where to get bigger valve heads

92sclikenew

Registered User
so where can i send mine out to or who has some for sale.

i dont know what any of this could cost so thats mostly what im looking for as of right now, just to get an idea.

thanks
 
David Dalke would be my choice...He will do it right and does excellent work.He is one of the few who still takes pride in his work...However,dont expect a quick turn around.
 
im not looking for quick turn around im looking for good pricing.

he is the one that suggested the bigger valves
 
You should be able to go to any local engine builder perferably a performance builder and have them install bigger valves. Valve train is important to if you are doing a bigger cam. Thats if you are not wanting to wait for Daves services

Ken
 
You should be able to go to any local engine builder perferably a performance builder and have them install bigger valves. Valve train is important to if you are doing a bigger cam. Thats if you are not wanting to wait for Daves services

Ken

what should i expect to pay for this kind of service?

i plan to pull the valves and port the heads some my self, im pretty sure i can handle that. then send them out to get bigger valves and resurfed.

what should i look to spend

thanks
 
what should i expect to pay for this kind of service?

i plan to pull the valves and port the heads some my self, im pretty sure i can handle that. then send them out to get bigger valves and resurfed.

what should i look to spend

thanks

After reading alot of the threads on here about flow testing that's been done I wouldn't recommend self porting and then spending money for bigger valves. I'd have Dave do it all. It's my understanding after all that I've read that forced induction engines respond very differently to porting than NA engines and what works on one may be a hinderance or not much of an improvement on the other. Only my opinion of course;)
 
what should i expect to pay for this kind of service?

i plan to pull the valves and port the heads some my self, im pretty sure i can handle that. then send them out to get bigger valves and resurfed.

what should i look to spend

thanks

Im not sure what to expect cost wise if you do this...But consider that if you are considering David's services he might not want to work on heads potentially messed up by someone else before he touches them.

If you cant afford to do them right,dont bother.
 
Dave is the best due to a ton of experence, but if your in a hurry good work sometimes takes time. Porting takes time and patience and the correct tools. I ported my heads myself and than had dave install bigger valves. He flowed tested them and there was minimual gains even though I thought I did an excellent job. The bigger valves gained me about 30% better flow after being installed by Dave. So I would not try porting the heads yourself. There are a lot of performance engines builders and pricing will be all over the place depending on the amount of work and skill levels. So there no way someone can tell you it will cost this or that for someone in your area. Just my 2 or 3 cents worth

Ken
 
Dave is the best due to a ton of experence, but if your in a hurry good work sometimes takes time. Porting takes time and patience and the correct tools. I ported my heads myself and than had dave install bigger valves. He flowed tested them and there was minimual gains even though I thought I did an excellent job. The bigger valves gained me about 30% better flow after being installed by Dave. So I would not try porting the heads yourself. There are a lot of performance engines builders and pricing will be all over the place depending on the amount of work and skill levels. So there no way someone can tell you it will cost this or that for someone in your area. Just my 2 or 3 cents worth

Ken

thanks
but now with that being said besides xr7dave who else does porting?

not just local im willing to send them out i just dont wanna spend a tons.
 
thanks
but now with that being said besides xr7dave who else does porting?

not just local im willing to send them out i just dont wanna spend a tons.


I would only recommend someone I have had dealings withDave being the only one I have sent heads to. Others out there might have other recommendations.

Ken
 
thanks
but now with that being said besides xr7dave who else does porting?

not just local im willing to send them out i just dont wanna spend a tons.


Sounds like all you care about is price,why dont you make some calls and go with the cheapest guy....THEN we can be entertained later on when you whine about the lousy job .
 
thanks
but now with that being said besides xr7dave who else does porting?

not just local im willing to send them out i just dont wanna spend a tons.

Unless someone else raises their hand, I only know of Dave Dalke (XR7Dave) who has enough experience that he knows what works and what doesn't, thus isn't wasting time doing what doesn't help. Porting heads to achieve actual benefit takes experience. I have found Dave's prices to be extremely fair, and competitive with local machine shops that will do the work, but don't have the experience.

That said, if you just want things set up to fit larger valves, and a general head clean up, any local machine shop should be able to do this. Working local should always end up being slightly cheaper, simply due to the lack of shipping charges.
 
I really didn't want to get into this thread because I want people to make unbiased decisions but I do need to clear a couple "minor" (actually major) things up for someone shopping this type of upgrade.

Bigger valves alone do not make for a substantial improvement in flow. I've seen many professional shops do nice looking work that simply does not flow like it should and the main reason for that is there are a few techniques that make the SC heads work and a few common techniques that really screw them up and once they've been screwed up there's generally no fixing them.

I'm not suggesting that there are not many shops out there that can do the work right, just that there is a right way and a wrong way, and internet pictures combined with experience doing 350 Chevy heads won't get you the answers. I spent a lot of time on the flow bench figuring out how to maximize the effectiveness of the bigger valve setup to the point where I feel that people with minimal budgets can get very good performance for their money by taking this route.
 
any way you could go over some of the common misconceptions on these type of heads? sure these aren't your off the shelf 350 heads, but will some things be good/bad that most of us home porters think of? i mean stuff like gasket matching, raising the roofs & smoothing the floors of the intakes and opening up the exhaust and polishing both in and out?
not wanting to take some of your business or give away secrets, but you(Dave) seem to be THE GUY!
and please don't just say, well use the search function.
 
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