What are the intake and exaust port sizes on a set of LE2 or LE3 heads. My heads are in the shop right now being ported and i needed to order gaskets to fit them and he also wants to open them up as much as possible to fit the gasket im using thanks for any input.

 

Even though the ports have alot more volume (a lil over 200 cc), the intake ports are basically untouched at the gasket area and the exhaust will use a Fel Pro 1406 or stock type headers gasket.

Lloyd Elliott
NightTrain66@msn.com

 

Yeah me and my buddy matt took apart one of his heads and the intake/exhaust port itself was almost untouched. On the other hand Lloyd you ported the **** out of the runner/bowls itself. I was really impressed. Then also notice the smoothing of the CC to reduce detonation right?

Mike

 

The port at the gasket area does not need to be touched at all. The pushrod pinch is the restriction and once you get that the right size, it does NO good to make anything before this area larger and will actually lose CFM if you make this are larger.

When you "gasket match" you are basically making the port have to turn more before reaching the pushrod pinch. You are also making the cross sectional area have more if a difference and this will always hurt CFM and velocity. There is no gains to be had by doing it and most people find that it actually hurts if they do a before/after test on aflow bench. I guess it "looks" better.

The exhaust ports on the other hand need to be opened up a lil but it would not do any good to make them larger than the header flange they are about to enter.

I unshroud the chambers in some areas and blend the top cut of the valve job to the chambers and remove all of the sharp edges as well. This will help with detonation and there is some gains in flow as well.

Lloyd Elliott
972-617-5671
NightTrain66@msn.com

 

damnit, my ideas are always wrong!...lol

 

now you tell us that. sheesh.

 

Nice to know, I have looked the heads over extensively, inside the ports etc. I also have been inside a set of TPIS heads and they contridict the intake port area somewhat, they do some porting right at the intake gasket (or at least the couple I have seen)
I like what I see from your heads and am very anxious to get them on the 383 that is going into Chris's car
Matt

 

Thanks alot for the info i didnt realize that opening up the intake could actually hurt you. Is this the case if you match the maniflod to the intake side on the heads or is this just for a stock intake?

 

You would wanna open up the center wall between the intake ports and the roof but not the wall on the side of the push rod pinch. This goes for the heads AND intake manifold. The intake manifold needs work furthe up the intakle runners and NOT at the gasket area. Widening and straitening the side walls and raising the roof behind and up to the injector is where the help is needed. The intake/head gasket area does not need ANY help on outer walls (the sides with the pushrod pinch).

It is a common mistake made by many and as mentioned, it "LOOKS" bigger and smoother but a quick flow test will reveal the truth. It is not that you will lose a ton of power by doing this but id DEFINITELY doesn't help at all and there is no reason to do it. You might as well keep the port velocity up and NOT do this. This one area is not gonna be the deciding factor on whether the car is fast or not. If the rest of the portwork is good, a good cam is choson, all of the bolt ons are in place and with proper tuning, the car will still run about the same and make the same power basically. It is not gonna "KILL" performance but the port is better with out gasket matching.

Lloyd Elliott
NightTrain66@msn.com

 

Cool thanks for the info.
Got any more to share?