Thread: questions about preparation for a top swap...

Now I know there's threads everywhere on how to do a top swap as well as pros and cons. I'm at least a couple of months aways from having the time or money to complete the swap though. I just (2 hours ago) got the m90, lim, TB, and heads off a 97 or 98 SSEi. I don't know mileage or anything. What do I need to do to make sure that all those parts are completely ready to go whenever I'm ready for the swap? Test the heads and replace valves, springs rockers and such, but as far as the supercharger goes, I've never had one lol, so Im not even sure what they have in terms of replaceable internals... Also, is there anything maybe not essential but that i should consider in the process, ie porting?

I bought a set of ported heads from a guy on facebook and took them to a machine to get a valve job done on them. they also cleaned them up really nice, which isn't really necessary but gave me peace of mind. the machinist told me the valves would have had issues seating good if he had not done the valve job, and they also flow the air better. I think I paid like 250 for the cleaning and the valve job.

as far the other stuff goes, if you have a dremel tool you can port the lim, port the supercharger case, and gasket match the runners on the lim and gasket match the heads so the air will flow through everything smoother. I'm not sure how much difference it will make, but since you have the parts and don't plan on installing them for a while it makes sense to prep them. if you have headers you are going to install, you could port the outlet on the heads to match the headers.

I would recommend new seals, and locks on the heads, and you could also look for a set of higher ratio rockers and some better valve springs to go with. if you plan on doing a cam then dont do the rockers, but you could still install the springs to save time on the cam install.