musclecarsrock68

i have a set of 799 heads that i am planning on putting on my 98 z28. The guy i bought them off of said he would port and polish them for 200$.

is that a good price? how much of a diffrance will it make? and how can I tell how good of a job he does?

PowellSixO

iTrader: (1)

Porting and polishing makes a huge difference. $200 bucks is a smoking deal if it's done right. However I would leave it to a professional. Anyone can take a dremel tool and remove material in a cylinder head. It takes skill and an amazing amount of knowledge to do it correctly.

musclecarsrock68

is there anyway my untrained eye can tell if he did a good job or not? or any questions i can ask him befor hand to see if he knows what he is doing?

PowellSixO

iTrader: (1)

Thats a question that should be answered by someone with more knowledge than myself. There are different levels of porting and polishing. If he was simply going to port match the exhaust and intake ports and clean up casting flaws I wouldn't be too worried. But if he was going to do anythin more serious I would talk to someone with serious knowledge.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

Don't waste your money.

musclecarsrock68

why do you say its a waist?

gtotoocool1

iTrader: (6)

because you can end up with a junk set of heads.you get what you pay for,especially when it comes to this industry.take the $200.00 to get a pro to check them out, do a good VJ and be done with it..

badazz81z28

iTrader: (6)

It takes alot of time to port castings by hand. Depending on the person, its not a bad deal. But like mentioned, if he doesnt know what he's doing flow could get worst or he may damage the casting.

musclecarsrock68

alright well thanks for the advice. ill just put that money to the valve springs or push rods that i still need.

garygnu

thats a great price if the person knows how to port ls1 heads.if you decide to have your heads flowed tested after porting you can find out how good he is at porting.most people don't polish heads.do a search for some ported head pics.do a vale seat leak test ,and get a valve job if needed.look at Texas Speed for springs and push rods.

3rdCoastPowerSports

iTrader: (5)

my personal opinion is if he has done several sets of LS heads before and knows what to remove and where to remove it from then i see no problem paying someone $200 for a "decent" port job. $200 is not going to buy you a $800 pro porting job so just understand that and you will be all good... To be honest LS heads are not that hard to port. they already flow decently well. they just need a nice "massage" to flow even better.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

This, and.................................this.

PREDATOR-Z

A Wiseman once said: If it sounds too good to be true, it is usually a rip off. My advice is invest into spelling and syntax material to enhance YOUR performance.

mark21742

Just remember, some of us know what we are doing and don't have the big shop overhead the the pros have. Personally I don't charge that much and honestly enjoy and really find porting heads relaxing.....never used a flow bench, just the butt dyno to prove my work.

KCS

iTrader: (20)

For $200, you would find better gains with a valve job than porting. It's really easy to break through to water or weaken the roof below the rocker boss by novice port work.

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

You get what you pay for. Port jobs for reputable companies like AI, Flowtech Induction, WCCH, TEA cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,600. Go with one of these companies and you won't be disappointed.

studderin

iTrader: (28)

haha post some pics of this.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Exactly our point. If you aren't flowing the heads, you don't know if your ports are getting better or worse. This is like a 2nd grader busting into a high school algebra competition trying to impress them with his subtraction skills.

salemetro

iTrader: (5)

Spot on. I would NEVER pay someone to do port work without a flow bench. Port too little....not much gain. Port too much....not much (if any) gain...more likely a substantial loss. A flow bench let's you KNOW where you're at, and when to stop and call it a day. In the case of port shaping, bigger is not always better.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

As soon as I heard the word polish, I would run away. Or PnP. Which is actually a type of transistor.
You won't see any polishing on a CNC job.

Ron