anyone "port" their own head?

[gritsak]

well im getting ready to pull my motor and do a clutch and put a built shortblock in. i would really like to send the head out and get it professional p/p job, but my funds are almost dry and i want to spend what i have left on new water/oil pumps, seals, belts, ect. so i dont end up having to tear the motor apart again due to something like that failing.

i have a die grinder and some carbide bits and i was considering the idea of cleaning up the exhaust and intake openings. im not talking about trying to do a full out port job myself, just clean up the openings maybe port match openings from the head to the gasket to the manifolds.

question is, will it be worth it to do this? and assuming i can do a fairly decent job and not go overboard, how much chance is there that, since my lack of experience, that i will end up making something worst?

my other mods are agp 60-1 kit, built motor, vpc, 720's, ect. ect..and hopefully some 272 cams if i can find some in my price range.

so any input? thanx

 

[kpt4321]

Your best option is to simply clean up the area around the valves to remove any crap left over from when the head was cast. If you flare the ports out to the gasket, and then flare the manifolds out to the gasket, then yo will just end up with a zone of stagnant air.

....Kyle T.
93 TSi AWD "TURBO4"
14b - 12.8 @ 108

 

[mistervr4]

think about this before you go to work on your head. if you clean up the casting marks, it will do almost nothing for performance, and you could ruin a perfectly good head. these people who port and polish heads have probably been through the school of hard knocks, and ruined a lot of good heads to get good at what they do. it's not necessarily the size of the port that matters as much as the shape of the port. do you know what shape flows good air? i dont, so some things are best left to the pros. not telling you what to do, but just think about if saying you have a ported head (which if you do yourself, wont be true, you just cleaned up the casting marks at the risk of ruining your head) and getting nothing out of it are worth it. also, dsm heads can flow like 500 hp or something obsene, so why mess with a good thing? worry about that suff when you make 500 hp

 

[gritsak]

Originally posted by mistervr4
think about this before you go to work on your head. if you clean up the casting marks, it will do almost nothing for performance, and you could ruin a perfectly good head. these people who port and polish heads have probably been through the school of hard knocks, and ruined a lot of good heads to get good at what they do. it's not necessarily the size of the port that matters as much as the shape of the port. do you know what shape flows good air? i dont, so some things are best left to the pros. not telling you what to do, but just think about if saying you have a ported head (which if you do yourself, wont be true, you just cleaned up the casting marks at the risk of ruining your head) and getting nothing out of it are worth it. also, dsm heads can flow like 500 hp or something obsene, so why mess with a good thing? worry about that suff when you make 500 hp

i know all this...thats why i asked the question...if you read my post again im not trying to come off like i am a head expert, i know my way around turbo and most engine stuff but im a "virgin" when it comes to anything like head work.

thats why i asked this question, i dont really plan on doing this unless other people have done it with any success...i know its not gonna help peformance much if any, but i figured if it wouldnt hurt to clean stuff up before i sent it off to get milled and cleaned ide try it out.

im planning on making 500+hp on race gas btw

 

[NDgsx]

Don't use a carbide bit, it will remove material too fast. Summit sells a couple kits that come with a variety of bits. Just remove the major casting flash on the valve bowls and smooth the sharp edge on the short side radius of the port, DO NOT over do this, just smooth the edge out.

Don't change port shapes, don't enlarge the ports, just remove the large material.

 

[jmc94gsx]

FYI: Carbide bits are for steel only, aluminum will just get trapped in the cutting surfaces. There are aluminum cutting burrs.