Thread: Help Me Pick Some Heads For Christmas Present

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Richard I've gotta start by saying, you're good man! You've got 30+ years on me but I can remember even back as a young man gravitating toward the 'old guys' because they were chalked full of knowledge and willing to mentor to any young guys that showed a genuine interest to learn what they had in their noggins. You my friend are one of those inspiring mentors to us younger generations, I appreciate your time sir!

Yes this truck is equipped with a 12 bolt rear end. I've never attempted to change gearing but I'm not afraid to tackle the job if I can't find a 3.73 geared rear end for a reasonable price. The bay area here is a joke with regards to pricing on certain parts, rear ends being one of them. Tare down is straight forward, I just need to get up to speed with the install protocol, setting lash, etc. I'd actually prefer to do it myself as it's one of those things that's still a grey area and as an engineer, I must scratch any itch I don't understand. Either way I'll look into your suggested diff guys to see what the options are before making a decision.

I hear your logic on the OD transmission and will take that into consideration. Transmission change is way down the list so I'm too worried about that anyway. Most of my son's driving will be to/from school, sports and Friday night hops for the next 3 years so a 3.73 3-gear set up would be just fine. My older daughter's Jeep got 12.5 mpg during her high school years and because the drive mileage was so low it didn't hurt my wallet too bad.

I'm almost positive these stock heads are the 76cc's (but I had planned to pull the covers off at some point to confirm) so I'm not sure how much can be gained with these heads. I'm open to suggestions though and can pull a cover this weekend to confirm if it helps.

Ok so the 204 cam, I'm gathering that the 3.73 gearing, 3-speed, and a compression bump to 9.5:1 from heads is all meant to optimize low end, off the line performance and the 204 cam with 112 LSA to compliment and balance out the system for a wider power band and better drivability. Question, since higher valve lifts produce more hp, what's the highest lift I can get or want?

On the TC, I still have to get through your earlier links but I intend to this weekend then I'll follow up on your lead and contact Jim's group to get some input.

Thanks again Richard!