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


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]

Originally Posted by 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


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".

[Pete]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

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".

[tomtom72]

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

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.

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!"

grass hopper says Thanks!

[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]

Originally Posted by Locobob

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!