Intake and Exhaust Valves or ported 243's





As for rockers, you might rethink the rollers, but go wilth the necessary valvetrain upgrades specified by you chosen valvetrain designer.
the stockish heads don't respond to lifts over .550
until ported. If you were valve limited they would
respond to lift. Big valves don't help if they put you
closer to the cylinder wall (shrouding). Duration is
where it's at.
The stock engine with bolt-ons including 1-3/4 long tubes, SLP cat'ed Y pipe, stock 4L60E automatic with Yank 3600 TC, center mount exhaust and stock 32.3 gears made 345 lb-ft and 330 hp on a fairly stingy Dynojet.
The same bolt-ons were used for the H/C/I package. The heads were very high-end CNC ported 243's (with stock diameter valves), the intake was a FAST 92/92 and the HR cam was done to compliment the entire package.
This H/C/I package, on the same dyno, raised max torque to 405 lb-ft (up 60) and max hp to 448 (up 118). The H/C/I had 375 lb-ft or more from 3500 to 6500. That's about 92% of max torque from stall rpm to shift rpm. It was at least 40 lb-ft better from 3000 up and it was up 122 lb-ft @ 6300. That's up 146 hp (@6300) if you do the math.
The 3600 stall might now be a little much. That 92% of max torque available from 3500-6300 should make it fun on the street.
Now this is probably the very high end of what you can expect from an H/C/I package, and is is not cheap. Hell, it's quite expensive in $, but somewhat reasonable in $/hp or $/average torque and hp throughout the driving range. The heads are most definitely not a DIY project and they were not from a sponsor, so names and charts are also not included here.
This shows you what can be done with 243 heads. If you don't use the same sources and parts, your results may vary.

As far as the roller rockers, I had my say on another thread:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...ockers-no.html
the stockish heads don't respond to lifts over .550
until ported. If you were valve limited they would
respond to lift. Big valves don't help if they put you
closer to the cylinder wall (shrouding). Duration is
where it's at.
1. Almost every LS head is valve throat limited in terms of area, which is the way it should be. The port is only limiting in getting the air to the throat cleanly.
2. Stock heads DO work well over .550" due to the valve throat being the limit and the stability of valvetrain dynamics and limited lift applications.
3. You should do some research on 25% Lift to Diameter ratios and what that means in terms of AREA the cylinder sees.
4. Duration IS NOT where it is at.
As Old SStroker mentioned the stock size valves can do a hell of a lot more than most people think. Especially on AUTOMATIC cars where they can make more than M6 cars with similar modifications done incorrectly.
Bret
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The LS6 stock valves are some of the lightest steel valves I have ever seen, and yes that is a very GOOD thing!
All cathedral port rockers are the same.
Bret
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as for rockers, i vote for the stock ones... many a 500+ rwhp engine is running stock rockers, and aluminium will break eventually its just a question of loadcycles and load... (same reason you don´t run aluminium rods on the street) you mentioned reliability... so why discard a great OEM engineered product that will last forever in favour of somnthing that has been known to break (do a search...)
ps. the bit about aluminium breaking.. im not just taking out of my azz, i hold a degree in mechanical engineering and its a property of the material that there is no threashold load below wich fatigue doesnt occur (as there is for steel) the curve is a straight line... so its just a matter of time...... and with stiffer springs.. less time
It would be nice to post some results of his head/cam packages here or in the dyno results and comparisons section.
I did say all this before, but it bears repeating, IMO.
Bret
Bret[/QUOTE]
My point exactly..I take everything off of the forum with a grain of salt( so to speak) but I do know that there are alot of knowldgeable people on here and that you just have to kind of filter through them and the other places on the internet and come to your own conclusions about who to trust when building a setup.Thats why I posted in this section, to try and get some info from more "knowledgeable" "advanced" people who have seen what works and what doesn't over the years...I am not a fan of off the shelf combo's and really like going the different route(which I know isn't always better). I know the 243 catsings are proven when used with the right combo of parts and tuning as well as non-cookie cutter port job(you guys know what I mean, there are certain areas of "ported" heads that some people don't show much attention to when they make a difference) Any body have any info on the rocker situaton as I asked..still waiting to hear from the porter. 

