Has anyone ported the stock intake by themselves (ie, dremel etc).

Doesn't seem like it could be too hard, since the runners aren't long at all.

Just an idea I've been kicking around...plus it isn't expensive at all considering there are stockers all over the internet for ~$50.

 

hey man, I've seen it done with a dremel easily. But just remember a rough casting inside the intake helps mix the air and fuel at low RPM's. But a smoother port will help feed air/fuel to the combustion chamber at higher RPM's. If you smoothed out the ports I could see you getting a loss in low end while getting an increase in high end. depends on what you want. see-ya
-Paul

 

Already the runners on the intake are bigger then the runners in the head. It would be pointless unless porting heads at the same time.

 

i wanted to know the same thing, i got a set of le2 heads and wanted to get the intake ported, either by myself or professionally

 

With stock heads don't bother, with ported heads you want the intake ports to be slightly smaller than the head ports to avoid any protruding lip caused by misalignment, even then don't expect signifigant gains. As for smooth or rough that would matter a whole lot more IF there were fuel in our intake for any distance which it isn't. That applies more to carbed and TBI applications. I can take a pic if you want.

 

What about the people I hear of who gain 10-15hp w/extrude honing the intake?

 

The big deal with the LT1 intake is getting the cross sectional area the right size for the cubes and RPM of the motor. A stock motor doesn't see as much of a gain vs. a stroker motor, but all depends on the RPM range you are running it in. Also to do it correctly takes a lot of weld on the intake so you can get the right cross section and not have thin spots in the casting.

Bret

 

not to hijack your thread but I have a quick question. I already have ported stage II heads and a CC306 cam running a stock intake. Will I see any gains from a ported intake and if so what would an estimated HP gain be? Thanks for the help.....

 

Yes the intake must be port matched to the ported heads. On stock heads there is a large protruding lip.

 

If you guys would use the search feature all your questions would be answered. This topic is beat to death. My opinion just open the intake up for a 58mm tb and call it quits. Even if you have heads and cam it isn't worth the little gains.

 

just leave the intake ports alone. if you are going to run a bigger motor your gonna need more plenum volume then the LT1 intake anyway. for a stock displacement LT1, the intake ports are fine even for a H/C pkg. dont touch 'em.

 

I think id be worth it to at least grind off the casting marks in the intake, very easy to do with a dremel, start w/ 240 grit then drop to 120

 

thats what i thought too until i talked to phil at AI.

 

I don't know about you guys but at first I left the intake alone aswell, but after porting it it wasn't much effort as much as it was pleasing to see the nice big ports in the end, they are still smaller then the header at the mating surfaces but I enlarged them quite a bit up top, it definetly doesn't hurt so DO EET! LOL. A grinder takes the meat off real fast with an alluminum cutting bit. The rought casting doesn't help becaues the injector sit at the bottom of the intake port anyways unlike older TPI's prolly would.

 

Bret is 100% on the money with this. I had this done to my LT4 intake, lots of welding around the injector bungs, which enabled my engine builder to get the cross sectional area on the intake very close to to what the head is (im using an AFR 210 Comp Port). Without the welding, my builder said that the intake is chocking off around 30 to 40 CFM. He actually couldnt believe how much metal was laying on the bench when he was done.



Nick