LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

Heads back from machine shop, Round 1

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Old Sep 28, 2010 | 11:47 PM
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Default Heads back from machine shop, Round 1

Got my AFRs back from their first round at the machine shop to have them milled. Afterwards, I CC'd the heads and measured the amount the valve protrudes from the heads. Tomorrow I will see how far the pistons are up out of the hole to get a ballpark figure for what thickness gasket I will need for the proper quench. Testing for PTV with an aggressive cam will be a must...

Some background info:
The heads are AFR 220s(not the eliminators) with 67cc chambers and were ported to 227s. Flow was 330 @ .6 before the milling, I will see what they flow now in the next two weeks or so when I have them flowbenched to get a cam spec'd. The heads were just milled .030, which pleasantly took off a full 7ccs(I only expected a ~5cc drop down to 62ccs, so either they were 2cc shy of 67cc or AFRs don't follow the same thousandths per CC as normal SBC heads do), and they are now exactly 60ccs. Should work great with my -5cc flat tops depending on the height above the deck of my pistons at TDC (which i will find out tomorrow).

Here are some pics of the heads as they stand now, click for high-res versions.

Exhaust side:


Exhaust Ports:


Intake Side:


Intake Ports:


Chamber:


Attempt to get a picture of the Intake Valve sticking out:


They stick out 25 thousands(.025) from the face of the head:


Beautiful freshly milled surface!


Quick CC'ing guide in case somebody has never done it...save yourself the 40+ bucks to CC a head, its easy as hell and can be done for pocket change.

You will need:
-Graduated Syringe in ml. I picked up a 10ml one from Walgreens for like $2.50. It will be more accurate then a larger syringe with harder to dispense increments, and easier then an expensive glass burette setup...but not quite as accurate. Maybe within a 1/2 to 1/4 of a CC margin of error(instead of like 1/10th of a CC) but that is plenty close enough to work with. Half a CC will barely have an effect on your CR.
-Sheet of plexi glass. I like to have two holes drilled into it for easier removal of bubbles. Some of the kits available online only have a single hole in the middle which is a bitch to get rid of the bubbles to completely fill.
-Vaseline. I'm sure a lot of you have tons of this lying around . Needed to make a seal between the plexi and heads, and also the valves if you do not have springs on them yet.
-Little bit of water. Some people use alcohol, light oil, etc but just plain old water works great and is easy to clean up.
-Spare spark plug. Good luck filling a chamber with a big hole in it.
-Pencil and Paper. Keep track of how many CC's you are up to just incase you lose track .

Here is the plexi sealed to the head and ready to fill. Ignore the circle scribe mark, it was a left over from something else that I recycled since i was too lazy to drill a new piece. Because of this the holes are not placed exactly where I wanted, but they will work.


More then halfway filled.

Notice what I said about the holes. If I was doing this from scratch i would have drilled the holes much higher, one to each side of the spark plug, to make it easier to fill and remove bubbles. You may have to move the heads a little or tap the plexi to dislodge any bubbles. The last bit of water added will most likely not be a full syringe squirt, so just subtract how much water is left in the syringe from the total amount it holds(10ml in my case) and add that number to the last amount of water you wrote down(You DID remember that pencil and paper, didn't you?).

Easy-PZ, you can now more accurately calculate your compression ratio.

Next stop, a different speed shop to flow bench a port from .1-.7 to send to LE to spec me a nasty cam .
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 01:05 AM
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Those heads are boat anchors!!!1111
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 09:30 AM
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haha, looks nice. You must have some idea of how big the cam is going to be...
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 09:36 AM
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I know I joked about this before, by I'm curious now why you didn't let Craig spec out a cam? The heads are his handy work, yes?
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 09:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Wicked94Z
Those heads are boat anchors!!!1111
I'm stuck with them already, aftermarket castings are junk!!

Originally Posted by SS MPSTR
haha, looks nice. You must have some idea of how big the cam is going to be...
It will be on the larger side of things...it won't be a pure race grind but it's definitely an aggressive setup. Probably in the late 24x or early 25x intake with over .6 total lift since the heads don't fall off till after .7 and that'll keep them at peak flow longer...but I'll leave the spec'ing to the pros. If they say a 255 intake lobe or something way different from what I expected will work best for what I want, I'll give it a try. I have no problem sharing the specs once I get them.

