I am finally preparing to port my heads. They already have 1.94/1.60 valves, screw in studs, .510 springs and a bowl blend. I am going to go from there and open them up.

The tpi intake I was planning to use has material welded on and is a Fel pro 1206 gasket size. The guy had it on Brodix heads. After laying the gasket on the heads, I am thinking there just isn't enough metal there to open up to match the 1206 port size. I also think ( I could be wrong) the extra size would also hurt flow on these heads as the air meets the curve of the port walls by the pushrods.

I am probably going to sell this intake on Ebay and port the stock one out. I hate to do this because the guy did a excellent job porting it out. It flows a lot better than even a ported stock base.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do here? I need a metal thickness tool.

I've seen the posts on porting these heads and their potential. But after looking inside them, I am a little weary of doing much porting on the roof. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of metal on these castings.

 

You have to use common sense here. The port roof can be raised
at the port opening and blended all the way back to the blowl.
You do not need to widen the port all the way to the 1206 gasket size width but can square up and clean up the opening.
If the intake manifold is over ported, ( for your purposes) you can fill it in with epoxy and redo it. You could use a 1205 gasket as a guide.
The push rod pinch can be opened a bit, but yes if you go too far you'll bust throu. The most important areas are the roof, common wall and guide/bowl area as this is a high flow area. The rest of the port just needs to be cleaned up. The only area you really risk grinding through is on the common wall as it passes the cylinder head bolt hole. Some straightenng of the wall is nessessary but don't over do it.
The guideboss needs to be shortened and slimmed.

Squirt some water with a garden hose through the port and you'll see the high flow area at the roof/common wall.
You'll also see the water swirl towards the center of the chamber as it exits the port into the chamber at the plug.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I like your suggestion about filling it in with epoxy. I might give that a shot. I agree that it doesn't need to necessary be enlarged to whatever gasket size is used. The books and articles I've read say the same thing you're saying about the gasket matching.

What's a good epoxy to use that can withstand the heat on the intake ?

I would think fuel isn't a major concern on the intake since it only touches it as it's leaving the port on TPI.
I am going to try my best at the porting. After reading up on the subject numerous times, I still didn't understand it until I pulled the valves and looked in there myself. It all became somewhat more clear to me on the areas that needed work. Also I noticed that bump/dent at the top of the roof near the rocker arm stud. I thought it would be small but it's a good size bump. I've read some flow can be picked up here by filling that in. I think you told posted you picked up 6 cfm just from that.

 

The A+B Epoxy bars sold by Edelbrock and Por 15 are about the best. I'm sure the same stuff is sold by other labels too.
The important thing with applying exopy is to roughen the surface and then clean the surface of all oil etc before applying.
This way it will stick. The epoxy is more thasn able to withstand the temperatures in the intake tract. It's even unaffected by fuel once cured. (24hrs).

One of the best substances to clean oil from metal is percloroethylene, This is found in some "Professional Strength"
Spray brake cleaners. You can find the ingredients on the side of the can.
Complete instructions on how to prep the different metal surfaces for epoxy aplication are included with the epoxy bars.

Epoxy doesn't mind water but doesn't like oil or dust or dirt.
Till it's cured. You can shaped and mold it with water and clean fingers. You can sand it much like auto body filler once its cured.
Not really hard to work with.

www.edelbrock.com

www.por15.com

HardCore HotRods

 

Very useful info. Thanks!