hey guys i gotta 95 Z, I'm pulling the intake off to change a couple bad lifters and think im goin to port the intake a little bit while i have it off. Any suggestions on what exactly to do? I've heard the biggest gains are from just smoothing the rough surfaces and maybe match the ports to the heads? Motor is basically stock with free mods and CAI and exhaust...

You can go pretty radical on the intake without hurting anything. I gasket matched my intake manifold which seems like a lot of material being removed, but really isn't. Just make sure you extend the wider opening 1-1.5" up the runners to smooth out the air flow. You only need to open the front of the manifold up if you plan on going to a 58mm TB (don't really need to).

You won't knowtice anything radical with the stock heads, but you may pick up 5 hp or so.

Make sure you use the good gasket material (copper color) and pull the egr line away from the back of the intake manifold. I wrapped mine in heat tape too and haven't had the dreaded leak come back.

Good luck :LS1LT1flag:

I really wouldn't gasket port the intake unless the heads were going to be done also. It'll cause just more of a restriction than leaving them alone when the air slams into the left over edge on the heads and does back flips and front flips and slows the air down. If you want just slighly polish them just enough to knock the rough surface off, but don't go crazy right at the gasket surface. Try to smooth everything you can get the bit too on the inside of the intake.

I really wouldn't gasket port the intake unless the heads were going to be done also. It'll cause just more of a restriction than leaving them alone when the air slams into the left over edge on the heads and does back flips and front flips and slows the air down. If you want just slighly polish them just enough to knock the rough surface off, but don't go crazy right at the gasket surface. Try to smooth everything you can get the bit too on the inside of the intake.

I forgot how restrictive the stock runners were on the heads. I ported my heads at the same time so I never really had to think about the size difference b/t the two surfaces. You might just be better off polishing the runners on the intake until you get the heads ported. :rockon:

I tell you its kinda crazy how small the LT1 ports are. I recently pulled my set of spare LT1 heads up from storage and i was like..damn?!? I've been so used to looking at my ported LT4 :lol:

thanks for the advice I will just polish it as best i can since i cant afford the headwork right now

I tell you its kinda crazy how small the LT1 ports are. I recently pulled my set of spare LT1 heads up from storage and i was like..damn?!? I've been so used to looking at my ported LT4 :lol:

I like how much larger the factory gaskets are than the ports :lol:
Really GM do we need .5" of material before the gasket starts? :mad:

have you guys ever tried port matching the throttle body to the intake or the MAF ends before?

On the tb, people just usually end up getting bigger tb's. Its a lot involved w/ porting a tb. Now MAF ends arn't that bad. I did a set one time. Didn't turn out bad, got rid of them and bought a set of ported ends in black. I wanted black ends and didn't feel right painting aluminum.

Did porting the MAF ends make a difference in power at all? I know the are goin to be marginal but the last time I went to the track I ran a 14.121, and I'm not goin back until i can forsure hit 13's. Now I have done a few little things to her since then like intake elbow, LCA's, free mods, and shaved about 150lbs off her. But still... I wanna make sure- haha