here is the foundation: i am using felpro head gasket and Trick Flow twisted wedge heads on my 71 block. with this setup trickflow requires you to drill new holes into the deck, i triple measured this and put them where i was told to. the hole lines up to the larger ports on the head but not to the small holes supplied within that port opening on the head gasket. I am planning to drill open an aligned hole in the head gasket, which will still be within the port seal area in the head gasket. in the process of checking this i found that the head gasket has several of the ports either trying to flow through a small drill bit sized hole or blocked completely off. I am running a high flow pump and have an RPM manifold which blocks off the two rear ports in the heads. Questions: 1.) The new holes are also only the size of the suggested drill bit (trickflow recommendations). Is that going to allow enough flow or should i take this opportunity to add a second\larger hole in the same port area? 2.) should i open up the other gasket ports to match the actual head and block ports? 3.) should i open the ports they completely blocked off? 4.) the old block has some ports\holes for water jacket which are now not in use, wont this cause pressure on the head and gasket? I know i have been running this setup for over 3 years but im thinking of improvements since i have it apart, again.....
You need to ask Trick Flow these questions. They built the heads and they will know best what size the holes should be and where they should be drilled. Putting in additional holes might cause overheating and cost you a set of new heads.
thanks for replying.... I know the ones i am planning to drill out at the moment are just to align the new deck holes with the gasket hole as both are within the same port... if that makes sense. i may post some pics on this to help clarify also. over all the weak point is the gasket since both the head and the block have the ports but the gasket is either a small hole in the middle or non existant..... i did search their FAQ and forum but found nothing and these are the head gaskets they suggest to use. i know the old holes that are blocked off now still cause a minor heat spot on the head but was told that was acceptable and looking at the wear it doesnt seem too bad. Im just curious about optimal flow to the back of the block, especially since edelbrock manifolds always block ports off there already.... i may shoot them an email with pics though.
well i got an email response stating that i should just make sure the gasket holes in existence line up. not real in depth considering i sent them the same questions i posted above.. although i did tell them im using FPP-1011-1 Fel pros so they know what gaskets im referring too. still seems like some of the port holes are too restrictive compared to the perma locks i had on there before and the factory ones.
