454 mag looking for a little more hp
 

Recently picked up 242ls carbed 454 mag with 600hours.. Needs new valve guides so was thinking of pulling the heads and sending them out for a port and polish. I have a set of EMI thunder manifolds that I'm putting on on the spring. Anyone know if there's any power to be had out of these heads or should I be doing a cam also? Anyone with experience with this I would appreciate it. I don't want to build a high HP motor just looking for another 50-75 ponies.

How many Ben Franklins are you willing to spend, 10-20-30???

Don't want to spend a lot. Like I said not looking for much power. People tell me these motors stock are breathing through a straw. I figured I'd let it breathe better with exhaust and a head job.

a nice intake, the exhaust, hp500 carb and a better ign system will wake it up

any recommendation on intake and ignition? anyone had heads worked? maybe different rockers etc

Single plane dart. Or the cp performance single plane. Msd distributor with box and coil. After that and the exhaust next would be cam and valve train.

Am I looking in wrong place or are dart heads really that much money. If so this are crazy priced

Does anyone have any experience porting and polishing the stock heads? Was it worth it ?

If you want another 50-75 HP. This is what you need to spend your money on.

A new cam, I'm going to sound like a broken record but call Bob Madara for that, if you need his number I will give it to you. A V-6 module for your ignition, don't waste your money on MSD stuff, you won't see any gain and it's less durable. Find an HP500 carb, or a Holley 800, then the valve train to match the cam. Then look for a nice performance exhaust manifold, this is a must for a performance cam. If you have some spare coin, having the exhaust ports ported would help but I wouldn't do more than that. For $2100 you can get a set of AFR ovals, when combined with the right cam would yield you at least a 100 hp increase. Head work is expensive and it doesn't take much before it's cheaper to just buy new heads.

You don't need to replace your intake- the stock Mag intake is very good until you're spinning over 5500 rpms. Good luck with your build.

Merc ign junk in my opinion