I am just curuios as to what would give me the most performance per dollar. I read that fully ported heads can give you a 50 to 70 horsepower gain if its done right, new heads won't give me much more than that, will they? I think I can have my heads fully ported for about $500, a set of AFR 190s will cost over $1400.

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1987 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z
L98 TPI 350 (5.7L)
TH 700R-4 Transmission
Borg Warner 7.75" 9 Bolt Rear End

Current Mods: LT4 Hot Cam, Comp Cams 1.52:1 Roller Rocker Arms, Edelbrock TES 1 5/8" Headers, Hooker 3" Aerochamber Cat-Back System, Performance Resource Chip, Accel Ignition Coil, Cap, Rotor, 8.8mm Wires, K&N Filters, JET TPI Air Foil, All Free Mods, Falken ZIEX Z-Rated Tires.

Best ET (w/o LT4 cam): 14.32 @ 97.7mph
(corrected for elevation)

7.5" 10 Bolt with 3.42s soon to come!

 

not a question really afr's


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89 firebird formula


356 10.5:1compression
comp cams xe262 cam
performer rpm intake
#1405 edlebrock 600
434 casting completely redone with bronze guides and 202/160 valves 64cc chambers. decked .0005 thousandths
msd 6al
h.e.i. proform 50,000 volt vac. advance ditributor
700r-4 with 3.08 first gear and 3.23 posi 7 5/8 rear end.
b trans shift kit(will kill shifts...suck dong!!)
shorty heddman hedders with custom 3" pipe y-pipe back(no damn cat!) with 40 series flowmaster!

future mods: 406 roller REALLY REALLY REALLY RADICAL!!!!!

 

I agree with the ^ post. AFR's all the way.......

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350 4 bolt main, Speed-O-Motive 383 stroker kit, re-sized rods ground for clearance,TRW Forged pistons,10.7:1 compression,HPC Coated RPM intake, Speed Demon 750 cfm carb,World Products Sportsman II heads,2.02/1.60 valves, Comp Cam 1.6 roller rockers, Comp Xtreme 284 cam,240/246@.050 with .540 lift,Crane pushrods,ATI damper,Proform HEI and MSD6A box,HPC coated 1 5/8 headers, 2.5" exhaust with 40 series mufflers,TH350 with B&M 3000 stall, Powertrax NoSlip Locker, 4.11 gears.

 

The porting potential of AFR heads are much greater. AFR heads have about 14 more lbs of material.

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Hybrid Black 5.7L 5 Speed
'95 Competition Yellow Corvette Coupe ZF6

 

I figuered the fully ported stock heads for $500 will give me about 8.3 hp/$. So that means that the AFRs will give me an increase of like 165+ horsepower if they offer more bang for the buck. But for some reason, a 165 hp increase from a set of heads sounds a little high.

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1987 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z
L98 TPI 350 (5.7L)
TH 700R-4 Transmission
Borg Warner 7.75" 9 Bolt Rear End

Current Mods: LT4 Hot Cam, Comp Cams 1.52:1 Roller Rocker Arms, Edelbrock TES 1 5/8" Headers, Hooker 3" Aerochamber Cat-Back System, Performance Resource Chip, Accel Ignition Coil, Cap, Rotor, 8.8mm Wires, K&N Filters, JET TPI Air Foil, All Free Mods, Falken ZIEX Z-Rated Tires.

Best ET (w/o LT4 cam): 14.32 @ 97.7mph
(corrected for elevation)

7.5" 10 Bolt with 3.42s soon to come!

 

$500 times 8.3HP/$ = 4,150HP.

Now, I'm just an engineer, so my math skills may be lacking, but THAT sounds like a pretty healthy increase just from porting stock heads.

If you meant $8.30/HP, the perhaps I can believe you...

(Don't feel bad, a $1billion rocket & satellite were lost a couple of years ago because somebody put a decimel point in the flight software in the wrong place).

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.93 limited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 w/LB9 block, ZZ3 cam and intake, WP 305 heads ported & polished, Hooker headers & y-pipe, 3" Catco cat).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

I admit it was my fault. my dog ate the decimal.

The stock ported heads will have more velocity at the lower RPM's where a street engine spends most of it's time. It sounds like a great deal to me.
If you go with the AFR's your peak #'s will be better, but to get a true performance increase you will have to match all the surrounding parts to the potential of the heads, and probably increase your RPM range at the track.
To me it all boils down to who will be porting those stock heads and how good the porter is?

 

Now, don't go confessing to something somebody else did. The decimal was still there, it was just one place off.

 

I've learned that on this board when you ask a question that contains "BANG FOR BUCK" people ignore that part, and just tell you which one has more bang w/out considering the BUCK part. But to answer your question, the AFR's will give you more power....but they cost 3 times as much as the cost of porting those heads....but they WILL not give you three times the HP gain....not even close. You considered the vortec heads/intake?

 

You got that right...

HP/$, no question the stock heads will win that one, up to a point. I can't feature 50 HP on a TPI motor no matter what you do to the heads by themselves, though; ain't gonna happen. As long as those tubes are still on there you're kind of stuck.

Now with that in mind it's even less of a debate... a set of head gaskets and some burrs and stuff, vs. $1400, and there's about 25-30 total HP on the table to be had either way. There's not any more than that because as long as you have the stock TPI, you're stuck with a torque curve that craters at 4500 RPM no matter how high-flow the heads are. There are stories about people putting the HOT cam and big heads under stock TPI units and actually slowing the car down compared to stock, because the volumetric efficiency peak of the induction is at so different an RPM from that of the long block.

On the other hand, if you put something less restrictive on top of the motor, the equation could change considerably. Because then the stock heads will become the bottleneck, and at some point, no amount of money in the world will make them perform as well as a good set of aftermarket heads.

Now to address the real issue.... I notice you're running the HOT cam, but with 1.5 rockers, as well as no mention of any runner or base mods. That tells me you still haven't got rid of the stock grocery-cart pull-out studs and 1.25" valve springs. Besides just porting your heads, you need to undo those limitations to step up some more, and those aren't quite as cheap. Plus, you have already sunk a chunk of change into the wrong rockers, which is yet more cash misdirected. It would have been better to deal with this stuff earlier on, when the cost difference between the right rockers and the wrong "make-do" rockers was zero.

So, before you commit to a course of action, decide whether you plan on keeping the stock intake system. If you do, spend your time and money on the stock heads, because they're all you need, and they'll work just fine. But if you're going to put something with some flow on it later, start saving up for some aftermarket heads.

 

READ THIS!!

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...t=porting+part

 

There was also an incident where they forgot to convert from metric to our backward *** standard measurements. I love America and Americans, but why do we always have to be different just for the sake of being diffrent?

As a great jailed Senator once said " I love America, I hate the Gov't" Keep truckin you crooked SOB!

 

lingenfelter uses cnc ported L98 heads on all his first gen small block motors. i would see what he charges to cnc port your heads. The stock parts cant be beat for fit and finish besides AFR could screw you like they did me, and you'll probably wait at least 6 weeks for the afr's

 

If you try ordering direct from AFR you'll be waiting for a while want them in about a day or so, Doug Herbert Performance stocks the whole line. 210's were $1400 so I believe 190's will be cheaper. Withall this other stuff your doing you'll also pitch 50 lbs off the front of your car. Go with AFR's if you can afford it.

 

i actually got mine from doug herbert, it took about 6-8weeks. they may have them instock now that the rush has let up but in january they had to order them.

 

i can beat all those prices!!!!

www.totalengineairflow.com

i got the 190cc streets drilled and tapped for centerbolt covers and temp sender for 1230!!!!!

i just love tea!!!