Thread: Help Me Pick Some Heads For Christmas Present

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Just some thoughts from an old man.

I’m going to assume that the truck is intended to be a daily driver?

It’s also going to be used and learned on by a new 16 year old driver.

As parents/grandparents/mentors and instructors it’s pretty easy to lose sight of the skill level and abilities of the new driver and end up building more vehicle than they can safely handle. It’s real easy to end up building something that is more suited to our skill level than theirs.

That being said I think my approach would be to turn this into a truly long term project where more power is gradually added over time as your sons driving skills develop. It also ends up giving you more quality time with your son down the line as the mods are made.

As usual Richards suggestions are all good but it’s something that can be done over time as skills and funds permit. Personally at this point I would concentrate mainly on just plain reliability.

In that vein (and budget) rather than heads right now I think I would probably look more to the hydraulic roller cam Tech suggests. Basically build a good foundation for the future mods. The next area I would consider upgrading would be the gears in the rear end and that will depend in large part on the tire size your running.

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents.



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Richard that's quite the laundry....er Christmas list.
Seriously though, thank you for the thoughtful reply and the reason I signed up here. I've never been afraid to turn a wrench but my knowledge on motor building is squat and I'm serious about learning, and learning the right approach at that.

We picked up this truck about 6 months ago and have slowly been working through the truck to address parts that need replacing/restoring (other than engine/trans). The previous owner had done the cam swap, intake, etc. so I didn't have a say in that one but the parts installed are relatively new which is why I was hoping to utilize them if at all possible.

I did have gearing change on our short list though and I was thinking along the lines of 3.43 since the TH350 is currently outback and with plans to swap in a 700R4 for the OD. When we cross that bridge, and if budget allows, I'll consider a GM4L80E but right now this is considered a budget minded build to learn from. Regarding the torque converter, yes it's stock and don't yet understand the selection process to chose the correct one. If you know of a good learning resource I'm all ears.

As Mike pointed out (great wisdom added to the conversation btw), this is indeed going to be his daily driver and something that will be a work in progress over the long-term. With that said I'm willing to put the heads on the back burner for now in favor of a sound long term strategy which re-prioritizes my power train build as such:

1. Re-gear rear end
2. New hydraulic roller cam
3. New torque converter

I'll be reading up on the links you provided so I'll hold off on my questions until then. If you have suggestions on specific cam packages that I should be focused on please let me know, this will give me an opportunity to stick something under the tree.

Mike I'll try and get some photos of the truck up on my "Hello from SJ" thread later today.