ZZ502 upgrade???????

[miket]

Okay, so most of you may have seen my post from awhile back regarding the ongoing "squeak" problem in my ZZ502....next week it goes back under the dealer's scalpel for some parts replacement. Since the labor is free (and failed parts are too) this would be an opportune time to do any upgrades....I have been noodling this for a while....

So, I have about $900-$1000 that I can spend on upper end parts upgrades...thinking of a new Solid Roller Cam, springs, retainers, lifters, roller rockers and tall valve covers. From quite a bit of investigating it looks as though I can expect to see about 600/625hp and 600-650lb/ft torque from this mod.

However, I can see more (700/700 with the above cam swap) by swapping out the Edelbrock Oval Port heads and matched intake for AFR/Brodix/Canfield rect. ports with a matched Rect port Victor manifold.

Question is, should I go ahead and make the cam change and then save for the head/intake swap or make the intake head swap first? I think the heads and intake will run $2k...approx.

[68c10owner]

i would reuse the gmpp heads you have now. i don`t know if edelbrock makes them for gm or not but the gmpp heads have a bigger intake valve than the edelbrock heads. stay away from rectangle port heads. you want to make good low to mid range torque to get you moving and square port heads are for top end power. if you sent your heads out to be professionaly ported and went with a bigger roller cam, you should be able to get 600hp from your motor. the head work is pricey but you already have the heads. take the money you would spend on new ones and have yours done up right. as for the camshaft, check with comp cams. they have great hydro roller cams. you may have to increase your stall converter if you go to much bigger than what you have. also, you can stay with the stock roller cam and see the difference the head work makes. then whn the money tree gets bigger, change cams to either hydo or solid.