I guess my back is against the wall....

[maxrevs85]

he dont need no stinken verter

 

[Edmond]

You know Edmond he's alway's Investagaten!! gmjunkie!!

It can always get better, Junk.

 

[vetteboy86]

I was already thinking about a gear swap next spring. However I need to pick a ratio that will help keep the car in the maximum power and torque range. As for the converter, can I just buy a B&M 2400 and be done with it?

 

[vetteboy86]

Well I went to the builder today, and he is going to order parts tomorrow for the car. I guess I should get ready to grab my check book. I am going to go with the harland sharp 1.6 rockers. Oh I will pass on the list. He seems excited to start on it. I dont think I have stopped smiling for an hour now.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Well I went to the builder today, and he is going to order parts tomorrow for the car. I guess I should get ready to grab my check book. I am going to go with the harland sharp 1.6 rockers. Oh I will pass on the list. He seems excited to start on it. I dont think I have stopped smiling for an hour now.

Hold onto the checkbook for a moment: you know, when all this started you were simply talking about a stock rebuild because of budget constraints. It seemed to me that the deal was that the mechanic who caused the problem to begin with was going to essentially do the work for free, I believe, with you paying for parts. Now, it appears that the mechanic or his assistant dropped something down one of the cylinders and messed-up a head, yet it's unclear from all these posts whether the mechanic is going to pay for machining of the head and you will pay for parts, or whether you are paying for machining AND parts. Could you sort this out? Otherwise, I fear the mechanic may be attempting to stick you for part of the cost of his error, feeding off your excitement of getting back some sort of "super engine".

/s/ Chris Kennedy

 

[vetteboy86]

Well tonight I am going to find out. The deal was he was going to pay for all the labor involved. I would then pay for parts. I am going to find out if he is going to charge me to port the heads.

Remember if it werent for him I would still be driving.


Craig

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Well tonight I am going to find out. The deal was he was going to pay for all the labor involved. I would then pay for parts. I am going to find out if he is going to charge me to port the heads.

Remember if it werent for him I would still be driving.


Craig

Well, you need to remind HIM of that, not me.

In any event, just with respect to the head, are there any other "labor" items to the head in addition to porting? I can think of some myself. Here's a better suggestion: Before you commit to anything, get a complete statement from him in writing as to what he will, and will not be responsible for, and run it by some people you trust before agreeing to it.

/s/ Chris Kennedy

 

[vetteboy86]

Well, you need to remind HIM of that, not me.

In any event, just with respect to the head, are there any other "labor" items to the head in addition to porting? I can think of some myself. Here's a better suggestion: Before you commit to anything, get a complete statement from him in writing as to what he will, and will not be responsible for, and run it by some people you trust before agreeing to it.

/s/ Chris Kennedy

I wasn't refering to you when I said that statement. This was just a remark about how even paying for parts I am kind of getting the shaft. I have realized that this is just a fact of life. It is much cheaper then having someone else do it, and then worry about a lawsuit against the guy.

This was the right choice for all the wrong reasons I guess you could say. He is going to pocket port the heads, install larger intake and exhaust valves, fix the damge to them, and port the intake.

 

[Edmond]

Let us know how the porting of the intake goes. I said in another post that TPIS claims a fully ported stock intake isn't as sufficient as their Big Mouth. Don't know how much I believe that since they're trying to sell the Big Mouths for $500.

 

[maxrevs85]

I think everything will be ok. The guys trying to make it right , Craig is researching and learning and is putting together a good plan. Heck maybe the guy is impressed with Craig and DOES want to make it right. We need a little positive here.

Edmond , the TPIS Big mouth is a better cast to begin with and when ported is real good piece. Great platform to build on.
www.tpis.com for info

 

[Edmond]

Max,

What do you mean that it's a better cast?

I know Edelbrock also makes an intake for TPI. It's available from Summit's online catalog. I was told that they're made by the same people, that the TPIS and Edelbrock intakes are the same. However, the Edelbrock costs less. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Moonunit 451]

I was already thinking about a gear swap next spring. However I need to pick a ratio that will help keep the car in the maximum power and torque range. As for the converter, can I just buy a B&M 2400 and be done with it?

I got a 2500 stall. In retrospect, I wish I had gone at least 2800 probly 3000. Stock is 2200. Step up there are no driveability issues at 3000 for the street, you'll be glad you did.

 

[maxrevs85]

Max,

What do you mean that it's a better cast?

I know Edelbrock also makes an intake for TPI. It's available from Summit's online catalog. I was told that they're made by the same people, that the TPIS and Edelbrock intakes are the same. However, the Edelbrock costs less. Any thoughts on that?

I meant to say casting. The flow characteristics are better with the tpis vrs the stock casting. As far as Edelbrock and TPIS being the same I suppose its possible. They very well could have contracted them to do the casting. Tpis is know though for putting there own little twist on things so I dont know how equal they are. For me its kinda like thier heads(edelbrock) I would rather have a Dart or an AFR. Just my preference.

 

[maxrevs85]

Moonunit , what gear are you running ?

 

[AdvancedAutoCC]

Be very VERY careful here...

