Porting LT1 heads Advise
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 467
Likes: 2
From: Lincoln NE
Porting LT1 heads Advise First. Im bringing in my LT1 aluminum heads to get cleaned today. The last set he cleaned for me, he sandblasted the combustion chambers? Did he do this just to clean up the chamber??
I know some guys say you need it to be rough to help with atomization?????
I always thought that was for more carb stuff not FI. Anyway do I want him to blast the chambers and rough them up? Then just clean them up when i get them back? Or should I tell him not to blast the chamber?
Thanks guys
I know some guys say you need it to be rough to help with atomization?????
I always thought that was for more carb stuff not FI. Anyway do I want him to blast the chambers and rough them up? Then just clean them up when i get them back? Or should I tell him not to blast the chamber?
Thanks guys
First. Im bringing in my LT1 aluminum heads to get cleaned today. The last set he cleaned for me, he sandblasted the combustion chambers? Did he do this just to clean up the chamber??
I know some guys say you need it to be rough to help with atomization?????
I always thought that was for more carb stuff not FI. Anyway do I want him to blast the chambers and rough them up? Then just clean them up when i get them back? Or should I tell him not to blast the chamber?
Thanks guys
I know some guys say you need it to be rough to help with atomization?????
I always thought that was for more carb stuff not FI. Anyway do I want him to blast the chambers and rough them up? Then just clean them up when i get them back? Or should I tell him not to blast the chamber?
Thanks guys
Launching!
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 205
Likes: 3
From: Valencia Ca
Chamber work itself in the right spots will help more than any type of finish;I dont believe that any of it (type of finish) makes a difference
Once you fire it up youll get carbon all over anyway
Post up your results when done!
Once you fire it up youll get carbon all over anyway
Post up your results when done!
Not to hurt your feelings, but that would be a mistake if you want to be fast. More to it than you might think. Might build or buy yourself a flow bench, and buy an extra set of castings to experiment on. Hours of fun. Built mine nearly forty years ago. Just sold it last year. Very interesting. There are some good books on the subject. I think Reher & Morrison Racing Engines new book cover heads. Their older one did. Good reading for anybody interested in working on their own engines. They are located in Arlington, TX.
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Launching!
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 205
Likes: 3
From: Valencia Ca
If you wanna learn how to screw heads up jump on youtube or listen to forums
The reher morrison suggestion is good...larry meaux on speedtalk.com offers some good material
On the headbytes dude anybody see the one where he spills a bucket of molten aluminum on his foot and almost catches his place on fire? Not funny but was in stitches for awhile.
Poor guy lol.
The reher morrison suggestion is good...larry meaux on speedtalk.com offers some good material
On the headbytes dude anybody see the one where he spills a bucket of molten aluminum on his foot and almost catches his place on fire? Not funny but was in stitches for awhile.
Poor guy lol.
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There is a few threads on yb dedicated to that headbytes guy. Very very funny. He also has taken money and heads from people and never returned them. He would be the last guy I would listen too. Not trying to start anything, just saying.
Launching!
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 205
Likes: 3
From: Valencia Ca
If you get to the point to where you feel you have to break through to the headbolts to make the head good just buy a better head to start with. Opinions may vary but not a fan of turning a factory head into an oversized sprinkler system. Waste of dough
Personally, I wouldn't trust myself to do any work beyond a little valve unshrouding, casting cleanup, and measuring the ports to ensure they're identical. There is some valuable information there in regards to that and the fact that cylinder head eye candy doesn't translate to better flow. Every time I see a mirror finish on a home port job it makes me laugh.
People just dont understand porting, there is hogging out and then there is true professional porting, Hell if it were a matter of just making the runners bigger, then anyone could do it, Porting is a science, you have to know, swirl, tumble, velocity ect. I have seen so many home port jobs that looked good, and when put back on the motor with no other mods, went way slower, up to 1/2 second and down 2-3 mph slower. Minor clean up is ok, but I would leave the porting to the pro like LE.
TECH Veteran
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,985
Likes: 112
To be clearer you stand a significantly greater chance of Fing up good heads doing a "mild port" yourself than not. Porting is a skill set based on knowledge, experience AND the right tools. One being a flow bench to see wtf actually happened after porting compared to flow before
Nothing wrong with wanting to learn and if you do great...IMHO I would start on a donor set of heads before sacrificing the ones on the car now
Lloyd Elliott Portworks or Advanced Induction would be where I would send them to...that is what they do.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,740
Likes: 2
From: Nebraska
I agree, just taking a die grinder to a set of heads isn't going to magically make them better. There is science and technique behind it. I like doing things my own as well but heads is one thing i'll never do on something I care about, at least not in the near future. I would let the professionals do it this time. Grab a shitty old set of heads and practice technique first.
Not to discourage you but sometimes you need to hand the reigns to someone else.
Not to discourage you but sometimes you need to hand the reigns to someone else.
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 467
Likes: 2
From: Lincoln NE
I guess I never mentioned that.. The heads I'm doing this too are a set I picked up off a guy for cheap! The oe heads on my car are still on. So if I do screw these up no big deal.
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
my first post may have been to subtle in recommendation...
To be clearer you stand a significantly greater chance of Fing up good heads doing a "mild port" yourself than not. Porting is a skill set based on knowledge, experience AND the right tools. One being a flow bench to see wtf actually happened after porting compared to flow before
Nothing wrong with wanting to learn and if you do great...IMHO I would start on a donor set of heads before sacrificing the ones on the car now
Lloyd Elliott Portworks or Advanced Induction would be where I would send them to...that is what they do.
To be clearer you stand a significantly greater chance of Fing up good heads doing a "mild port" yourself than not. Porting is a skill set based on knowledge, experience AND the right tools. One being a flow bench to see wtf actually happened after porting compared to flow before
Nothing wrong with wanting to learn and if you do great...IMHO I would start on a donor set of heads before sacrificing the ones on the car now
Lloyd Elliott Portworks or Advanced Induction would be where I would send them to...that is what they do.
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 467
Likes: 2
From: Lincoln NE
As an aside, LE just finished porting a set of LT1 heads for me that are going onto a 383 stroker which I'm picking up from the engine builder this weekend. I hope to have the car on the road before X-mas, so I'll report back. I went back-and-forth between LE and AI before deciding on LE. His prices are better and he was VERY easy to work with. But if, at some point, I decide to install brand new heads (and have more money to work with), I'll probably go with AI's 212cc Trick Flows.