Head swaps

[jmig]

The PO did not do much in the way of regular oil changes and maintenance. When I got the truck it had been sitting on a farm for a couple years but did start and blew some smoke when warmed up and the accelerator was pushed. Got it back home and took the valve covers off to see inside and the oil passages were blocked with crud, opened those up and changed the oil 3 or 4 times and that cleared up my smoke issue.

I want to remove the heads since there is so much crud caked on them and replace them with another stock set. Is there another set of heads that I can just bolt on that will perform better than the ones on it now? Or can I get away with cleaning up what I have, if so can they be cleaned on the truck or should I take them off. I need to pull the intake off any way to fix a leak, so I can only imagine what in the valley as well.

I am also planning to pull the oil pan to clean/replace the oil pump pick up and screen but am expecting the same crud will be in there as well.

My plan is to have this motor last for a year or two until funds come available for a crate motor.

[randeez]

which engine ya got jmig?

edit nm didnt realize this was in small block section

for stock to stock swap out, tbi heads or tpi heads will be about the same, may be able to find a set of aluminum heads

you can usually find a set of tbi heads pretty cheap, less than $100/pair and get as much as you want done to them. minimum get em tanked and mag'd replace the seals, you can reuse the valves and springs in most cases, it's cheap to replace but it all adds up

[Doober]

Ditto if it's only for a year. New seals, make sure guides are good, no cracks etc., and if you're just putting stock heads back on it wouldn't hurt to clean up the bowls, you can see pictures of what I did in the 383 link in my sig... very little to take out really, unless you want to tackle the valve guude area... it was the first set of heads I ported so I didn't touch the guide area, only the bowls. Besides that you're probably wasting time on them, outside bowls/guides there isn't much to be had unless you really know what you're doing with TBI heads.