Getting my trickflow heads machined, any clearance issues? whats a good price?

[dderek]

id like to know a good pricerange before i go and talk to the guy about it. so i at least have a general idea of what the hell im talking about.

anyways, i have Trickflow Twisted Wedge heads. i have a bad head gasket. so when i change that. im taking both my heads to a machine shop. and im going to have them cleaned up. probably milled to clean them up, whatever is nessesary. and since they are there, and off the car, my friend told me i should just go ahead and get a 3 angle valve job, ported, and polished...

what do you all think?
what would all of this cost me, general guess?

and would i have any clearance issues if he milled quite a bit off it.

i have 1.6 roller rockers.
these roller lifters: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FMS-M6500R302
a FMS B303 cam: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FMS-M6250B303
these Trickflow Pushrods: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-21406700

thanks for all the info.

and do you think i should get decent gains from doing all this head work to these heads?

thanks
derek

 

[331 cobra]

What caused the head gasket failure? Was it detonation, boost or just a cheap gasket? My guess from reading your signature is probably an improperly torqued head bolt. If that is all that was wrong, I would just replace the gaskets. If you are going to take them in to a cylinder head shop any way, I would just check the valve guides and seals for wear, and address any other problems that are found.

I think milling the heads is probably not needed. All it will do is increase your compression a little bit and take money out of your pocket. I doubt it would cause any serious interference issues unless you take off a whole lot, but it still does not do much for you.

I know one particular head porter that charges $1800 for a set of heads. It does not matter what type they are. That just includes a port and polish and some thermal barrier coatings. I think that is outrageous, but some people will pay that and reportedly the results are good.

People have turned TW's in to race heads, but I don't see the point of starting with that big of a handicap. Instead of all of this work, I would sell the TW's and look to step up to some trick flow R's, or canfields, or some other, more race oriented head. For similar money you would get new heads, smaller combustion chambers if you want and similar flow to a set of heavily ported TW's. Also, at the same time, someone winds up with a set of cheap used heads that would otherwise be unavailable.

But, back to the question, a cylinder head shop should be able to check your guides and seals for $100-150. If the heads have warped and need to be milled, double it. For a three angle valve job, that could be expensive, but I believe the heads will already have a good valve job, so I think that would be a waste.

If it were me, I would just replace the gaskets unless I found a problem. If the heads went to the shop, I would check them with a straight edge before they go, just to make sure that the shop does not try to pad their bill with head milling. If you want to add some performance, port match your heads and lower intake. That is a job that you can do yourself. If you feel ambitious, you can clean up the valve bowls and port your lower intake a bit.

That is the most I would do. After that it makes sense to upgrade rather than port.

 

[Grn92LX]

Definatly mill the heads. Its cheap and makes power. With that tiny b303, you should be fine milling them .030". That will get ya about 9.7:1 comp. I milled mine .020" and I run a much bigger cam. Milling costs about $80. New seals are cheap too and should be done since heads are off. This will add 5-10hp IMO. Good luck getting that amt of power for that cheap

Porting the heads is useless in your case with that junk b cam. it wont be able to take advantage of the port work IMO.