Well tonight I am going to find out. The deal was he was going to pay for all the labor involved. I would then pay for parts. I am going to find out if he is going to charge me to port the heads.

From what I gathered during this ordeal, the mechanic was going to eat the labor and you pay for parts. I would think this covers rebuilding the engine to stock specs and any machine work and/or performance work to be the customers responsibility. It sounds like the guy is trying to do the right thing here, but as Chris said...be certain of what is charged to whom and make sure it's spelled out CLEARLY.

Also... if this guy's porting your heads, does he have access to a flowbench, or is this just a "hog out the ports and hope it works" type arrangement? Head porting is serious work and costs serious money and if done incorrectly can hurt performance. With the labor costs involved in porting, most times it's more cost-effective to buy aftermarket heads that will outflow ported stockers right out of the box. Too often, most neophytes fall into the romance of "ported and polished heads" (a greatly overused term anyway), with no regard to the consequences of a bad job and/or the costs involved.

 

[maxrevs85]

From what I gathered during this ordeal, the mechanic was going to eat the labor and you pay for parts. I would think this covers rebuilding the engine to stock specs and any machine work and/or performance work to be the customers responsibility. It sounds like the guy is trying to do the right thing here, but as Chris said...be certain of what is charged to whom and make sure it's spelled out CLEARLY.

Also... if this guy's porting your heads, does he have access to a flowbench, or is this just a "hog out the ports and hope it works" type arrangement? Head porting is serious work and costs serious money and if done incorrectly can hurt performance. With the labor costs involved in porting, most times it's more cost-effective to buy aftermarket heads that will outflow ported stockers right out of the box. Too often, most neophytes fall into the romance of "ported and polished heads" (a greatly overused term anyway), with no regard to the consequences of a bad job and/or the costs involved.

Very good advice !!.....this porting thing worries me. You've got to have a flow bench to do them properlyif its a full port job.Port matching can be done withut it if your not getting into the port.I still question what this guy is about. What type of an operation does he run? Is he a repair shop or an engine machine shop. Is all the machining done by him ? or shipped out the local Car Quest that then ships it out to there guy?....

 

[Moonunit 451]

Moonunit , what gear are you running ?

D44 3:33's

 

[vetteboy86]

I appreciate everyones concern for my situation. I went over the heads with him. They are 163 cc intake port. From research I have found this to be an effective volume for mild street engines. Most port the intake to 170 cc, however I didn't want to spend the extra money, nor do I think he would be the one to do it. The company I am going through is actually owned by Shaker racing, which is locally respected. They have a machine shop, and do all the parts there. The man working on my car is the engine builder. He has shown me motors, and cars he has done.

THis is what I discussed with him on the heads. We are going with 2.02/1.6 valves. He says he has put these on some of the race cars and they respond really well. He is also going to port match everything. He is also going to pocket port, or do a bowl job on the heads. I have heard it called several things. He told me this improves the performance out of the heads. I have also done research on this topic, and it does look promising. He is also going to do a three angle valve job.

The rebuild went a little out of my budget, and he was going to charge me for the extra work for the heads, but cut that charge to keep me around the 2k mark.

Does this sound sensible? Everything is done in shop, between the engine builder and the machine shop.

 

[Mad-Mic]

I appreciate everyones concern for my situation. I went over the heads with him. They are 163 cc intake port. From research I have found this to be an effective volume for mild street engines. Most port the intake to 170 cc, however I didn't want to spend the extra money, nor do I think he would be the one to do it. The company I am going through is actually owned by Shaker racing, which is locally respected. They have a machine shop, and do all the parts there. The man working on my car is the engine builder. He has shown me motors, and cars he has done.

THis is what I discussed with him on the heads. We are going with 2.02/1.6 valves. He says he has put these on some of the race cars and they respond really well. He is also going to port match everything. He is also going to pocket port, or do a bowl job on the heads. I have heard it called several things. He told me this improves the performance out of the heads. I have also done research on this topic, and it does look promising. He is also going to do a three angle valve job.

The rebuild went a little out of my budget, and he was going to charge me for the extra work for the heads, but cut that charge to keep me around the 2k mark.

Does this sound sensible? Everything is done in shop, between the engine builder and the machine shop.

sounds pretty promising but do yourself a favor and buy a used set of D port 113's as our aluminum heads suck for flow and you are wasting time and money putting any kind of work into them. you can find a set of used D port castings for around 300 bucks or less. these came from 88-91 vettes. on a good setup like your talking with those heads and the work he is willing to put into them with a stock 350 shortblock and a ZZ9 cam with some tuning you are looking at a mid 11 second car compared to a low to mid 12 second car for only 300 bucks more. which would i pick? if i had to i'd sell my brothers rims

for example. my friend Phil has a 90 vette. sent his heads out to TPiS did the same work you are talking about, added a ZZ9 cam, mini ram, 4.11 gears since he was an M6 and went 11.20's at 120+ mph.

do a search on CF for Wheelsup if you don't believe me.

 

[Moonunit 451]

Those heads ar for sale :crazy
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1107837