Thanks for the good word Camarolovr! Much appreciated       WIEDER  

. Of course this in no way means your vortec heads would flow anywhere close to the same values but you have your flow numbers!

 why do you suggest that the heads I buy will not flow anywhere close to the same values? what is special about these heads. what's wrong with the ones I was gonna buy.  
 thanks for the flow numbers, that is nice to know.So are people getting to the 400 mark with a .400 lift flat tappet cam that could be used with stock heads? Do you know of any setups where they went up to like maybe .550 or so. Again I was thinking I wanted to go with a solid roller cam, bump up compresion 2 around 11:1 or something. I was considering going to a stroker crank making it a 383 but I guess it would depend on the results of other people doing this. I am trying to take as much risk out of the picture as possible, what I mean by that is I was hoping to find out what other people are doing and where it is getting them so I can have as much confidence in where I am gonna be at when I am done. I got started on this whole Idea after coming across some vortech heads for real cheap. If I can't get enough info from people that have done it I prolly aint gonna risk spending the money. I will just continue saving up for the bigger badder setup I have in mind. I thought if I could build a 400-475 horse motor, I could have alot of fun till I can build something more aggresive.(i gotta save for a long time for the "aggresive" setup)
weider and gibtg, I don't care to bicker any longer. I am here to learn when and where I can and if the opportunity presents itself I can offer my knowledge and experience. best of wishes to gib and weider as well as the rest of u fellow "car guys"  

The reason I said your heads may not flow the same is because I don't even know what heads you will have! They could even be different casting numbers!

I've read tales about some people claiming drastically different flow numbers from other heads some think are "vortec." This could be confusion between 305 vortec heads or pre-'97 heads, I don't know, but I'm mentioning this because I just don't know what you're going to find! I haven't seen dozens of sets of vortec heads like I have old Gen I heads, sorry to say but I don't know what the "vortec" heads you pull out of a junkyard are going to flow.

All uncertainty aside, if you go buy from a company like Scoggin Dickey and get heads of the same #885 casting you could be pretty confident that you would get flow numbers similar to those I've posted. It may also be a good idea to look at the newer Bowtie vortecs made by GM as their were cast by GM with performance in mind and they were not put on OE vehicles like the other vortec castings we're speaking about.

400 horsepower with only .400" lift is going to be difficult for any engine. There is a reason why .500" lift is a street performance 'standard' and that's because almost any port can see gains until lifts of around a quarter of the valve's diameter. Or, in other words, any engine where power is of any concern should have at least a lift per valve diameter ratio of .25:1, this will ensure you will make power to a condition that almost always exists. In this case, a quarter of a two inch valve is .500" lift.

In many tests I've seen the vortec head is really be pushed at 410-420 horsepower peak horsepower (this usually being around 5200-5500 rpm), so if you were to add extra stroke, add a fairly big solid cam and 11:1 compression the vortec heads would probably limit your top-end power. This would be time to look at an aftermarket vortec 'knock-off' like the Edelbrock E-Tec, RHS 'vortec-friendly' heads, or the Engine Quest's version of the vortec street performance head.

Look through all of those URL's I sent you in one of  my messages, there is plenty of magazine-motors built around vortec heads there. I'm sorry I didn't hyperlink them all so you will have to copy and paste the URL's into your browser's address bar.

Thanks for resolving our argument, I will try to respect your beliefs on airflow.  

Bryancarz: Clean slate sounds good!      WIEDER  

Definetly clean slate!

wow gibtg, what a post, i am impressed.

 I was suspicious that 11:1 big roller cam would be too much for those relatively small heads with a 383 crank, maybe I'll do the same but stay with 350 cubes. I couldn't agree more that upgrading to a better head would be a good idea. Again this whole budget thing is a problem for me.
for whatever its worth I agree with your opinons and statements about cylinder heads and flow. I was stuck on stupid with the notion that knowing flow data isn't that important.
I've been working on cars proffesionaly for 13 years, I specialize in electrical and engine performance diagnostics. In no way does what I do everyday with cars relate to modifing an engine to produce more power. Since i have so much experience with cars I pick up pretty fast on the high performance stuff. That's why I am on here looking for some input. My passion for fast cars cars started at a very young age then I chose cars as a career. 13 years later I wanna get back to the hobby side of this and make something go fast. I appreciate your help and insight.  

I should have done my original post differently. I wasn't expecting to run into such a knowledgable group of guys. Thanks  

Bryancarz:There's a need for professional technicans on some of these posts and you will fill some of that void.That's what it's about on here and why I got involved.    WIEDER  

These heads breath to 600" lift that's before porting these heads will make 550hp the problem is getting the heads machined for a cam over 420" of lift. That's why the newest edition the bowtie vortecs come stock with up to 530" lift and a even better port design these are a popular head.
Don't forget while a solid cam is worth 20hp you have to adjust valve lash once a month or sooner  usually on a street car  

I would beg to differ that a solid cam is instantly worth 20 horsepower in any situation.

550 Horsepower is REALLY pushing a "stock'ish" vortec head as well.  

They are making 594hp at 500" of lift says a dyno on a 350  

I don't believe you.  

ok thankyou  

Do you blame me?

I would loved to be proved wrong. Go scan the dyno sheets and tell me all about the build. I'm sure MANY people would want to hear how to make 600 dyno-proven horsepower with a tiny cam and OE iron heads.  

i sure as hell would....  

ok in most cases. 550 is probably pushin it with stock vortec heads