I am currently building a 350 TPI motor, and am on a pretty tight budget. I am going to put in a new cam and a new exhaust system. Which of these should I spend the money on to get the most prformance? Porting the heads with a valve job, or porting the intake system (throttle body, plenum, etc.)? Thanks.

 

do it your self and it's pretty much cost free and you can do both. i think there is a tech artical on it, or ask around and you should find out all you need to know.

------------------
-=ICON MOTORSPORTS=-

 

X84,

Personally, I would spend the cash on the heads, valves, and camshaft. You can skip the headers, high-flow exhaust system, and intake porting for now. Since those items are all external to the engine, you can do them later with less inconvenience as the time/money becomes available.

Incidentally, if you have the equipment to port the heads and gasket-match the ports, opening the restrictions in the TPI plenum and runners is essentially a free modification, since you'll have to remove the system to remove the heads, and you'll already have gaskets to reinstall the system.

If you want a few general tips on how to effectively port your plenum, runners, and base, check PlenumPorting.pdf.

And as long as you are building the engine now, if you have more time than money, check this link for a free AFPR conversion: AFPR.pdf

You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the files. Check the link below if you don't already have your free version of the software.

The cash you drop at the machinist should pay for grinding the valve seats for larger valves and deep porting the valve bowls. You can pull the rocker studs and tap the holes for screwed studs yourself. If you use the studs that are almost fully threaded, you won't even need to machine the stud bosses to a finish height, just tap the holes, apply the threadlocker, and screw in the new studs.

------------------
Later,
Vader
------------------
"Make Me Bad"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0