Purchase already ported OPlenum & I/H's??

[tomtom72]

Hi guys. I need the brain trust for some advice. The title says it all. What say you about buying a already ported plenum & a set of I/H's?

My reason for asking is that I can no longer even detail my car in the garage space I rent, so doing any more mid-nite auto repair work is out. Anything I do in the future will have to be plug & play projects that I can do outside in very little time.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom the porting mavens would like to throw my way. The stuff is for sale in that place that shall remain nameless, the parts are from a 91 Z & the work was done by a gentleman named Greg Van Deventer and the price is $1250.

TIA
:worship:
:cheers:
Tom

[GOLDCYLON]

Go for it Tom you can sell what you have on the car and recoup half your costs. A word to the wise however, make sure the replacement plenum has ALL the tube connectors so you dont have to take any off your plenum when it comes time to sell. I bought a spare plenum to expedite my down time and it was missing a couple of tubes that Jeffvette had to scrounge around for. The porting and polishing job is a very labor intensive process as you well know so this sounds like the best least amount of down time option for you. You should see about 15 HP inporvement if you match port the heads as well. About 30 HP if the package includes a set of long tubes. Keep in mind you will need to get your prom retunned due to these mods. Have fun. GC

[XfireZ51]

Hi guys. I need the brain trust for some advice. The title says it all. What say you about buying a already ported plenum & a set of I/H's?

My reason for asking is that I can no longer even detail my car in the garage space I rent, so doing any more mid-nite auto repair work is out. Anything I do in the future will have to be plug & play projects that I can do outside in very little time.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom the porting mavens would like to throw my way. The stuff is for sale in that place that shall remain nameless, the parts are from a 91 Z & the work was done by a gentleman named Greg Van Deventer and the price is $1250.

TIA
:worship:
:cheers:
Tom

Tom,

I know which parts you're looking at. When I did my P&P, I started out with parts that had been ported by GVD. I re-did them not because they were poorly ported but because LT-5 mods have evolved since the time mine had been done. The ports were only 34-35mm. I opened them up to about 36-37mm. And as GC stated, I also port matched the heads. You'll get an increase in hp with the setup your contemplating but to maximize it, you'll still need to do some work IMO. And then of course there's the tuning. I don't believe anything on the LT-5 is "plug n play". :sign10:

[Pete]

Tom,

I know which parts you're looking at. When I did my P&P, I started out with parts that had been ported by GVD. I re-did them not because they were poorly ported but because LT-5 mods have evolved since the time mine had been done. The ports were only 34-35mm. I opened them up to about 36-37mm. And as GC stated, I also port matched the heads. You'll get an increase in hp with the setup your contemplating but to maximize it, you'll still need to do some work IMO. And then of course there's the tuning. I don't believe anything on the LT-5 is "plug n play". :sign10:


:iamwithst

[tomtom72]

I was hoping that I would get lucky and you guys would chime in, thanks XFire & Pete & GC.:thumbsup:

Thank you guys(Pete & ZFire) also for reminding me that there is no plug & play for our motors. I should have been more perceptive when reading your threads & posts.:redface:

Okay let me see if I "get it". My thoughts were to buy the stuff because it would suit my lack of work space. That strategy would allow me to have those parts to send to a specialist to have the newer thoughts on porting done while I keep using my car. Or I could just put them on my car and send my stuff out to get done. Either way I don't need garage space to do a plenum & I/H swap. I need a chip rewrite to account for the porting even if I don't get my headers put on at the same time I use the ported parts, right? The head work is just a dream right now for me, as was the porting of the intake.....I've been looking to cop an intake system from an early car so I could have that stuff ported. I saw this stuff and thought...."it's Christmas!":occasion1

grass hopper says Thanks!:mrgreen:

[Locobob]

Keep in mind that 90 and 91 intake parts are not identical, a few tweaks will be required to make the swap work.

[tomtom72]

Keep in mind that 90 and 91 intake parts are not identical, a few tweaks will be required to make the swap work.

Okay, thanks Bob for that tid bit. I was not aware of that. Guess I'll dig out the parts CD and see if I can identify the differences. I gotta laugh at me thinking that this was gonna be simple!:sign10:

[RICKYRJ1]

Tom, you are more than welcome to use my garage for any kind of work you need to do. I owe you one for the long exotic taxi ride home.

