head question....newbie
- Thread starter pr1mo360
- Start date
GEN3Typhoon
New member
When I put the Vortecs on mine.. I went through the same thing..
I ended up making Aluminum spacers and just drilling the heads.. much easier to set them up on a mill and drill them than to try to make the intake look right...
Now there are some guys making intake manifolds that will bolt right on .. but you still have to drill the Vortecs out. They are selling them for about 800 bucks. Too much jack for me...
I have about 150 in the set of heads.. I did the porting and all of the mods.. I have a total (not including my labor) of about 400 bucks in my heads. I used oversized stainless valvels and double wound "Z28" springs.
The main thing for me.. if you try to drill the intake just to match the heads... 1) IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP, 2) Tony already hit it... does not look like it will seal right.
I ended up making Aluminum spacers and just drilling the heads.. much easier to set them up on a mill and drill them than to try to make the intake look right...
Now there are some guys making intake manifolds that will bolt right on .. but you still have to drill the Vortecs out. They are selling them for about 800 bucks. Too much jack for me...
I have about 150 in the set of heads.. I did the porting and all of the mods.. I have a total (not including my labor) of about 400 bucks in my heads. I used oversized stainless valvels and double wound "Z28" springs.
The main thing for me.. if you try to drill the intake just to match the heads... 1) IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP, 2) Tony already hit it... does not look like it will seal right.
TurboTony
Active member
I'm with you Nick,
My heads are stock unported vortecs. Everone I talked to said that it was likely that I'd do more harm than good by trying to port them myself. All I did was match them to the intake ports.
As far as modding the intake goes, I have a welder up here that does an absolutley awesome job raising the ports. We've had a few done now, perfect results. I bet no one would even notice that it had been done if you didn't tell them.
I can have the intake welded up and the surface planed straight for about 200 usd+ shipping. You still would have to port out the intake to match the heads though. Easy to do, or I could do it for ya for a little extra $.
The nice thing about that is that you only use one gasket, no spacers to mess with, bolts on just like the factory meant it to.
HTH
Tony
My heads are stock unported vortecs. Everone I talked to said that it was likely that I'd do more harm than good by trying to port them myself. All I did was match them to the intake ports.
As far as modding the intake goes, I have a welder up here that does an absolutley awesome job raising the ports. We've had a few done now, perfect results. I bet no one would even notice that it had been done if you didn't tell them.
I can have the intake welded up and the surface planed straight for about 200 usd+ shipping. You still would have to port out the intake to match the heads though. Easy to do, or I could do it for ya for a little extra $.
The nice thing about that is that you only use one gasket, no spacers to mess with, bolts on just like the factory meant it to.
HTH
Tony
GEN3Typhoon
New member
that is what we were referring to earlier...
The bolt holes don't even line up with the stock Vortec bolt pattern.. so you end up with unused holes that are stock in the intake then a whole new set of holes from where you drilled the holes to mate up with the stock holes in the Vortecs.
Honestly... in the amount of time we have taken to discuss this.. you can redrill the heads and have it look good and seal good.
I did opt to make my spacers out of Aluminum.. I put a stock Vortec gasket on the head side of the spacer and I put another gasket on the other side.. I used some of that felpro sheet gasket. I think it is 0.040" thick. Used some of the can gasket adhesive. The only thing I would try differently next time is to make them from Phenolic.. just for kicks.
The bolt holes don't even line up with the stock Vortec bolt pattern.. so you end up with unused holes that are stock in the intake then a whole new set of holes from where you drilled the holes to mate up with the stock holes in the Vortecs.
Honestly... in the amount of time we have taken to discuss this.. you can redrill the heads and have it look good and seal good.
I did opt to make my spacers out of Aluminum.. I put a stock Vortec gasket on the head side of the spacer and I put another gasket on the other side.. I used some of that felpro sheet gasket. I think it is 0.040" thick. Used some of the can gasket adhesive. The only thing I would try differently next time is to make them from Phenolic.. just for kicks.