Both the heads that were on the truck were cracked, good sized ones. So that was a real bummer. Not a cheap fix haha. I took it as an opportunity to do some upgrades, in this case to a set of vortec heads. My local machine shop gave me a decent deal on a brand new set. Though it wasn't until I got home that I thought to check which casting they were, and they turned out to be 906's. I did a lot of reading and there seem to be many controversies over whether the 906 casting is inferior to the other. Either way, they'll be an improvement over the old heads.
I quickly realized that even though the vortec heads cost the same as a new set of the old style, all the accompanying parts really started adding up in price. I got a new intake, valve covers, water neck, thermostat, self aligning rockers, all the gaskets and associated bolts, drivers side exhaust manifold, and spark plugs. This ended up being about a $1,500 upgrade, but that's mostly because I decided to get quality parts like the Edelbrock intake, instead of cheapo ones. I had to special order the bolts for the exhaust from Ace, so even though almost everything else is put together, I have to wait on those. I'm really tempted to just throw on a couple of the old rusted bolts just so I can see if she runs.
The other setback is that I dropped the throttle return spring somewhere in the engine bay. No idea where it went, and I spent a good hour looking for it. So I'll need to pick up one of those.
I have a Rochester quadrajet, but the intake manifold I have doesn't work with the divorced choke. So I'm going to see how well she runs without a choke. I did some reading and it seems that it means I'll just have to sit there with my foot on the gas until she warms up for a longer time than usual. I also need to bend a bracket to get the kickdown to hook up.
