ive got a set of alum L98 heads i want to port myself, not sure where to start i know how to gasket match and i will be doing that to everything in/ex just wondering what to do with the chambers, there is a square there where the plug sits and im wondering if its ok to smooth it out and maybe someone has a pic of what it looks like with the chambers blended already?? as for the valve seats im thinking i may leave that to a pro so i dont mess anything up heres a pics any help is greatly appreciated this is my first time doing more then gasket matching so i am a little apprehensive, thanks in advance

 

The only tip I can offer is to dip your grinding bit into trans fluid to help keep it from loading with aluminum.

 

There's a sticky in the engine swap forum about porting SBC heads

 

ill go check for that thread and thanks on the tranny fluid tip

 

using the polishing rolls to round off the corners is fine, but that square pad helps combustion, and doesn't hurt flow, so don't even think of trying to grind it away.

 

ok so just round of the corners a bit to smooth it out??? awesome thanks

 

I wouldn't touch the square pad, like he said, it aids combustion.

Gasket matching won't hurt, but it won't help much till you do a lot of work in other areas of the head. Your biggest improvement to start with will be in cleaning up the valve bowls, after that, cleaning up the radius area after the bowls, any valve shrouding and then the pushrod pinch area.

Unless you have a pretty good understanding of airflow or access to a flow bench, if I was you I would suggest limiting your modifications to just smoothing any rough spots out in this area, since grinding them to the wrong shape can do as much harm as good... in some cases it's a matter of making flow as straight as possible, in others it's that it will "stick" to certine areas an you need to open those up, and in some cases, keeping the flow in an area helps combustion chamber filling and the actual combustion process, and to some extent, different designs like different approaches.

 

ok i think ill just keep them stock and run em im just gonna get them cleaned resurfaced and reassembled with my new parts until i get ready for a 383 thanks for all the info guys