I have that grinder and it works really good

Yes will work. I bought an electric die grinder to do port on my 02 housing. I'm a tight ass like most of us an wanted one with a longer neck to reach deeper in tight areas. Harbor freight for 30 bucks. Not sure about your air compressor question I would think if the regulator on your air compressor will hold at last 120 psi you would be fine. I keep my compressor at 140 psi. I would buy carbide grinding tools for your die grinder also. I used those an stone grinders an lots of hand sanding to finish it off. Good luck hope I helped you.

yeah i was looking at air tools/compressor looks spendy for not the power i need.

I was going to go with the $30 electric long neck grinder @ harbor freight with some carbide burr bits. would that be sufficient for porting?

No that compressor will not work. It isnt about pressure its about volume. Thats why those those cfm ratings are there. Buy the biggest compressor you can afford. I wouldnt drop below a 30 gal oiled unit. This is not the place to skimp.

The air compressor plays a larger role when it comes to porting than the die grinder itself.

I use a harbor freight one and its lasted me at least 5 years now...

pauleyman said:

No that compressor will not work. It isnt about pressure its about volume. Thats why those those cfm ratings are there. Buy the biggest compressor you can afford. I wouldnt drop below a 30 gal oiled unit. This is not the place to skimp.

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This is soooooooooo true. When I port matched my O2 housing to my turbine housing my compressor was running pretty much the whole time, and the tank was a 60gal tank. Air tools such as grinders go through A LOT of air.

I Have a 60gal compressor 5hp 24cfm @90 psi bombed into a 80 gallon tank and when porting, it runs all the time.

I can also vouch for the HF long neck electric die grinder, I did my turbo, o2, and head with it. For fine detail stuff I picked up carbide bits for my dremmel and they worked great. HF also sells a nice sanding drums for porting. The small bits I got as a set on eBay for 25$, the larger ones from an industrial supply for 20$ each. Can't find a picture of the sanding drums but they are with the sandpaper at HF, a pack of 60, 30 90 grit and 30 120 grit in cone and drum shapes.

Another thing that works really good, is Harbor Freight's 1/2" belt sander. Looks like an angle grinder, with a 1/2" wide, maybe 8" long belt sander on it. I used it to do the majority of my head porting as I could really get in there deep and remove material fast with course belts, then used a dremel to finish it up.

Nate

Harbor Freight long neck electric FTW.

I have a similar style air grinder, but it runs my compressor out of air so quickly that it is almost unusable.

I just use any old air die grinder. I've used just about every mid-range die grinder, not a whole lot of difference. Right now I'm using a husky but the trigger lock slides against plastic, so it's not as smooth of an action. Look for something with a trigger lock that slides against metal for a more smooth action.

Definately get a 60+ gal, 4+hp compressor or it'll have trouble keeping above 10psi after a few minutes of use.

Thanks for the info everyone.

update- Ok so I bought the HF electric die grinder and a SS carbide bit, worked well. So well I got carried away a little . I was porting the hotside of the turbo.. and I need some insight.

will this leak boost now? and should I just toss this hotside? or am I able to get a bigger WG flapper?

Any of you guys have a good suggestion for bits to use for aluminum? I'm needing to port my intake manifold so that my throttlebody matches. Went and bought a carbide bit from Home Depot tonight but there's no way it should be taking as long as it is to widen the hole on this thing.

Yes that will leak. That flapper also doesn't look centered. Show the entire housing or at least backup the shot a little bit. That flapper may need some adjustment. If not you'll need a new flapper.

ok new picture,
its not very centered. whats the best way to go about this?

Notice how tha lever doesn't sit flush against the housing. That isn't supposed to be that way. Tap it back down with a hammer. I'm taking about along the axis. Understand?

this part correct?

Yes that part. Hit it lightly until it sits flush against the housing. I don't remember if you can push it too far where it would jam so best to tap lightly until it's flush. You'll move that flapper over by whatever amount that bushing is sticking out. Problem solved.

ok Ill give it a try. thanks also its ported very rough in the inlet, can you advise if I should continue or start to smooth it. (what bit used for smoothing? and remember I'm not running crazy amount of boost Ill be running 15psi for a while)

Jeebus...go get some tootsie rolls and fix that crap.

yeah its my spare hotside

It's about to be your spare boat anchor.

Wow, it looks like you were scraping it with a spoon if it was cake batter on the side of the bowl . Take it easy man, when your porting don't work in one spot, move around to even everything out.

whats the best bit for smoothing?