[tomtom72]

Rick, you da Man! :thumbsup:

I'm very thankful to know guys like we have in this brotherhood, you and the rest of the brothers make owning this car a fairly easy thing to get used to!

Hey man how is your car making out? Any news?

Thanks for your offer Rick!
:cheers:
Tom

[tomtom72]

Okay, it looks like it's gonna be Christmas in June....I hope. I should be happy about this, as I gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm working a list of things that I need to resolve in order to actually use what I bought. Does this list follow a correct line of thinking?

1.) don't use these parts till another porting specialist says that they are ready? If not then more "work" on the parts is needed?

2.) gasket matching, it's been a while but I seem to recall the usual gaskets don't have much extra material to do this task. Any advice is welcome!

3.) I will have to match the T/Body to the plenum bores, or at least check that the plenum bores are lined up with the t-plates' bores, and same with the gasket?

4.) Don't bother installing after steps 1 & 2 & 3 as I will not have the headers on at the same time.....I'm outta $ by this point!:redface:......it's gonna waste tuning resources, right? Or am I too paranoid about this tuning thing?

5.) I suppose that which porting specialist I use will be able to give me new programing to account for the intake & exhaust changes, right? I mean it's not like they have the car & are putting it together so they can do the research using the car to re-program a chip. Lord knows I doubt I can be of any use on this subject.

6.) I'm sure that I missed alot with my list! Any heads up from my Brothers would be most welcome.:worship:

:cheers:
grass hopper:mrgreen:

[FU]

Tom,
I may be able to help you out here. I have a complete plenum & TB from my 91. Also a set of injector housings but NOT sure if they are the pre 93. If that even matters. You are welcome to use these parts to get ported and just give me your parts in return.

[Locobob]

Okay, it looks like it's gonna be Christmas in June....I hope. I should be happy about this, as I gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm working a list of things that I need to resolve in order to actually use what I bought. Does this list follow a correct line of thinking?

1.) don't use these parts till another porting specialist says that they are ready? If not then more "work" on the parts is needed?

-----Vanderventer does good work. The current trend seems to be the bigger the better but it is really not necessary to go all out on a mildly modded car. You can always go over them again later if you should decide to do head work.

2.) gasket matching, it's been a while but I seem to recall the usual gaskets don't have much extra material to do this task. Any advice is welcome!

-----Not really a problem until you get into radical siamese jobs.


3.) I will have to match the T/Body to the plenum bores, or at least check that the plenum bores are lined up with the t-plates' bores, and same with the gasket?

-----The stock plenum bores are larger than the stock throttle body bores, you should be fine as is. On occasion I have port matched a throttle body to the plenum but we are talking some pretty low hanging fruit here.


4.) Don't bother installing after steps 1 & 2 & 3 as I will not have the headers on at the same time.....I'm outta $ by this point!:redface:......it's gonna waste tuning resources, right? Or am I too paranoid about this tuning thing?

-----You really don't need to bother with tuning just yet. Generally there is enough extra fueling in the stock program to support a few mods. Do the intake and later when you add headers start thinking about a new prom.


5.) I suppose that which porting specialist I use will be able to give me new programing to account for the intake & exhaust changes, right? I mean it's not like they have the car & are putting it together so they can do the research using the car to re-program a chip. Lord knows I doubt I can be of any use on this subject.

-----The best approach is a custom tune on a chassis dyno. If that is not possible I'd ask Haibeck to burn a best guess prom, he should be able to get real close if you tell him what mods you have.


6.) I'm sure that I missed alot with my list! Any heads up from my Brothers would be most welcome.:worship:

:cheers:
grass hopper:mrgreen:

:cheers:

[tomtom72]

Robert I owe you a drink, several drinks....thanks for taking the time to help straighten me out and get me started down this new road.:thumbsup:

Frank, If I had known I would have done business with you. I shook hands on the deal so I own the parts. I just hope the pictures are true. Hey how's the car?

I think it's gonna be Christmas in June!:dancing:mrgreen: