Ok so my car is spraying BUTTLOADS of sweet smelling white smoke, overheating, and I am almost 100% sure i have a cracked head gasket. Hear is the deal, i will have about 2K to spend, no more. What should i DO???? I dont want to just fix it, i want to upgrade while we are in there.... So what is the best move? AI is too expensive.... Maybe lloyd elliot?? AFR?? I am bummed, but i wanna get it fixed and be a bit faster while i am at it. ANY suggestions appreciated.. Oh and I'm NOT doing it myself. THe shop i am going to take it to is gonna do the swap itself for 550.... So that plus the heads must be no more than 2K.


Chris

 

Just a blown gasket? or cracked head? I changed gaskets and had my heads ported lightly for under 500 bucks. (doing my own labor) 2 grand is a lot to play with.

 

Find a shop that ports heads local is the quickest way to get it done. If you can afford downtime, send theheads to lloyd or AI

 

How much does lloyd charge?? I think i found a very reputable shop here in San Antonio.... So i might just do that....

 

Ok so I am getting my heads ported by a local shop in Austin. They seem reputable and have done ALOT of work on F-bodies.... So they will have my car for a while. This is what they are doing.

Stage 2.5 "Competition Port", basically about a full port
Stainless 2.02 valves + valve job
Port match the intake manifold
Re-dynotune

The owner says that he has ported stock LT1's all the way up to flow 280's with this setup and hopes to get mine flowbenched up in that area.... I am very optimistic about this.... I don't have the money for a custom grind right now so I will be sticking with the hotcam.... BUT, this summer i plan on going with a custom grind cam to accurately match my flow numbers... whatever they should be. I guess we will see in a couple of weeks!!!!


Chris

 

why not just go with Lloyd? He is cheap and right there in texas. I don't know if i would trust a local shop unless i knew others had used them with good results. Lloyd is at least a proven porter. Not to mention you can also get a Joe O cam with Lloyds heads then you will have a good power package. Then you'll be ready to go out and spin some bearings if that coolant has been making its way into the oil. AI is the best but you got to get what you can afford.

Also don't waste money porting the intake as you won't see any real gains. Even Phil at AI says the benefits don't out weigh the costs.

 

Really??? Well he is only charging 150 for the intake porting.... And I'm not paying for it so i say **** it.... Won't do any harm right?