DIY Head porting
 

I've been searching for information on porting my own heads. I've found a few helpful sites.


This is an interesting PDF. The original company's website no longer works.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...0Abrasives.pdf

GM high tech performance. Specific to LS heads. (If you read one article, read this one.)

Tech: Port It Yourself - Cylinder Heads - GM High-Tech Performance Magazine

From Chevy high performance. An old article specific to the gen 1 sbc.

Do-It-Yourself Small-Block Cylinder Head Porting - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine

Popular hotrodding article. Recommends using a kerosene/WD-40 cutting mix.

Cylinder Head Porting Mistakes - Engine Masters Magazine

Superchevy article specific to vortec heads.

Chevy/GM Cylinder Heads - Super Chevy Magazine

Here's a list of some of the tools you'll need.

Head Porting Tools

Specifically this carbide kit from Summit.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-900630

Standard Abrasives Cartridge Roll Kit

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sai-260006

And since we're talking about heads, ya know what would be fun? A DIY flow bench.

Flow Bench | Digital Flow Bench | Flow Bench Kit

As always, I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts or input. I know buying CNC'ed heads are the way to go, but I think there's still something to be gained from a DIY port/polish bowl blend. Will it be as good as those $2000.00 heads? No. But for a few hundred bucks and my free time, it's worth it to me. Plus, I get to learn. My basic goal here is to just clean up the factory castings.

Go for it man. I've hand ported many heads, started off porting LT1 heads then moved to LS heads. Search my user name on Tech and you'll probably come up with some posts about it. I got close to 300cfm from a set of 5.3 heads and the current L92 heads on my black car flow 357/260 @ .650, made 490rwhp on a 370 and Mustang dyno. Having the right tools makes a big difference. Use real porting burs and cartridge rolls with a pneaumatic die grinder/s. Helps to have several grinders so you can switch bits faster. Concentrate most of your shaping in the bowl area and dont do much with the short side radius, just smooth and blend that area.

What heads are planning to work with?

Got any specific questions just ask.

Mike

Hete ya go.

Porting Heads - And so it begins....... - LS1TECH

I ported my own 862s. I didnt do a extreme job. Just opened and smoothed then polished them out.

There have been very few good DIY threads as everyone likes to keep their own secrets. There are few here and on the LS1tech side that can be helpful.

The biggest thing with these heads is that there is not much material to remove.

Try not to remove to much or reshape the walls themselves as you can break through to the water jackets fairly easily especially on the roof.

I spent some time trying to do this and that is exactly what happened to me. I did later find some cutaway pictures at one point but I don't remember were I found them but I would recommend trying to find some before you start. This will better help you better understand what you're working with.

Also a pair of snap gauges is really important so you can see your progress as well keep each port the same. This is one of the tools I failed to purchase and use.

Good luck and be sure you show us your results.

Here is a really good post of the cut away I was talking about. https://ls1tech.com/forums/12161594-post29.html Its post #29 from this thread. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...s-no-cncs.html

I found 1 of the post but the pictures are all gone still some tips in there. https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...stions-493478/

I also found this one that has some pictures. https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...st-lol-485951/

This one has video's https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...-can-help.html

One of the better ones with pictures. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...6k-beware.html

This one has a bunch of links and at the end there is a cutaway of the roof area I was talking about. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...end-seats.html

Another thread with pics. https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...d-porting.html

That should give you a good idea Of what you're looking for and what you're trying to accomplish.

Now depending on the set of heads you're working on If you factor in parts and additional machine shop work like valve job clean up milling and so on. some of the CNC ported heads are actually not a bad deal.

Omg guys, thanks so much for the help!!

I'm just wanting to clean up my 317 castings.


I guess my question really is, what tools should I order? I'm planning on using pneumatic but have read that electric with a rheostat is the way to go. You are able to control it better I guess.

Electric is usually more quiet, more powerful under load and you can dial in the bit speed easier. But they are usually more bulky and IMO harder to control than a small pneaumatic grinder. It s all preference just like anything else. Last time I priced an electric it was $$$$$$$.

Mike

As mentioned the Electric setup is very Pricey and the compressed air route really needs an industrial air compressor.

Being your first time, I would worry more about blending the bowl area and just barely cleaning up the rest of the castings with a cartridge roll. The intake does not need to be polished smooth as you want some turbulence.

Most of your flow is gonna be in the bowl and the valve job. If money permits I would get some nice back cut valves.

As far as tools some of the guys use snap gauges and an ins diameter mic to measure their progress. You can pick them up relatively cheap as you're not so much looking for specific measurements but more so using the to compare each port you are working on to keep them as close as possible to the same.

I was thinking of something along the lines of this:

Electric Die Grinder with Long Shaft

With this:

Router Speed Control

I already have this:

1/4'' Rear Exhaust Air Die Grinder

But was considering this:

Composite Air Die Grinder

It has speed settings.

What I'm really wondering is what carbides to order? Is the summit one I listed good?