Yellowsierra

iTrader: (7)

I would say you would pick up 2-3 tenths depending on how well you did it but the main places to port or clean up are the valve bowl and valve guide area.

BigKID

iTrader: (5)

I can't really tell from the heads themselves since I did my heads and cam at the same time. However I have dropped .6 and gained 5 mph with the heads/cam and still haven't run it in as optimal conditions as my pre heads/cam best.
As for how much to port.. I didn't want to take much material out of the runners to keep port volume down and velocity up(for better torque). I agree with what Yellow said about the bowls and guides. Just try not to change the shape much of the swirl damns as you are working on the guides. Also look at the combustion chambers and try to unshroud the valves where they are so close to the cc walls. Use a head gasket an mark the bore around the cc and dont go past that while you are unshrouding.

02sierraz71_5.3

iTrader: (2)

why shouldnt I use a dremel Im doing this in the bathroom of my apartment I dont have access to a shop. Are there any other electrical grinders that would work better?

goshawk23

i am just as eager as the next person to try to clean these heads up. but the way everyone talks about them, they are almost not worth doing it. i have cleaned up a few sets of older 5.7 heads. i know it takes time. all i had was a damn drill and some bits. my pops said do this and do that and i did it.

02sierraz71_5.3

iTrader: (2)

Ive been posting over in the internals section and have gotten alot of positive feedback over there about hand porting, Im not going into anything extensive and I figure **** even if I **** em up thats a hard lesson and Ill weld em up and start again and if I **** em up Ill start again but thats just the way I like to live

I hate people telling me dont do this and OOOHHH NOOO not that. I find most of the people that say that have no ***** or just like to hear themselves talk. If I listened to that I wouldnt get any where in life Not to go off on a rant I dont mean to offend and I appreciate any educated resposes
but **** I got to start somewhere

goshawk23

well written. i might order one of those ls1 secrets books and see what it says. i'll scan the pages and post up if it has anything worthwhile. i'll make sure to post the copyright stuff so i don't get sued. hey, just thought of something, i have a full auto shop at school. wonder if i can get them to do the work>>>???!!!! hmmmm need to investigate. i'll do the work, using their tools...

ZYA_LTR

Be very careful around the short turn radius, that is the one thing i was told to be careful with, you can hurt yourself there, but all in all i pretty much did a cleanup job like the rst are speaking of, just to polish a little, and remove the casting flash.

BigTex

iTrader: (16)

I took the same approach as BigKid. I tried not to reall open then op much or change the shape of the runners. I removed all the casting material, and smoothed out any rough transitions. I removed most material around the valve guides and blended in the valve seats. I used several types of tips to get where I was going. After the first set, I learned that I needed a rotaty file to get the best results at removing the casting material. Then I would use the sand paper items from a standard abrasives kit to smooth and blend everything back in.

a dremel is just too small. It doesnt have the reach to get at the inner parts of the runners. You need a rotary tool with a flex shaft and some long reach tips. I bought one of these:
http://www.internethobbies.com/inter...mmod73hea.html

It uses 1/4 bits like the air grinder and has a foot operated speed controller. Made it so much easier to work on the stuff having the foot controller to start, stop, and vary the speed of the tool.

Black Iced 02

how much would it usually cost to have a shop port and polish a set of 5.3 heads? just curious

Yellowsierra

iTrader: (7)

My machine shop chagers anywhere from $250 all the way to $500.