[454C10]

I only have measured one set of vortec heads and the retainers hit the seals at 0.430" lift.

Get your heads done at another machine shop and yes, use the recommended valve springs.

[Viban]

I'll upgrade the valve springs and work on the rest, this is why I cam here, cuz I knew ya'll would know things that I'd overlook

[Viban]

This is a bit of a bump, but everything is all together now, made suggested upgrades where needed and things. My question is now, will I need a bigger distributer or will an OEM one be fine?

[Valkyrie5.7]

Originally Posted by Viban

This is a bit of a bump, but everything is all together now, made suggested upgrades where needed and things. My question is now, will I need a bigger distributer or will an OEM one be fine?

Leave the distributor, unless it has excessive play. If you do replace it, make sure it is one for your specific application and not just any HEI distributor.

BTW, when you get your tune done make sure that you have them remove the torque management, you're leaving a lot of power on the table right now.

This is my choice for tuning: Black Bear Performance :: Custom Tuning Solutions for 96 and newer GM Vehicles

[Viban]

I'm not doing anything with the computer, the reason I picked everything I did is so I could avoid it at all costs. It's really just going to be a daily driver, first car and whatnot. I just wanted to make her purr real pretty like and maybe carry my band's gear if need be.

[Silver Surfer]

If you don't tune the computer you will probably see a drop in power, which is bad. And it may run really lean or really rich, which is bad and bad.

[Viban]

if it comes down to it I'll see what I can do, I'm just going by what seems to be necessity. I figure if the power drops or it runs bad I'll see about getting it tuned.

[Valkyrie5.7]

Your truck may run just fine and make power with your cam, but a tune is something to look into because of the torque management software that the truck uses. It will pull timing at WOT, upshift or downshift in an effort to save abuse on the transmission. It significantly effects power output.

Most tuners do not recommend removing all of the torque management unless you've done work to the transmission (4L60E/4L60/700R4's aren't exactly the toughest transmissions ever made) but with paired with a fluid cooler you can easily remove 75-80% of what the computers doing. It's a night and day difference in power.

I understand you not wanting to get into spending a lot of money or going for full out straight line performance, but if you're going to spend the cash on a hotter cam, you might as well spend the extra $200 on a mail order tune so that you're getting your moneys worth.

[Viban]

Well like I said, for now I will be doing things that I can't get along without, then I'll look into optimizing anything. The engine is ready to drop in now and It'll be going in by the end of next week. but I don't have a job yet so things are probably gonna move a bit slow for a while. When I come into some more money I think I'll look into that mail order monitoring software thing that black bear offers. The transmission should probably hold up ok with it too, this truck came with a transmission cooler and it seems pretty rugged.