Ok I'm gonna be installing a hotcam kit in a few weeks, since I'll have the engine torn apart, I was thinking of having the heads cleaned up or ported, the only thing is I have a 250 dollar budget. I might come up with slightly more money but not much more. Being this is not very much money, is it even worth my time to take the heads off and have work done to them. I'm not sure how much money shops charge, I only want mild port work since my future upgrade will be an ATi supercharger

 

Even if you "only" see 20-30 HP or so, is that not bang for the buck? A pocket port should be fairly quick and easy for them, if they know what they are doing its worth it.

 

is that all a mild port/polish job costs?

 

Thats EXACTLY what im doing...

i picked up a hotcam kit and i picked up a set of heads that were cleaned up/midly ported....

i dont want heads that flow alot b/c 1. i dont have the money and 2. i dont want that much power and b/c the cam is on the smaller end ..

so cleaned up heads are good enough for me

 

don't forget to figure $60 into your budget for new head gaskets

 

yep, i have a crap load of miles, so im doing my car a favor by putting new head gaskets in hehehe

also, i might get the impala ones, so different compression

 

Impy head gaskets should run about $22 each or so.

 

You may not want to use the Impy gaskets as they are designed to seal iron heads to an iron block. They react differently to the aluminum material in an LT-1 aluminum head (like a Camaro for instance).

 

Well if I can pick up 20-30 horses for a mild port job, than count me in, I was thinking for my price range I would see just a few ponies. I was thinking of going with the Impy gasket also, it seems that people are on both sides of the fence on this one, some say it works well and others say don't. I once read on here that someone read an article by GM that said you should use that head gasket with our engines, of course I can't confirm or deny that statement, which leaves me right where I started from. I'll probably get whatever is cheapest. I've heard many people say the hotcam is mild, but cars are going 110 mph with mid 12 second times, not bad for someone who drives everyday!