95z28man

Hey, recently I've been trying to add some more power to my car without actually buying new parts for it since I've got most of the boltons I can get. I remembered seeing some kind of do it yourself port/polish type of kit. I was wondering if thats a tough thing to do and if it is, how much would it typically cost to have that done in a shop? Also, what are my other options as far as like bore size and whatever else I can do to keep my stock heads and add some real power? I don't know really anything about the work involved and whatever else goes into that kind of stuff so I'm basically looking for some insight as far as pros/cons, process, worth it or not, cost, what type of labor would I be looking at to do it myself. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

1994lt1z28

I tried this once on an gen 1 set of heads didn,t turn out well they say it takes alot of practice so if you want to save money find some junk heads
and gasket match for practice till your comfortable with your work

it cost me 600 to get mine ported,polished,and a three angle valve job
good luck.

curly

IMO, you can do a port / polish yourself but you would be better off to let the pros do it. Most machinist know tricks that gain you flow (and HP). If you're going through the trouble to get another set of heads / remove yours to port them, you don't want to have to do it more than once. I paid ~$1000 to have my heads P&P, oversized Ferrara valves, new seals, gaskets, COMP double conical springs, locks, etc.

It was well worth it.... now if I can get a decent sounding exhaust .

MeanGreen97Z

Pretty difficult to make good power.

95z28man

That would be nice if I could my hands on a set of heads for free to practice on. But even if I did, how would I know I did a good job? Also, what would be a good size for the mods I have currently? I don't want to overdo it then have it be worthless or something like that.

Joe B

Not trying to be negitive here at all, but if your not trying to learn the art of headporting for a future head porting buisness....Then do yourself a HUGE favor and (when your ready) have the heads professionially ported by a reputable head porter such as Lloyd Elliott......even if you had several sets of heads to practice on, even that is not really enough experience for most to get real worthwhile airflow gains....most guys who dabble in this, don't have a solid understanding of what port shape, and small changes made (here and they're) actually affects....more often than not, they end up not making things very far from the ideal size and shape in key areas of the port, which can actually slow the velocity and hurt airflow over the stock casting(among other serious flow issues)......I can't even tell you how many sets of home ported heads(that looked of ok quality portwork to the untrained eye) that I've seen that flowed no better than when they were stock, and some much worse in "key" valve lift areas......and without the use of a flow bench being properly used, you won't have any clue what the port is doing, during and after the portwork.....I guess my point and what Im trying to relay for you here, is that head porting really is an Art that very few guys get good at, even with years worth of effort and experience, and even with "all" the right tools....It is really nothing at all like just making some holes larger.......Joe

aifilaw

Gunna have to completely agree with Joe B on this one. Plenty of guys out there can widen ports, but very few know the mechanics around it and have spent the time with a manometer to figure out what really gains flow. The true experts at porting heads do not do it for money, they work for the pro-stock and high end race teams doing their porting and make absolutely amazing numbers.

Another thing to watch out for is crossing the gen or make barrier. I consider myself quite adept at porting out chrysler BB heads, but I cna't gaurantee diddly with a set of LT-1's or anything else because I don't know where the water jackets are at, sure there's a few tricks out there that gaurantee flow, swirl, velocity, et cetera gains. but all in all find someone who has done those heads specifically and has the flow bench results to prove they do good work.

If your lokoing at getting started yourself, get 3 sets of garbage heads and either buy, or get the parts and build a manometer (flow bench) and get to learning, that's probably the best way to do it short of grabbing a fluids, statics, and dynamics book from a university-level course.