Originally Posted by SS RRR
I know I joked about this before, by I'm curious now why you didn't let Craig spec out a cam? The heads are his handy work, yes?
Yea, Craig did the heads and did an amazing job. My machinist was very impressed with the valve job and how similar all the ports are.

I was already talking with LE before I got these heads, when it was still going to be just another street car. First I was going to run LE3s, then hype started being built up with the 21* TFS heads and I was going to go with a ported set of those, then I saw these heads and couldn't pass them up, which kind of spiraled the build out of control.

I feel he is more then good enough to spec me a killer cam based on a flow bench sheet, and he already knows my goals and info on my car. Cams are relatively cheap and easy to change, so if for some reason I am not happy with its performance I can just have a different one spec'd.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 06:55 PM
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From: Jackstandican
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I dunno... I would think Craig would know his own heads far better than LE. Doesn't seem logical to go with a cam from a different place rather than get the entire package from a shop you and I both know can hammer out results, but nonetheless, good luck.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 07:32 PM
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Originally Posted by SS RRR
I dunno... I would think Craig would know his own heads far better than LE. Doesn't seem logical to go with a cam from a different place rather than get the entire package from a shop you and I both know can hammer out results, but nonetheless, good luck.
As long as they are both working from the same flow sheet and car/engine information I'm sure LE, AI, Craig, Bullet, or CamMotion could all get the job done.

I want to try LE first since I like working with him and he shows an interest in builds as a whole, not just getting my money. Like I said though, if I'm not happy I'll try someone elses cam . All things being considered, a cam swap is not much time or money on this sort of build.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 08:14 PM
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Aftermarket heads are OVER RATED!!!!!
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get that bitch running will ya.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 08:56 PM
  #9  
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Originally Posted by Z8'S
Aftermarket heads are OVER RATED!!!!!
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get that bitch running will ya.
Says the guy that wasted his $$ on heads with a turbo setup.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 09:19 PM
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Originally Posted by speed_demon24
Says the guy that wasted his $$ on heads with a turbo setup.
Hell you should have seen how much money I wasted on Pucks heads.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 10:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Z8'S
Hell you should have seen how much money I wasted on Pucks heads.
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Old Sep 29, 2010 | 11:21 PM
  #12  
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, you guys crack me up.

Measured the pistons this morning and they are perfectly flush with the deck at TDC. Not even .001 out. When eying them I thought they stuck out a bit, but I verified with the gauge that they do not.

Looks like I will end up a bit short of my 12.5:1 CR goal and end up right around 12:1 if I want to keep my quench near the recommended ~.035 for an NA 383. I wanted higher compression to counter the low end loss of a big high overlap cam, but half a point of compression is not a huge deal, I can live with that. In reality a properly built 383 will already have more tq then most chassis' can handle anyway, so I guess I am being a little **** for no reason.

Will be around 2 or 3 weeks before I drop them off for flow benching and have Llyod spec me a cam...biketoberfest is in two weeks and I have a few things I still want to do for my bike before I take it to the track on the 13th, so the car is on the back burner again for a bit.
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Old Sep 30, 2010 | 06:02 PM
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12:1 is plenty of compression, I wouldn't sweat it. What trans, converter and gear is going in it?
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Old Sep 30, 2010 | 07:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Wicked94Z
12:1 is plenty of compression, I wouldn't sweat it. What trans, converter and gear is going in it?
Whatever the cam wants

I was thinking Performabuilt 700r4, Yank PT4000, and 4.10'd 12-bolt...but it all depends on what cam I get. I'll get to that when its time, don't have any solid decisions yet.

Its not a pure race car that's getting a giant solid roller, 8" 5500 stall, and 4.56s...but its not a daily driver either.
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Old Sep 30, 2010 | 07:44 PM
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Looking good and Im looking forward to see some more of the build.

PS I felt the same about LE after talking to a few companies.
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