New2LS

Im new to the LS world. Ive done alot of reading/research, and Ive read alot about porting factory heads, but I dont see anywhere where people are porting/port matching the intake manifolds? Are most aftermarket manifolds sufficient enough "as cast"? Im leaning towards the carburetor or aftermarket TBI with the Edelbrock Victor route.

redtan

iTrader: (5)

It's not so much "matching" as it is just simply porting the manifold. Most OEM and aftermarket manifolds do see some gains from porting the runners but it's just from increasing airflow and such.

Portmatching is more of an oldschool term not so much something seen in today's world.

New2LS

Thanks redtan... Im definitely oldschool

KCS

iTrader: (20)

It depends on the size of the engine and runner CSA. A cathedral port Vic Jr. has relatively small runners and would work great on a 5.3-6.0L engine, but it would choke a 454ci stroker.

On the other hand, the rectangle port heads like the LS3 and LS7 have pretty big runners, so the manifolds are usually more generous in terms of CSA and could support larger engines.

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

Here is some knowledge regarding port matching directly from Brian Tooley: I had asked him about a ported FAST intake for my setup.

"We charge $150-$200 depending on different factors, however without the heads I wouldn't even feel good about doing the job. Not only do we port match the intake exactly to the heads while the base is mocked up on the heads, we also put a scribe line on the intake face of the head to line the intake back up."

"We could "take the bumps" out for $100, but I would not recommend taking an appreciable amount of material out of the intake without having the heads in hand. I've had some of these "port matched" intakes that people spent upwards of $500 on and I feel like they would have been better off with the intake just smoothed up since the intake ended up bigger than the heads in places."

New2LS

Thanks for the input yall. I guess what Im asking is...is if I were to have a set of factory heads ported, shouldnt I send the intake off to get ported as well, to match the intake with the heads?

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

I think that would be a good idea. If I had it to do all over again, when I bought my heads from AI, I'd have bought the FAST 102mm intake at the same time so they could have port matched it to the heads.

New2LS

Thanks I wondered if was even necessary because it seems that the LS's flow so much better than the older small/big block. I guess like with anything, it cant hurt.

kingtal0n

iTrader: (1)

If your plans ever include Forced Induction and minimal power (500bhp~) then I wouldnt toss money into the top end so much as additional spare longblocks to have fun with.


In other words, $500 on a port job to gain some invisible couple of horses vs $500 in longblock parts for a next engine... take the engine parts. You will never get that porting money back, whereas parts are re-sellable and useable.