just dont be afraid to ruin them man. Think about it, if you bought a set, you'd be down a minimum of $1200. You can go through 4 sets while learning and still be in the ballpark. And just to reassure you, I put about to 25-30 hrs into a set of LT1 heads and got 30 CFM out of them (strictly using paper rolls), so don't be afraid to take off some metal man, good luck.

 

Well here is the progress. I have 3 ports done so far. I was able to take quite a bit off of the top. I used the old gasket as a guide. I will let you guys know when I finally get it running.

For reference the middle picture has not been done yet. You can faintly see the blue marking at the top of the port on what is extra blockage!!

 

wow i thinks its been a couple months since i've checked my thread.. i jus want to thank every one for picking up on this thread and keeping it alive i was surprised to see it on the 1st page still..

anyways... i think i would rather port not enough than to over do it.. my truck is a lil 4.8 so 2mm should be good might step it up to 3mm if that aint enough, and just from looking down the intake ports i can tell ALOT of flow can be gaind just from rounding it all out..


ima post up pics on the progress when i get the chance

 

Increasing the port volume will only add minimal gains. If you want to see substantial gains in the terms of torque/hour of labor invested, you need to be focusing on the short side radius, bowl, transition to the back of the valve seat, and the entire valve job! A cylinder head will only flow as much as the weakest link will allow, the areas I described are the weakest link! Hogging out the port will not get you substantial gains without work in the more important areas! This is why you see aftermarket suppliers heads with relatively small port volumes doing so well against a stock casting, they have spent their R&D money on the important areas and transitions. Alas, there are things that they haven't done, and that is where West Coast Cylinder Heads or a similar company will come into play and "optimize" those castings.

 

Sorry to somewhat hijack your thread! I was just interested in the same as well as you. Finished up one cylinder head. Going to start on the other one next week. Did you do any work in the combustion chamber?