I was recently confronted with the choice of changing my IM, low and behold I decided to order an edelbrock performer X from the States whilst our dollar was strong.
Couple weeks later she arrived ,and consistent with reports on the 'net,' the casting of the performer x was mis aligned.
So began the arduous process of optimising my $3XX manifold to its fullest potential.
The obvious solution was to port match the sucker. I managed to DIY up a process as follows.....
Firstly, I removed the factory IM of the R (carefully labelling all components and steps as Iam a bit of a newbie to this process). After that was taken out, I examined the porting of the head to a factory gasket. I fould that therewas enough play to warrant concern, subsequently I stiky taped and siliconed the factory gasket to the head to achieve perfect alignment. Note: thge gasket was marginally larger than the port on the head.
After the gasket had set, and I was confident it was not about to move on me, I applied four dobs of silicone to the edelbrock and bolted the IM in place then headed off for some libations...
After I was confident the gasket had glued to the manifold, Icarefully removed the edelbrock from the studs to reveal the correct positioning of the gasket on the IM and the misalignment.
Scribing of the gasket to the edelbrock was the next step performed with a sharp niko. Note: I allowed al little clearance and scribed about .02" smaller as an anti reversion measure.
Next out comes the die grinder with a carbide tip and the slow and gently molding and some hacking begins. I "blended" the grinding in atleast 10 cms up the chamber. Next came the 80 grit dremel, then 120 grit, hand sand then a polishing compound.
All this time I kept the factory gasket on for reference.
Once satisfied, out came the carby cleaner and stanley knife to clean up the gasket surface of the IM, this was followed by appropriate cleaning.
I bought a second gasket to check my work. Significantly satisfied with the result, the corrected IM is awaiting installation but as tonight is new years eve, I wont be in a rush tomorrow to install.
Hope this helps and please correct me if i have left any steps out or led anyone astray..
Dyno charts and pictures to follow... maybe....
Happy New Year
Couple weeks later she arrived ,and consistent with reports on the 'net,' the casting of the performer x was mis aligned.
So began the arduous process of optimising my $3XX manifold to its fullest potential.
The obvious solution was to port match the sucker. I managed to DIY up a process as follows.....
Firstly, I removed the factory IM of the R (carefully labelling all components and steps as Iam a bit of a newbie to this process). After that was taken out, I examined the porting of the head to a factory gasket. I fould that therewas enough play to warrant concern, subsequently I stiky taped and siliconed the factory gasket to the head to achieve perfect alignment. Note: thge gasket was marginally larger than the port on the head.
After the gasket had set, and I was confident it was not about to move on me, I applied four dobs of silicone to the edelbrock and bolted the IM in place then headed off for some libations...
After I was confident the gasket had glued to the manifold, Icarefully removed the edelbrock from the studs to reveal the correct positioning of the gasket on the IM and the misalignment.
Scribing of the gasket to the edelbrock was the next step performed with a sharp niko. Note: I allowed al little clearance and scribed about .02" smaller as an anti reversion measure.
Next out comes the die grinder with a carbide tip and the slow and gently molding and some hacking begins. I "blended" the grinding in atleast 10 cms up the chamber. Next came the 80 grit dremel, then 120 grit, hand sand then a polishing compound.
All this time I kept the factory gasket on for reference.
Once satisfied, out came the carby cleaner and stanley knife to clean up the gasket surface of the IM, this was followed by appropriate cleaning.
I bought a second gasket to check my work. Significantly satisfied with the result, the corrected IM is awaiting installation but as tonight is new years eve, I wont be in a rush tomorrow to install.
Hope this helps and please correct me if i have left any steps out or led anyone astray..
Dyno charts and pictures to follow... maybe....
Happy New Year
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