I just received a new, never run, never mounted TA Stage 1 intake for a 350 today. It has the ports CNC'd a little into the runner from the head side but several on the top half of the dual plane have a ridge and/or rough transitions on the top side from the cast to the CNC'd. It feels like at least 1/8" to slightly more. Should I smooth that out or is it intentional? I'm not looking for another 500 RPM and 100 CFM of flow, I merely want it to be as good as it can be for what it is. I have no doubt I could run it as is and it would still be better than stock. Pics of two different runners.
Some smoothing and blending certainly won't hurt. I say go for it. Air wants in as fast as possible, the less turbulence, the better.
Someone put a lot of time into the port opening. Perhaps the porting is matched to the composition gaskets they sell.. Lots has been said about the TA intake.. If you have a steady enough hand try grinding the area where the exhaust turns as it leaves chamber.
Greg, I had that same cnc'd manifold. I smoothed & blended everything, including cutting the center divider down .900 Also ran a 2" tapered spacer on top.
I've got a 4-hole Q-jet 1" spacer I was thinking of running under the old iron intake. With this one I'm tempted to run a short open one. I think I will blend those rough edges into the CNC area. I'll go slow and just clean it up. Nothing wild and not taking a lot of material out of it.
The ports in my aluminum heads look the same. Asked my machinist about it and his response was it’s actually good keeps turbulence in the intake to keep mixture suspended. Not sure of my SP3 intake.
I know Angelo Angelucci (Storm1's builder) ported every single thing on his heads & SP3 intake. Looked like a Gessler port job....
The intake needs some turbulence to keep the flow & swirl that's needed on the intake. Now the exhaust is what needs to be smooth. Tom T.
I'm not porting and polishing it. I'm wanting to knock the ridges down. You can tell from the pictures where the tool stopped and left a sizeable lip. If it were a piece of mismatched floor boards, you can stub a toe on it.
Do not smooth out intake the roughness helps to dissipate fuel and break it up into smaller pieces this helps mix the fuel with the air.
Post #12 above has the correct answer, especially if you have iron heads that basically flow at stock levels or even 20 cfm over stock. Spend the time you would have on polishing that out to learning how to mark the heads and Intake such that the runners line up dead on, as that's where the added power will come from, or at least you will no have a power reduction!
Bolt it on, remember which way the air/fuel is going, that lip/step will be a step down, WAAAY better than a step up
OK, to clarify. I'm not going to grind anything except the part my finger is on. It is a ridge, not a smooth transition. The tool was inserted to depth and the rest left. I'm going to take that 1/8" ridge out, nothing else.
