Hey guys I called a local machine shop and after talking to the guy he told me 3-400 dollors to port my vortec heads, Does this sound pretty good? he said usually i can look to gaiun about 5 tenths from it. Also with an xe274 and 1.6 rollor rockers with new springs should I have screw in studs put in or are the stock ones fine?? I am just trying to run liek an 11.8-9.. any suggestions? thanks

 

"I can gain 5 tenths from it..."

Based on what? Compared to what?

 

Yeah... can he tell you how much flow you will pick up? Those are the numbers you want to hear... not how much time you will pick up!!!

 

i woudlnt trust the guy..
1. the price is too good to be true
2. thoes heads are pretty good stock.. changing the port shapes and such by hogging it out gives LESS overall flow.
3. he quoted you gains in ET, not in CFM......

 

What should I look to pay?? The guy races circle track and says hes in 2 classes with these heads, one he has to leave them all stock and the other class he can port them, so I know hes done a set before. He said with a typical port and polish guys see up to about a .5 gain in e/t, he told me that cause I told him I was trying to run in the high 11's. Now if I call back what should I ask him? If he uses a flow bench? What the flow number would be around?etc...? Also are the screw in studs worth it or will the stock pressed in be fine for a .525 lift?? thanks again guys

 

Yes, they can be successfully ported and provide more flow on both valves. You simply need to know the spots to touch up.

And why not do it yourself and save a bundle of ca$h? It's NOT rocket science, no matter what some people try to imply.

Talk to F-Bird'88 about it. He has done Vortecs and gotten really good results

For .525 lift you need screw in studs. Stock flow is about 228 cfm intake and 140 cfm exhaust. A 1/2 second decrease in ET would equal at least 50 extra hp and that is a lot of extra goodness from any set of heads

 

i hope that rocket science quote isnt to what i said.... if it was, i apologize..

there is nothing special about it... and if you have the time (ALOT of time) you can do it yourself..


but somthing about the way you said it just makes me thing hes one of thoes guys that hogs it out and says its ported....

if it was me, id want to see what his results look like first.

 

Ok if I try this myself what am I trying the basically do? Now with the exhaust side is it true that hogging it out is the wrong way to go or should i just go nice a big with them?? Also I can completly polish the exhaust side right?? Now say I port a polish the exhaust side myself and clean up anything real big in the intake side but not polish it cause i know the fuel wont atomize then, will I get some pretty good improvements?? What about if I just do the exhaust side?? thanks guys and also woudl you recomend and kits to buy??

 

Worry not, Mr. Dude, I'm not referring to you. You offered cogent advice

89 formula, you must talk to F-Bird'88 about it. He's on here almost every day, his name is Russel Patrick and he loves to help folks out with their heads. One of the good guys. PM him and get it going

 

Here is a good article you can follow on porting Vortec heads.

I went a little further, increasing the valve size to 2.02 x1.60 but basicly did the same thing. I got a little more flow as a result. But these are good typical numbers for a moded vortec head with stock size valves.

My heads are not max ported but are thouroughly worked over. the basic port shape is good.

GM just came out with 2 new cast iron Vortec Bowtie head castings. If you can get a chance to eye ball them you'll see some stuff you can do. They are pretty good.
Bigger spring seats, etc etc.

The point of porting a vortec head is to make a better vortec head, not trying to make it into a AFR 210.
Don't get too wrappped up with big flow numbers.
The power you actually gain is what counts.

 

that articles really good, gave me a good understanding of what I need to do, just pretty much leave no corners and make the stock design bigger. Now one question, When I do the exhaust i port with the metal bit and polish it with wut?? Oh and on another note I went to the track tonight and tuned a 12.70 @107mph with a 1.7 60-foot.. thanks again

 

12.7@107 Not too shabby at all.

You can polish the exhaust ports with sanding rolls from
a head porting kit. (Mr. Gasket) after doing the rough cutting with carbide cutters and hi speed mounted stones (Campbell Hausfeld).

hey Sitting Bull Look out the window tommorrow around noon. I'll be flying right over you house just like santa (xsept in a Jet) on the way to B.C.

 

I'll keep an eye peeled

 

the machine shop by my work was going to charge me 300 per head to do a basic port and polish.. there is a race track by his shop so he gets a real lot of business and he did my block and stuff.