on the lt1 heads, what are some of the tricks to maximize flow numbers and increase low lift. i am aware that these heads come with a short side radius that cannot really be lowered due to the water jackets. i have heard of people talking about flattening out the floor on the intake runners and porting the intake bowls in a "tear drop" shape. what other tricks are there for head porting, wheather they be for standard sb heads or lt1 specific.

thomas

 

Flattening out the roof looks like it should be very helpful. Here's a pic of what I'm working on.

http://www.tennesspeed.net/gallery/d...38h_04-med.jpg

 

I learnt a very important tip when I did mine: If you want them done right have someone who knows what he's doing do them.

 

I don't know, I haven't found mine to be dificult to do. I am taking my time on them. As soon as I get the porting and material removal done I'm going to send them to a local machine shop for machining for larger valves, valvejob, cleaning and milling. You can save a lot of money by doing it yourself, that's for sure. I'll post the results when my broke *** gets enough money to finish the project!!

 

that's what i plan on doing is taking my time.

i am not in any hurry at all and want to look at this as a learn as you go project.

 

Grease was correct and if you can afford to get some done you will probably get better results, especially if you have little or no porting experience. There are some places that charge good money and give you portwork comparable to alot of DIY stuff.

I can give ya some tips if you decide to do them yourself.

Narrow the intake guide boss, widen pushrod pinch, make bowl larger, raise the roof as much as possible, straighten thewall between the intake ports and if you have little or no porting experience do not touch the shortside at all. There is CFM to be gained if done correct but there is more to lose if not done correct. If you really know what to do to the shortside you are probably not reading this post anyway.

Narrow the guide on the exhaust, widen the port above the shortside and you can enlarge the header flange slightly but make sure not to get it as large as the gasket. Theer is also a small bump on the shortside of most LT1s and if you can remove the bump with out lowering the floor and make sure the port goes strait up from the seat before the gradual turn. Just remove the bump only. If you can not remove the bump with out lowering the fkloor than leave it alone.

Do these things and get the best valve job that you can afford. The LT1 heads are so choked up that almost any porting will show some performance gain. If you are after XXX amount of HP or CFM you might not get it on your first set, If you jut wanna do them to do them or will be happy with 10-20 HP (depending on your skillz) increase than you can probably get that. There is more HP in the heads if done correctly but as I mentioned, If you are reading this (and learning things) you will probably not see the 35-60 HP (depending on mods) gain that is possible with other heads.

Good Luck

NightTrain66

 

nightrain, i ported my own as well. The info you just wrote down took my literally months to find out. reading everything i could find and looking at pictures.NOBODY tells this stuff either.
Your cool dude..

Jeff

 

it is basic stuff. I did not give any specific measurements for any areas it but if anyone is learning from this than they will be happy with the information given.

Telling this and showing pics is one thing but if a person can duplicate the results by reading this and looking at my pics than they already know this stuff and have found a "working" valve job so this does not help them.

thanx for the compliment though.

NightTrain66

 

a friend of mine had a great idea when he wanted to try porting some heads... what he said was he could take the heads to a guy who knows how to port a head and have him just complete a single intake/exhaust port so you can try and match the rest. this way you pay a lot less and still get to port the heads yourself

 

Thomas, not to rain on your parade, but dont you think that you might be getting in a little over your head. I mean I dont mean to be a butt, just trying to give a little info. I mean if you need help, I am there. Ps, I want my cable. no biggy.