Here's the situation. My friend has a 90-92? fox body mustang, police interceptor 5.0. He thinks it's all big and bad, and now it's time for me to shut him up. Well actually, he has the engine, tranny, and rear end, but needs a doner body. It'll be a while, a long while, before he gets around doing that. I'm hoping that before he get's his car in running condition, I'll have my engine rebuilt. I want to rebuild it simply b/c the engine is 17 years old, and I'm affraid of blowing something. It'll have new, stronger components, and it'll be able to take a little bit more abuse. My other friend suggested maybe porting the heads (intake ports) ourselves. He says it's not that hard to do, but none of us has experience. Should we attempt it, or should I pay to have the heads ported by a professional while I'm having the engine rebuilt? Any specifications for porting it? A buddy of mine believes that I'll have him off the line, but at the end of the 1/4 mile, he'll beat me, but not by that much. Any thoughts? I'm not interested in swaping for a 350, so don't even try to bring that up. Any simple mods I could do myself or lose some unnecessary weight? Thanks for any help.

------------------
1984 Z-28, 305HO 4bbl, t-tops, K&N, Flowmaster 80 Series with 3" tips. Planning a massive modfest. It's gonna be one gangsta of a street demon.

[This message has been edited by Dauntless (edited November 10, 2001).]

 

Dauntless,

There is an overview of head porting at the Standard Abrasives web site:

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.htm

You can also search the message archives for some more ideas. There have been several good posts on the topic recently.

------------------
Later,
Vader
------------------
If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Look at the post L69 Head Porting.

RB83L69 gave excellent info on the exact heads that you have. It helped me greatly understand what one can and cannot do with these heads.





------------------
91 RS 5.0 TBI....LT4 cam....Edelbrock headers....3"Dynomax exhaust....5spd.... 3.08.....Ultimate tbi....afpr...ZR 255-50's...Koni's

 

Well, as much as you don't want to hear this, I am going to say it:

If you are going to pull that 305 out, you are shooting yourself in the foot by putting it back in. Period. You can build a 350 for virtually the exact same cost and make a lot more power. And with that carbed engine, your situation is sooooo easy to do the upgrade to a 350!

You will kick yourself in the future if you spend all of that time, effort, and money rebuilding a 305 when you could have done a 350.

There, I said it! I know you didn't want to hear it, but there it is....

------------------
1987 GTA L98 MD8
355, TFS Heads, LT4 Hot Cam
My GTA

The Minnesota F-body Club

 

Definitely don't pay someone to port your stock 416 heads - different story if they were L98 aluminum heads or some other pricey item.

I did mine last spring along with a cam swap, I noticed a nice power improvment but don't know how much porting the heads contributed. I do have alot better top end so I'm sure it helped. The cam I installed was a Comp cams XE250 206/212.

I basically followed the Standard Abrasives article but didn't use there kit... just an air grinder and stones. I gasket matched the intake ports, focused on bowl work, and smoothed out the exhaust ports (no polish though). I had no previous porting experience but a little patience and a good 20 hours of split shifts got me there.

My 305 has never pulled so hard, but I still want a 350 because a little taste of power only makes you hungry for more!