Thread: port n polish at home

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i am changing the heads on my truck and was wondering what everybody thought about porting and polishing at home i know not to port to much so as not to hit the water jackets but do you port just the intake and exhaust ports or all of the water and oil passages to?

I would guess that if you don't have any experience porting you could do more damage than good. I would get a good book on how to correctly port before I would do it. Also, without a flow bench you won't know what you have, good or bad cylinder to cylinder. I will say this, I did do a pocket port on my heads, but I had the machine shop head gal give me tons of advice. When she saw the job I did she was inpressed. But it was just a pocket job, not porting the runners.


Keith...

Howdy:
You really need to get a book or two by engine guru David Vizard, a fella who has not only ideas, but literally decades of experience building and dyno testing his creations as research for books and articles. I have his book"How to build Max Performance Chevy small blocks on a budget" and it is the most informative book of it's kind I have owned since I started this car stuff back when I was in high school in the 1970's. The section on head porting is clearly written and well illustrated, and though I'd never owned a Chevy prior to the truck I bought last year, I was well equipped to do some port work on a set of Dart Iron Eagle SS sbc heads I'd picked up used. Vizard even outlines the best ways to keep cost of special tools to a minimum, like making a variable speed control for a single speed electric die grinder using a common light dimmer switch. I did so for my porting project-works great and was needed. 10,000 rpm was too fast for most work, and Lord help ya if a cutter is out of balance at that speed.
Another book that I do not have, but would likely be helpful by Vizard is "Volume 1 How to build horsepower"
Both are published by SA Design. You can likely order them on line if you can't find them locally.
Hope this helps ya'
cowboy33713

hey guys thanks for the advice it is funny that you mention those books i bought both of them the last time i visited summit i am going to check it out

I did so for my porting project-works great and was needed. 10,000 rpm was too fast for most work, and Lord help ya if a cutter is out of balance at that speed.




Amen. I have an old Sears electric 1/4 die grinder and the damn thing scares me to death when I'm using it. It spins at like 20,000 rpms and has a slight vibration to it, so it shakes the heck out of your hands, but it really removes some material. But if the bit is slightly out of balance it will come flying out at you like a missle. I've dodged the thing quite a few times and had it hit me in the chest. I keep threatening to stop using it, but it does the trick if you only have the guts to hang on to it.


Don

Harbor frieght has a air grinder that has a 3 inch extention{for getting in the port} and it is also variable speed and cheap!!!I also recommend getting a book on porting!!!!It also seems to me that ol Dave Vizzard goes into a little more theory behind what you are doing to go along with the details.Good luck!!! http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93621 like any "cheap tool" it will use more air than a quality tool,but you will not be full blast the whole time ,soo air consumption should be less than stated.