After a ton of grinding on the runners and plenum, I am starting to lose motivation the finish the the job on the base. its not so much the grinding, it's just the idea of needlessly tearing into the fuel systems and distributor

So far I have ported the runners about as far as I feel comfortbale i with, siamesed the upper section of the runners+plenum and cleaned up the plenum a bit. I am planning to paint the runnners and plenum before I reinstall them.

questions

if I pull the rails, should I redo all the o rings?

How difficult is it to get the distributor to go back in the same position ?

would I be completely wasting my time by leaving the base stock in terms of gains? I don't plan on siamesing the base, only porting it if I do anything

If I do the bases, I'll probably feel obligated to put new valve springs, roller rockers and injectors while I'm there

 

...and so it starts


Do the whole base, as you can see its a lot of time but worthwhile.Yes, springs wouldnt hurt at this point either. Orings for rail are a good idea, cheap insurance if you ask me. Before you fire it turn the key to on and pressurize the system then check for leaks before actually cranking it over. Dropping the distributor isnt bad, leave the cap off.

Edit: You wont find any thin spots, theres plenty of meat on the stockers. Production stuff is cast pretty thick; Id recommend starting with some carbode bits to really remove some area then use your drums or cartridge rolls, the wire wheels wont remove any metal

 

I am actually thinking the base shouldnt be too bad if i port only. I bought a bunch on sanding durms and 1.5 inch wire brush wheels which surprisinly worked really well on the where I was concerned about thin spots in the walls.

 

Not bad at all. Mark the basic location of the distributor rotor before you pull the distributor out, that will get you close enough on reinstall to fine tune with a timing light.

 

I started to replace my leaking intake with a TPIS bigmouth
then "while I was there"
turned into a cam, light head porting, slp runners,roller rockers, spring, 24lb injectors etc..

 

Any TPI is old enough to seriously consider springs, injectors, and fuel rail 0-rings. Those items have been consistently recommended to replace while TPI is apart.

Springs and O-rings are cheap. FIC injectors are pretty reasonable too. The idea of getting away from an older, alcohol-sensitive injectors would do it for me.

Aftermarket runner/manifold combinations typically improve stock motors up to 20-25hp. Aftermarket stuff flows about where you could get your TPI thru porting. Personally, I gotta believe more (of the 20/25hp) improvement can be had with runner improvements. But, you'll probably end up with ~10hp based on what you've done. Most people can't feel that small of an increase.

Assuming you already know that L98 exhaust improvements are recommended first (and most), ported, aftermarket runners on a ported stock base would provide next the best, low-cost improvement you could make.

Edit: Using some tape, mark a sight-line on your windshield and your motor. Line up with your rotor before pulling it. You should be able to hit the same tooth on your distributor easy enough with that reference point. Verify it with the cap as a refererence too. If you do springs, pull and replace the dizzy before you rotate the motor. That'll make odds of hitting the same tooth even better.

 

I bought an SR with a stock base hogged out to at least the same as a SR base, and they could have gone a tiny tiny bit more maybe it was like 30 hours of port work I guess

 

30 on the base huh I am guessing a basic clean down there is gonna go a long way, it was pretty rough.

 

if I get anywhere near 20 hp I would be extremely happy, but I am not going to hold my breath.

I will most likely want to get some bosch III as I certain my stock injectors are leaking a bit.

truthfully, I'll probably end up porting the exhaust manifolds too.

I had huge plans for this car, but after losing my job, I am now the tpi budget man

 

The felpro gaskets came with black O rings for the fuel system... should I disgard them for the tan ones?

 

The ones Fel Pro gave should be fine.

 

I remember you had plans.... You were eyeing the FIRST, right?

That's tough about your job. My wife's on the street too -- slowing/kiboshing my completion as well.

I'll tell you though... if you have the intake AND exhaust off, how are you going to resist porting the heads! I know of another forum member who pocket ported his '89 L98 heads and ending up running 13.2ish. That was with a large TPI intake and stock manifolds.

 

[QUOTE=GREGGPENN;1568843055]I remember you had plans.... You were eyeing the FIRST, right?

That's tough about your job. My wife's on the street too -- slowing/kiboshing my completion as well.

If this was 2000 or or so again, I would have a 500-600 hp d44, 6 speed polo green hard top vert, green wood kt and hood, lowered with all braces and , and goodies, and probably o tires

 

My buddy just came over today and really wants to do a cam and works for beer. he also said he knows a guys that will clean up the heads a bit for next to nothing. we'll see where this all goes.

If the cam and heads are going to get, there this is a likely hood that I am gonna want to go converted single plane, being as I know yet another guy that will fab the elbow for me for materials and

In the mean time I am going to port the pi** out of the base and if nothing else sell it off.

Are 113 heads a 1204 port?

 

Close...A person who will "clean up" your heads for beer or next to nothing, beware. Honestly do a fullport or leave them alone I think youll be disappointed with a "cleanup", many different versions of what that is. My bet is he will take a roll to them which does almost zilch. Not trying to be negative, just sayin...L98 heads need a lot of help so he will really have to spend time on them to see a worthwhile gain. That and get the best possible valve job you can get your hands on, thats can make or break a port job.

 

Any suggestion of how to clean the base other a hot tank or a ton of carb cleaner? I should have taken pictures of how sludged up the base was when I pulled it. basically all 12 bolts holding the base down were finger tight. However, all of the runner bolts were tight. wierd

 

Carb cleaner works great....no elbow grease required.

 

That is interesting....

Hey. Were your gaskets like "petrified"? My runner gaskets were SOOOO hard and glued to the runners/base, I could not believe it. Almost like they were epoxy'd

I've never seen anything like it, but I've also never pulled a car apart that's this old.

 

I use brake cleaning solvent alot when trying to bust the grease and oil off parts. If you do it where the excess is caught in a 5 gallon bucket or similar, you can use a brush with this excess and get the hard spots. Words of warning, this cleaner is hard on rubber parts so make sure all rubber is off the part to be cleaned. It is also VERY volatile, no smoking or spark sources close by. The excess will evaporate off pretty quick so get what you want done as fast as you can. I usually spray it off good, go over it with a brush, then hit it again with clean spray to get the rest. Oh and its also real hard on paint but as long as the part is off the car, it should be ok.

I have just about degreased a whole Jeep this way without any problems. Just follow safety guidelines and be careful and I think you will be happy with the results. My .02 anyway. Good Luck with your project!

 

Before removing the dist, remove the cap and rotate till the front connector pints directly forward. Mark the position of the rotor on the dist base, slowly lift the dist and, when the rotor stops moving, mark that position of the dist base too. When you install it, align the rotor to the 2nd mark and it should rotate back to the 1st mark as you drop it into position.

As long as you have the ambition go for it; it won't hurt.

Since you have #113 heads I suggest non self aligning ProMagnum RR for 7/16" studs, hardened guide plates and hardened pushrods, 981 springs, and 7/16" studs. All can be had from Comp Cams direct along with a variety pack of shims for the springs.
If you will be reving high, a set of Ti retainers wouldn't hurt; in any case toss the tin oil shedders to lighten the load on the valve springs.

With the siamese runners & RRs you should be able to push close to 6k RPM on the shifts. If there is any missing up there go with a HyperTech coil/cap/rotor combo.

Not sure what is the question here??