on some reproduction heads. I got mine for about $700 for the set in 2024, and now I don't have to worry about them being cracked or likely cracking in the immediate future.

[tyranducksworth]

I pulled a set from pull a part a year ago no problem. The truck still had coolant in it which was good thing no overheating issues maybe I got lucky. Sent to machine shop check for cracks installed my ls6 springs comp retainer and locks good to go

[kalybnielsen]

I just built 3 engines right in a row, a 355 on a 96 Chevy truck, a 358 on a 77 K20 and a 383 on another 77 K20, all 3 had the identical prep, Elgin rv-943x valve springs, 3 angle valve job and .530 valve stem seals. I hate having a single spring, when that goes, so does your engine. For a daily driver to a strong running truck, they work great, I have seen a minimum of 2 mpg on previous engines

[joesoika]

Really liked the video but like the ending with the yellow lab. we just had to put our yellow lab. "Blossom" to sleep and are devastated over it, only 8 years old and she had small intestine cancer.

[Buck_Em_Garage]

906’s on my 350/290hp crate are great!! Low 8’s in the 1/8th in a G body street car in full trim. 1.84 60’s on a 3.73.

[johnhaskell]

Maybe a dozen years ago, I was preparing a set of the vortech heads for a circle track racer. I could visually see a slight difference in the ports. I ran a single intake and exhaust through the flow bench and found the numbers were way off. -- I checked the port volumes for cc's finding the ports were way small. I checked these against another set which were larger and produced the normal flow numbers. I have the phone number for GM Engineering so I gave them a call to report this issue. I've got the fellas name in the shop but it wasn't Ron Sperry. After explaining the problem, this man asked for the information to be faxed back to GM. -- What the deal was, GM pays Mexico to cast these for them. He was HOT !!
He did say there was going to be Hell to pay for this if we find the same ! All I know is that he was going to get to the bottom of this. Just be aware that you may get a set of these that are weak for power. You have to check the cc's. -- I don't recall the volumes however I would think these are easily available.

[gregblau]

Mine came off a gmpp crate motor with .460 exhaust lift and I measured .465 clearance. Luckily the valve seals weren’t seated all the way so I ended up with .525-550. I got a good deal and needed a better intake anyways but I ended up pretty close to a set of nkb or similar

[zAvAvAz]

thats soo cute at the end your doggy. thanks for this video. its great info that vortec head users need to know before they get their heads, and ones driving with them that may want to improve performance or mod them. i feel they are a great head to improve stock performance even though they have potential for some real street performance also.

[petermelnyk]

Thanks for the video awesome info....I just replaced my vortec heads with some Darts....you want to talk about my old chevy coming back to life....wooh baby!!

[CCAutoWorks]

Guess I got lucky I took a set of 062 vortec heads off a junk engine and ran a 490 lift comp hyd flat tap cam and never touched the heads put them on the tbi short block

[ryanhill]

I wound up going with beehive springs & offset locks to get up to .470 lift. I did have to measure but there was some room. Not enough room for the springs, however - bosses had to be trimmed to fit them.

[johnjones]

One bad thing not mentioned is Vortec heads have thinner castings than old school chevy heads and are prone to cracking if overheated. Be wary of high mileage pull offs and walk away from any head that's been decked.

[SOU]

Something that just popped into my head is how much does just a vortec head swap change the compression ratio? Let's just assume my 86 K2500 still has the original LS9 350 with its 8.2:1 compression. What would the compression jump up to just by going to vortec heads?

[timhenry]

Been running vortec for years. A good up grade is 1.06 exhaust valve. Thats the only downside of the heads is the exhaust. Other then that good heads. Stay around 500 lift were they were ment to run you will be happy.

[jimmy_olds]

I’m building a 355 Chevy with Vortec heads now for my Squarebody, I got the heads off of marketplace...they ended up needing a valve job and one exhaust valve. But they came with good springs, cut down guides, brand new Summit aluminum roller rockers and screw in studs. But you’re absolutely right, you have to factor in the price of an intake, intake bolts, and valve covers (and I had to get tall)
My total investment for the used heads, machine work, intake and valve covers, I’m at $900. Not sure I’d do it again, considering BluePrint sells aluminum heads for $900/pair. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[greatgatsby]

I am running these on a Gen II 350 crate motor. Great power for the price, but cold weather running with these heads are horrible due to not having the exhaust crossover.

[robking]

These are great hot street heads, better than the old Camel Hump 2.02's. Definitely go with screw-in studs, and open and mill the spring seats if you want to go a little beyond .500, but only if building a 383 stroker or adding forced induction, otherwise they won't breathe enough.

Another thing is to drop in 1.64 exhaust valves and work the exhaust just slightly. If you know what you are doing a mild porting and gasket match is a good investment. I have a Vortec 383 in my '91 RS and run a pretty peppy Lunati cam and valve train. The heads came on the car and only had 100 miles on the build, so the little "tweaks" were worth it considering the heads were well built and I did my own work. Otherwise... AFR street aluminum or even Summit aluminum heads may be a better choice.

The little 383, like most street engines, is a torque monster and the power all lives under 5, 200 RPMs.

[amazin]

Looking for a "Accessory Hole" solution for my 291's....
Seems the 350 is 350 saying is getting a little thin!
don't wanna mix on my 67 motor. Ever seen a 2690 crank???😉

[DYLAN]

As someone with a SBC with vortec heads in a 1975 corvette I think I can give a little good info on installing these heads. The best airflow you can get with the intake side is 240cfm and that's with the 1.94 intake valves at .500" of lift. If you go over this lift you'll just lose power to valve train losses and valve instability. Putting bigger valves in like 2.02s doesn't help airflow either. These heads are thin cast so it's generally not a good idea to port them or put bigger valves in them as they are more likely to crack. A 3 angle valvejob helps a little. The lt4 hot cam is probably the best camshaft you can get for these heads as long as you use 1.5 ratio rocker arms.

[illuminancecrt]

Thank you for a great video. My question: If you slap Vortec heads on an older motor with a flat tappet cam/lifters, do you use the Vortec pushrods or the SBC pushrods (or are they the same length)?