Well, a lot has changed in my plans for the 327 going into the Camaro this past winter/spring. I've sadly learned that divorce will throw a HUGE monkeywrench into car restoration plans... I know this isn't a grief support forum so I'll leave it at that. At least I've got the whole garage back to myself!

Anyway, my dilemma is this: I had purchased my dream heads (AFR's) and had to sell them at a huge loss to cover "fees." I was left with the iron heads with 1.94's that I took in to be machined and found out they're both cracked. I went right out and got a deal on some vortec's and a new edelbrock rpm vortec intake. I should've researched more and paid attention to what others were using for pistons with vortec heads i.e. flattops before buying these. I have domed pistons in the 327 and after mocking it up, it appears as though I'll have a problem with the dome lip hitting the bottom of the chamber! I'm not completely positive but it sure appears as if it'll be a timebomb if I go this route. Anybody have success with domed pistons and vortec heads? I really want to use these but don't want to take stupid chances.

Sorry for ranting but I guess my main question is this: I can't afford a new set of AFR's or pretty much any new aluminum heads. I see Procomp heads reasonable and some other spawn's of Procomps but they don't sound to me to be very "good" based on the comments I've read. I don't know, not trying to offend anyone but looking for insight. Costwise, these seem to be the most reasonable. Otherwise, I'll have to go with another set of iron heads and have all the machine work done. I need to get this figured out quick as summer's here and I'm already about 8 months behind schedule on this. That's all I'm waiting on now to get this thing done and in the Camaro.

 

You should be able to bring any piston up to TDC and then just sit the head on the engine to see if it hits. If it does they wont work, if it doesn't you can then use clay to see if the valves might hit.

 

I've tried the clay twice and turned the motor over a few times. When I remove the head the valves fit in the relief's in the pistons fine but the clay is all the way through on the bottom of the dome lip. I've tried with old gaskets and went all the way through the clay but can't hear/feel hitting. It was probably pointless to try without gaskets but I did that too and it clearly hits, the head lifts up when the piston hits TDC. If it's not actually hitting the head, I coudn't imagine how close it is to it or what would be considered "acceptable" clearance.

 

You'll need to have a minimum of .060" clearance. If you can't get there with a thick .040" head gasket, then you need either less lift on the cam, fly cutting the pistons, or different pistons. Fly cutting costs around $90-$100 a set, so it would be cheaper to get new pistons, but you need to be sure the cam isn't too much lit first, or you'll end up with the same issue on new pistons.
Do you know what your cam specs are presently?

 

At TDC (when the valves are closed) the dome on his pistons are pushing up against the heads.
His issue goes beyond valve reliefs.

 

My gaskets are .041" but I haven't tried these new ones yet. It's really tight with the old gasket, I don't have the tools to measure unfortunately. It's a pretty good size cam - Lunati Street Master 295/295 with GVL of .534 and 108 Lobe sep. That's what had me worried and thinking the vortecs aren't going to work. When I mocked it up with the clay and old gasket which was .033" I couldn't hear/see the piston hitting but it's through the clay. This is out of my league getting this specific with measurements etc.

 

I don't see you using the vortec heads with your conventional domed pistons, or your pistons with the vortec heads (depends which you want to keep). Domed pistons made for use with vortec heads have a different design to clear the chamber. Again, valve clearance isn't your only worry here. Simply put, vortec heads were designed to be used with flat top pistons. Even if you could jack the head up high enough with thicker gaskets to clear the dome, your quench is going to suffer, which will hurt your performance.

 

Agreed, I was resigned to the fact that I couldn't use these heads with my original post. Just wasn't going to chance it even if they weren't actually hitting. The SpeedPro pistons that I have look almost identical to the Vortec specific domed pistons without the notch on the dome.

Going back to my original question of which would be the route to go with trying to find another set of cast iron heads or try these inexpensive aluminum heads? I know the machine work on a set of cast iron heads is going to cost about as much as buying a new set of "Procomp" type heads, and I would still need to locate them as well. I'm trying to avoid another mistake buying a set of heads that either won't work or heads that I don't really want.

 

I wouldn't waste my time or money on Pro Comp heads. If it was mine I'd go the old Chevy cast iron camel hump heads beore I'd go the PC heads. There are some builders using PC bare castings and assembling good heads, but the fully assembled PC heads are done with sloppy tolerances and substandard parts. PC heads also use oddball valves and guides. The valves are .010" longer than std. valves, and the guides are oversized OD, so once you get into a set you're stuck buying oddball Chinese parts forever.
Save yourself some grief and either buy an inexpensive pair of edelbrocks for a little more, or find the old camel humps. I've got them on my 327 and they work fantastic.

 

I've already bought too many parts for this 327 that have that dreaded "Not made in the USA" sticker on them and I can't stand it. This is American muscle we're talking about here! I don't know how those heads perform and/or hold up and while being fully aware and a believer in the You get what you paid for philosophy, you do see a lot of people using those heads. I'm watching a set of 487 heads on ebay that have been completely rebuilt and are already cut down for screw in studs/guideplates. Hope I can have a little luck swing my way and get a good deal.