I am researching porting the plenum, runners and intake manifold for my 5.0 litre engine. I am exploring options of doing it myself or having someone do it for me. While I believe I have the skill I lack the tools, safety equipment and a shop to do it in. These I could acquire but it may be just as cheap to have someone do it for me who possess the professional skill. Soon I will approach my mechanic for his estimate. However, I noticed a website by a company called SPD or Skulte Performance Designs which offers this service. Does any body have any experience with this company?

 

Well I E-mailed SPD a week ago and they have not replied. Maybe they are not in business any more. I have E-mailed TPIS to see if they provide this machining service. What I am trying to do is get an estimate of the amount of time to port the plenum and port match the plenum, throttle body, runners and intake manifold to each other and the manifold to the heads. I have decided not to do any siamesing of these parts. I would have to expect about 1.5 hours to tear all these parts off and then another 1.5 hours to put everything back together by a mechanic. One would think all this machining by a machinist/mechanic with the proper tools could be done in 3 to 4 hours. Next I will approach some machine shops in my home town for an estimate. I have assembled the costs for all the parts but I need a reliable labour estimate. I will post the results of my research as I acquire more information.

 

Ask the LB9 guys but you might want to stick with just porting the plenum behind the throttle body and blending and portmatching your plenum runners and base. You could easily do it all yourself. Not sure on the actual gains you will see tho, thats why you might not want to invest huge money into having someone else do this for you.

 

Who are LB9 guys?

 

LB9=305TPI

L98=350TPI

On my car the gains were minimal. I liked porting the plenum behind the throttle body because it improved my throttle response. On a 305 I am not sure how far you can stretch TPI without it becoming a restriction in stock form. Taking the plenum and runners off is easy to do. The first time is always slower but you work through it and soon you can tear it down and put it together very quickly. You might want to leave the base alone if everything is sealed good. I had mine extrude honed when I did my rebuild and I can't say it helped much.