I can get an assembled set of stock 350 TPI heads for basically nothing and I'm wondering if it's worth putting money into them by machining and porting them, or if I should just get performance heads. Any input from experienced members?

 

What are your power goals? Do you have to squeeze every ounce of power out of these heads given your budget? Are you looking for a set of heads to "practice" on with the ability to junk them and get another set really quick in case you screw up? The smallest amount of porting can really do wonders for a set of Gen I heads. If you have the means and tools I would do it. Even if the end performance gains are minimal the education is priceless.

 

I already have minimally ported heads on my car (done by someone else). I have no intention or porting and machining myself, it doesn't interest me at all. I'm trying to get all the power I can- I just don't know if stock heads can be opened up as well as a set of good aftermarket heads, or how much it'd cost to do so.

 

Nothing will beat a good set of aftermarket heads. That is unless you are starting with an LT1 or LSX head wich are very simliar to their aftermarket brothers. For Gen I heads porting goes a long way and can provide great results. Take some time to use the search function and read up on this matter. There is plenty of before and after flow tests as well has dyno data in the archives. Use key words in your search such as "ported TPI", "Ported 183's", "Ported 416"s", or "Ported 081's".

 

If you don;t want to do it yourself, just buy some aftermarket heads.

 

short answer

if your willing to do the work yourself with a dremel tool and are satisfied with minor improvements then by all means do the port and bowl clean up and it may take a full week to do it, you can improve the potential noticably and may easily pull an extra 20-25hp! if your darn careful.

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/litera...05.06B_MED.pdf

but youll NEVER equal the potential of the better aftermarket heads available....your far better off in most cases to sell the stock heads,and buy the aftermarket heads VS screwing with the stock castings and potentially screwing them up, and having spent the money with nothing at all gained.

a good set of aftermarket heads are in some cases potentially a 60hp-80hp boost, more with compression and cam changes that take full advantage of the flow increases.


look over this sites combos

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/litera...05.06B_MED.pdf

notice its the
heads,cam & displacement/compression that makes the big differance in results

compare #6, #8 , and #71 all 383s