Alum Intake....Port it?

[frontshadow]

I just received an aluminum intake for my 67/289. Heads were reworked several years back and ported....larger valves, springs...etc...runs great!

I want to replace the stock FOMOCO cast iron 4bbl intake with an alum one and would like to know what the groups recommendations are for porting the aluminum one? Would you even mess with doing this and if so is this not something that one could do themselves with a dremel tool?

Thanks

[Fullbasement]

Port matching is a good idea, but. You need to make sure you know exactly where the ports will match up. Not always easy to determine where the intake ports end up when installed. If you're off by a 1/16" then you'll lose any benefit.

You'll also need a cutting tool with wide flutes or teeth. Using the same tool used for iron will clog up with the aluminum shavings and be impossible to remove. And using a stone will only cause it to be coated with aluminum in a matter of seconds.

I'm not sure if a dremel would handle the job or not. Maybe since it's soft aluminum. But I'd use a die grinder.

[22GT]

The inlets in the heads need to be at least 1/16" larger than the intake. If that's it, you are good. If the heads were ported, was the iron intake also ported? If so, you might be disappointed with the "upgrade".

[Z06killinsbf]

If it is ported iron heads, I don't think you'll see the benefit from spending the time and money to port an aftermarket intake. Just pick a nice, matched intake and call it done.

[Maxum96]

Unless you have a very high performance engine, I personally don't see the benefits of head and intake porting on a street engine.

[Alan _MacDougall]

I would pick intake manifolds for your application and see how the ports match and fit. I ordered a couple intakes from summit, checked the fit and sent one back unused. I agree port matching on a slightly modified engine will not be worth the bother. On a heavily modified engine depending on the intake manifold it can be a significant improvement.

[blkfrd]

You should always check the matching for the instance that you have. You have no idea how mismatched it is with ported heads. It will not hurt, done correctly, and can only help. If you don't know how to check port matching, let me know.

[Maxum96]

Originally Posted by blkfrd

It will not hurt, done correctly, and can only help.

I'd have to say that's not always true. I've seen flow bench numbers where porting didn't do any good. Sometimes people get so crazy porting the intake side, they forget about the exhaust side. That's real prevalent with 351C and Boss 302 heads. I've seen many of them hogged out on the intake side, but with stock exhaust port. That's due to the sharp dogleg and water passage in the exhaust port preventing any real amount of porting of the exhaust. And factory 351C/Boss 302 heads already have big intake ports, but not so much on the exhaust side.

[wheelsup351]

i've personally seen bad or incomplete port jobs rob horsepower. bigger isnt always better.

i think the key is to eliminate as many restrictions as possible on the intake AND the exhaust side. therefore, i agree with the guy who suggested port matching. also look at gasket placement. you can spend all the money in the world porting runners only to set the intake down and shove the gasket into a position where it now acts as restriction. a slapdick shop wont care. it wont leak, but now you're also shooting yourself in the foot and wasting money.

back to the exhaust side. for example, what good is a killer head and intake combo with shi*t headers and exhaust where in some places the kinks in the exhaust tubing make it under 2 inches in diameter in some areas. (mandrel bends ftw). get rid of restrictions.

here is a pic looking down the neck of my intake into the head. perfect match.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2628/3...9a677f27_o.jpg

[supershifter2]

for the ultimate intake port job send it to Wilson Manifolds.

[dav65mus]

Originally Posted by supershifter2

for the ultimate intake port job send it to Wilson Manifolds.

Very true but you better bring a fat wallet

[mikemstang66]

+1 on port match , not hard to do your self .