Well Im up to my armpits in my new project. I just won a moroso E pump on Ebay and Ive started to grind up the heads. These are 85 vette heads (cast iron), and are the first set Ive ever ported. I did the plenum on my 89 gta and had great results so Im hoping for similar results. Ive gotten lots of help and Ideas from various sites off of the web and have printing up lots of stuff. Im not sure if I want to polish up the chambers as I can understand how it lowers compression. And frankly I cant see how that part of it being polised helps any (any Ideas?). The block still needs to be honed and new rings put in and Im putting in new rod bearings just cause Im there. THe mains I think Ill leave alone unless I decide to swap out the cam. Any thoughts on stock 85 vette cams? Ive heard they are pretty good right out of the box and it seems to be in good condition (plus its allready in there so I dont have to fart around with degreeing it and all.

Keep in mind im doing all this myself (with the exception of having the valve seats cut Ill have that done by a machine shop). Any thoughts, concerns, at a boys, and bite me's will be appreciated.


Dan

89 GTA blown engine 0-60 = next spring!

 

F You hehe

Very cool though!! Low budget stuff is always cool, especially when you get rewarded with worthwhile gains.

Are you sure they are 85 Vette heads? I was thinking all Vettes in 85 had 350 TPI engines...therefore also having aluminum L98 heads while the camaro only had iron L98 heads...Am I wrong?

Compression also...If the heads are alum. 85 vette TPI heads then the combustion chamber is 58CC....stock iron heads are 64cc...Polishing the chambers as just a "clean up" is a good idea but reworking would be something way different and probably something a pro should do.

The cam isn't bad at all but since you are doing port work, the best way to figure out the camshaft that will work the best is to have your heads tested on a flowbench and see how they flow, where the airflow is good and where it gets bad, then have a custom cam made up or selected by Comp Cams or the cam maker of choice...It'll probably be something in he .480"-.500" range depending how much grinding you do. Goodluck and keep us informed!

 

I need to find a machine shop. And preferably with a flow bench, near flinnt or saginaw. The first head is done (and looks pretty spiffy if I do say so myself). The second head I had time to strip down but then I figured Id call it a day (this is tiring stuff) . I wish I had a sand blaster that would be the whip for cleaning off all of this carbon. OF everything Ive read the 85 vette heads were old style outer bolt cast iron heads. 86 they went to the center bolt aluminums. The #'s off of the head are 462624 and after I looked up a site on #s they match up with 85 tpi heads. The block is a 4010207 which also matches up to an 85 350.

My GTA came with new style center bolt cast iron, while the vette of the same year came with the aluminum. SO I will have cooler valve covers but will lose my roller cam (Roller also started in 86 ) Oh well. THe old heads I had were cracked as well as the block and the skirts were all chewed up (the vibration from the skirts might have something to do with the cracked stuff).

As far as how much grinding I did. I did the hold the intake gasket to the head and paint it deal. Then ground all the painted area. I then I ground some angle to the valve guide protrusion. Then I looked for goobers and zapped them, and since the hole intake tract had a nice coat of rust I did a light grind on the whole interior. Did the short side radius and anything else that didnt look aerodynamic .

Dan