I am going to be having the engine pulled in my WS6 in the next few months due to a blown head gasket and was planning on doing a few upgrades to it while the motor is out. I am currently wanting to start buying all the new parts for the upgrade. The car already has aftermarket Edelbrock heads which my dad put on the car a few years back. I know they aren't the best heads, but they are paid for and flow pretty decent compared to stock. I don't want to spend $1200 on another set of heads when the ones I have should work fairly well. This car is going to be a weekend cruiser, not a track car. I will also be installing 1.6 roller rockers, changing out the cam to a Comp Cams 280XFIHR13 kit with springs, lifters and a new timing chain set. I have gone through a lot of the LT1 motor upgrade threads and see a lot of people talking about porting the stock intake manifold vs buying an Edelbrock intake for almost $800 which, according to the flow numbers I've read, flows almost identical to the factory intake. I have heard the stock manifold flows excellent ported, but I can't find any shops that outright sell a ported stock manifold on the web, they all want you to send yours in. Unfortunately, because I am not doing the work myself, I can't take the time to send off my manifold to someone for porting work while my car is taking up a stall in my mechanic's workshop, he's going to want to get it in and out of there. Does anyone know of a company that sells a ported stock manifold or an aftermarket one that is actually an improvement? Also is there anything else I will need to take into consideration when I start making changes to the cam and intake? I will also be changing the throttle body as well.

Thank you in advance for any information you can give,
Robert

 

Reason you can't find one, is they aren't worth it. Stock TB and intake will be fine for awhile. Save the money time and aggravation. Injuneer had over 400whp on his ws6 formula with the stock throttle body.

Spend that money on suspension and brakes. Konis= single best mod I've ever done.

 

The stock ported intake manifolds work really good. Call Loyd Elliot (Elliot's port works) and explain your situation to him. He may have one he can send you thats ready to go. And you can ask about sending your core back to him when you get it back.

 

OP, in addition to post 3 (read do that), discuss with Lloyd a cam vs the XFI Comp you are considering. Regardless do not use Comp bee hive springs with the XFI, use the Lunati kit made for the LT1. Lloyd can tell you in extreme detail why not to use the Comp springs

Do not waste $ buying the Edlebrock LT1 intake

with any cam swap you wind up doing....you will need a new tune and likely larger fuel injectors....and a 255 LPH fuel pump. If auto trans, a higher stall TC

 

Was this issue only when Bert Bower was working with LE? I dunno. I've been running an XFI292 with 26056's for quite a few years and several thousand miles now without any problems.... or am I just lucky.............

 

Show me a dyno, timeslip....something. I'll gladly eat my words.

 

Agreed. Keep the stock intake. It can easily accommodate a stock displacement heads/cam N/A setup. Stock TB as well. No reason to get a larger TB until you poke and stroke.

 

A few years ago when I contacted Lloyd about springs as I had become a member of the 2 piece Comp 918 group. Lloyd said he would not install or sell 915's or 918's for this reason. I bought the Lunati LT1 set from him, I also run the Comp XFI grind cam

Your Comps appear to not having the issues the 26918 bee hive springs had

 

I dunno. Maybe because I have a spring which can handle an XFI lobe? :shrug:

 

The Comp cam card for my XFI spec the 26918 spring, which is why I initially used them. Checked them at 5k mi, 10k mi....and at 15k mi I had the 2 piece version. They were installed at 1.800" height. Reportedly they had a "bad batch" as at the time Comp went :offshore" for them. 918 failure was considerably more common than other springs at the time. Lloyd said he would not use them as a result.

Of course any single spring failure results in immediate piston to valve issue as there is no secondary spring to hold the valve up. The Lunati kit is a dual spring. Fortunately for me damage did not occur as the retainer was still capturing the broken spring

I only rev to 6400 at the track as the cam stops making power about 500 rpm before that, The Lunati spring has been fine for years now. YMMV