ok, im rebuilding my bottom end, je pistons/eagle rods, 14b, hopefully running around 18psi.... im wondering what exactly goes into porting the head/intake manifold....i would like to do the work myself.... what do you exactly do? i was just thinking of porting the head to the size of the gasket and port matching the intake manifold to the same size? is this what im supposed to do? will it really help? i have searched for a while, but most people get the work done....i want to do the work myself....thanks
doug

Originally posted by lickscissors
ok, im rebuilding my bottom end, je pistons/eagle rods, 14b, hopefully running around 18psi.... im wondering what exactly goes into porting the head/intake manifold....i would like to do the work myself.... what do you exactly do? i was just thinking of porting the head to the size of the gasket and port matching the intake manifold to the same size? is this what im supposed to do? will it really help? i have searched for a while, but most people get the work done....i want to do the work myself....thanks doug

ehhhhhhhhhhh just port match to the gaskets and clean up some of the jaggies otherwise it's just a lot of work for not a lot of benefit

also: pour sand down the intake manifold like those audi guys did

ummm, i have no idea what the sand thing was about.....but, if i port matched the gaskets, how deep should i go? take the intake manifold for example, i trace the lines from the gasket, start porting it...now how far into the manifold should i go?
thanks
doug

well, yea the audi thing... that was just bad

anyway just... yeah you have the basic idea... just go in as far as you can I guess...

better wait for someone whos' actually done it to come in and give you the rest of the story... heh..

I just saw mine after it was port matched.. heh.

if you're asking those kind of questions of getting into porting a head, i suggest not to even attempt trying. porting and polishing a head is an art. it takes lots of practice and experience. it's a great gain to have it, but you having little experience with it,so don't! if you know how to use a dremel and know how to polish,use 150grit pads, and a carbide cutter...simple stuff, then you could try atleast the gasket matching. it's a slight gain atleast 'cause of those humps. just warning you.

I would not port your own head. Cylinder head porting needs to be done very accurately, and if you don't have a flowbench, then don't do it yourself. Each port that material is taken off of, needs to flow identically to all the others, which requires a flow bench. My cylinder head is completly ported, polished, and gasket matched, and to be honest, I didnt "feel" any huge gains. I'm sure there was a small gain, but not a night and day difference. I wish I had dynoed it with a stock head, then with the ported head, to really give a good idea of what you can expect out of a job like that. You could prob get away with just smotheing out the sufaces by yourself, but I would not go any farther then that.

I remember on the board here a few years ago that one of the great things about the 420A engine was that the head flowed so well. I think that is what XtremeRS is saying as well noting that he didn't feel a "huge" gain. I wouldn't play with it much if I were you. Concentrate more on your intake manifold.