Porting and olishing the LT1 heads
Porting and olishing the LT1 heads How much do you guys predict this will cost? I know I have seen a few guys here that have them done, so I am wondering how much it will cost. I am getting ready to pull her apart for a cam, springs rockers, lifters, and such upgrades so I am wanting better flow in the heads to compliment these. Please let me know.
Originally Posted by 9formula4
1K?? thats STEEP. I have seen different places on the net doing a "street/strip" full P&P WITH 3 angle valve job for 350 bux.
If you want to go that route don't bother us with "why is my ported head car so slow?" questions later.
Let's think about this for a second. Say it takes 30 minutes to strip and inspect a pair of heads, say 10 minutes per valve for the valvejob. Up to 190 minutes already. Any decent machine shop will have to charge at least $70 an hour likely more GOOD equipment and people cost money so already we are up too over $210 and no porting has been done. I will admit I am guessing at these times and figures but I think they if anything low. For $350 I would be shocked if you go bowl hogged and a decent valvejob, real skilled porting takes TIME and time is money.
Also the $1K figure would be with good valvesprings properly setup, milling for straightness etc. not just a hackjob.
Originally Posted by 96capricemgr
If you want to go that route don't bother us with "why is my ported head car so slow?" questions later.
Let's think about this for a second. Say it takes 30 minutes to strip and inspect a pair of heads, say 10 minutes per valve for the valvejob. Up to 190 minutes already. Any decent machine shop will have to charge at least $70 an hour likely more GOOD equipment and people cost money so already we are up too over $210 and no porting has been done. I will admit I am guessing at these times and figures but I think they if anything low. For $350 I would be shocked if you go bowl hogged and a decent valvejob, real skilled porting takes TIME and time is money.
Also the $1K figure would be with good valvesprings properly setup, milling for straightness etc. not just a hackjob.
Let's think about this for a second. Say it takes 30 minutes to strip and inspect a pair of heads, say 10 minutes per valve for the valvejob. Up to 190 minutes already. Any decent machine shop will have to charge at least $70 an hour likely more GOOD equipment and people cost money so already we are up too over $210 and no porting has been done. I will admit I am guessing at these times and figures but I think they if anything low. For $350 I would be shocked if you go bowl hogged and a decent valvejob, real skilled porting takes TIME and time is money.
Also the $1K figure would be with good valvesprings properly setup, milling for straightness etc. not just a hackjob.
What he said
search for LE1, LE2, LE3 or advanced Inductions(AI). Also see www.Portpros.com, www.totalengineairflow.com
The valvesprings and all will not be being installed by the shop. They will just be doing the porting and polishing. everything else is being done by me. other forums I have read on people say that for just a p&p with 3 angle valve job there should be no more than 500 spent out.
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Verdad Gallardo www.advancedinduction.com is the shop I used 12.5 at 107.3 in a daily driver stock 97K mile shortblock Caprice at 4250lbs, says they are worth the money. Still mild enough to tow a small fishing boat or for the wife to take grocery shopping.
Went 12.6 the first good night out on this setup(went once before but the FP was weak) with 3.42s and a 28" tiresays it makes great torque as well as HP.
On the valvejob there is a lot more to a GOOD one than just three angles, all the GOOD shops will tell you the valvejob is critical, it is not something you want cheap as possible. At least on the porting cheap as possible will probably be minimal material removal with little risk of serious screwup, the valvejob being sloppy or just poorly speced could leave you with less than stock flow.
Went 12.6 the first good night out on this setup(went once before but the FP was weak) with 3.42s and a 28" tiresays it makes great torque as well as HP.
On the valvejob there is a lot more to a GOOD one than just three angles, all the GOOD shops will tell you the valvejob is critical, it is not something you want cheap as possible. At least on the porting cheap as possible will probably be minimal material removal with little risk of serious screwup, the valvejob being sloppy or just poorly speced could leave you with less than stock flow.
i ported my own heads and it is very hard to do. i payed 100 for just the porting carbide aluminum bits and i have about 30 hours in working time on them. just to get the heads milled and a 3 angle valve job done on them is gunna cost me 400, thats with 2.0, 1.6 manley valves. the springs and titanium retainers are well over 300 dollars. that alone is 800 dollars so far and im doing them myself. ported heads are expensive if u want them to make power. but just remember, if it was really that easy to do, everyone would be doing it. 
Originally Posted by jldak318
i ported my own heads and it is very hard to do. i payed 100 for just the porting carbide aluminum bits and i have about 30 hours in working time on them. just to get the heads milled and a 3 angle valve job done on them is gunna cost me 400, thats with 2.0, 1.6 manley valves. the springs and titanium retainers are well over 300 dollars. that alone is 800 dollars so far and im doing them myself. ported heads are expensive if u want them to make power. but just remember, if it was really that easy to do, everyone would be doing it.
Great post.
Working with a professional shop is not as expensive as it seems, if you buy springs from one place and get work done at another and on and on so many people have to make a buck it adds up and you save little. You use a good shop that knows these heads and let them do it all including supply valvetrain parts and you have one company making a buck off the project, fewer middlemen usually means better bang for the buck.
I ahve gathered pricing and info and all and am thinking either the LE2 package or http://www.advancedinduction.com/AiProductsLT1.html the 180cc setup. Anwyays let me know what you think.
haha your running a stock bottom end though rgiht scrmn. I am going to rebuild the bottom end and go 355 instead of the original 350 :wink: But i saw your numbers and those are impressive. Mind you mine is a A4 though.
I have not dynoed mine but most guys agree I am somewhere approaching 400rwhp, kicker is that is through an A4 with a mechanical waterpump yet and it is just mailorder tunes with one update for AFR which is still a little rich. As I said earlier stock 97K mile shortblock. AI is my choice but either shop being discussed will do good work for you.
Originally Posted by luckyou03
$1k-3K depending on how mild to wild you want to go
I was quoted $1,000 JUST for the CNC on mine. Not including assembly, valve job, etc. It ended up being $750 for the CNC cuz they were 2 months behind. I had never heard of Lloyd Elliot or AI when I had mine done in 2002. I wish I had.
I had looked into it more and decided that with the LE2 kit as long as it is correct, I will be more than happy with it. The pricing seems better since it is complete heads and cam. I know I have to get rockers and all but thats not a big deal.
Also whoever said that they went with AI what package did you get?
Also whoever said that they went with AI what package did you get?
