My almost finished port work

[pittsburghracer]

I gathered up about 8-10 small block heads about 2 years ago and sold them to a friend for 50.00 because I didn’t want to get tempted to see (what I could do) with a set. I think I still have some big block heads to find a new home for and the good set I went 9.80’s with. The last cast head I did was a set of Chevy Dart Platinum heads that turned out very nice for a friend. I won’t say never again but hopefully never again.

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

I can get the casting number. It's a smog head with the EGR port drilled.

I thought about welding but when I dug around there I'd have to weld up the entire bowl. It's pretty thin on that one port. Figures.

Good old core shift.
I bet those exhaust roofs are thiiiiiiiiiiin too.lol
They look like the same heads I'm doing for Randall. I popped the core plugs from the ends and finger mic'd them...thinnest roofs so far, as cast.
Good job, 270@.500 is respectable.
They can look like who knows under that if the pocket isnt deep. It's like a 10-15 cfm diff of what the .200 & .300 can look like.
Thanks for sharing

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

I have 3 sets of J’s here waiting to go under the knife.
None will be getting anywhere near that much work.

I’m more into the “most for the least”, no holes/no epoxy type jobs.

I understand and feel ya on the most for the least. 240-250 is about that without working through the port window side on the hump. Just bowl , minor kink/guide pinch.

I work in 2-3 hr sessions when working any cylinder head, minus the 318 stuff..they are one of the easiest heads to work. If I feel like the casting is fking me over with shift , say the as cast a short side is way back compared to the 1st head that looks like god handed it to me...I stop and stare ...have a beer , call it a day and go up stairs. I start fresh the next day. So much material is removed on these things to get them where our goals are...it can be un nerving grinding that much out in some places where they just dumped it in the sloppily shifted core box.

 

[yellow rose]

I have 3 sets of J’s here waiting to go under the knife.
None will be getting anywhere near that much work.

I’m more into the “most for the least”, no holes/no epoxy type jobs.

That whole build went right off the rails.

I got the car a couple of years after my cousin died. I knew it needed to be freshened up and the clutch updated. So it was going to be touch up the valve job, change the cam, port the intake, and bolt it back together.

I couldn't get the dread off the shelf cam I wanted. I was going to break one of my rules. But I couldn't get it. Then, I mag'd the heads and one had a crack. So now I have these two nasty cores and I figure I'm putting my 2.02 valves in them, might as well work the bowls and SSR a bit.

Then my buddy found the brand new, in the box, unmolested X block for 800 bucks about 2.5 hours from here. So that made me decide I might as well up the CR some since I'm buying a custom cam. Then the same buddy found some almost new PRW 1.6 rockers and all bets were off.

I couldn't stop once I took the grinder out. My hands and wrists were locking up and night, and while I was asleep, they would hurt so I'd move my fingers and wrists and they would pop and wake th wife up. But like a junkie, I just kept going.

Then I had one head 100% done, including the pushrod tubes in and I found that hole.

So yeah, that deal went off the rails hard. Also found a set of unicorn headers for it..

Some days I hate myself. Every time I grind CI I hate myself real bad.

 

[yellow rose]

If they dropped 12 cfm from .500-.600 they are talking to you. You know what they need. Go for it.

Sure do. But I was afraid I was going to find more water so I just said screw it. When I was younger, I'd have gone for it. But already losing one head was bad enough. I didn't want to end up doing 4 heads instead of 3. 3 was plenty bad.

 

[j par]

That whole build went right off the rails.

I got the car a couple of years after my cousin died. I knew it needed to be freshened up and the clutch updated. So it was going to be touch up the valve job, change the cam, port the intake, and bolt it back together.

I couldn't get the dread off the shelf cam I wanted. I was going to break one of my rules. But I couldn't get it. Then, I mag'd the heads and one had a crack. So now I have these two nasty cores and I figure I'm putting my 2.02 valves in them, might as well work the bowls and SSR a bit.

Then my buddy found the brand new, in the box, unmolested X block for 800 bucks about 2.5 hours from here. So that made me decide I might as well up the CR some since I'm buying a custom cam. Then the same buddy found some almost new PRW 1.6 rockers and all bets were off.

I couldn't stop once I took the grinder out. My hands and wrists were locking up and night, and while I was asleep, they would hurt so I'd move my fingers and wrists and they would pop and wake th wife up. But like a junkie, I just kept going.

Then I had one head 100% done, including the pushrod tubes in and I found that hole.

So yeah, that deal went off the rails hard. Also found a set of unicorn headers for it..

Some days I hate myself. Every time I grind CI I hate myself real bad.

All that grinding and no stepping on the loud pedal, I just can't imagine...

 

[yellow rose]

All that grinding and no stepping on the loud pedal, I just can't imagine...

Ive stepped on the loud pedal. Just ain't done it lately. Hopefully I'll get the intake off this week and then back on next weekend. That's why it's sitting right now. Dealing with the intake manifold.

 

[yellow rose]

Plus I'm on the fence about buying a data logger. I may just do it today. Or maybe order some wheels. Or I may buy a bullet feeder for my reloading press.

I hate decisions.

 

[j par]

Plus I'm on the fence about buying a data logger. I may just do it today. Or maybe order some wheels. Or I may buy a bullet feeder for my reloading press.

I hate decisions.

You better make the smart move and get the bullet feeder. Likely that's what finances the fun stuff...

 

[j par]

Ive stepped on the loud pedal. Just ain't done it lately. Hopefully I'll get the intake off this week and then back on next weekend. That's why it's sitting right now. Dealing with the intake manifold.

Define "LATELY"....

 

[yellow rose]

Define "LATELY"....

Since my mom got sick in March.

 

[Duane]

Sure do. But I was afraid I was going to find more water so I just said screw it. When I was younger, I'd have gone for it. But already losing one head was bad enough. I didn't want to end up doing 4 heads instead of 3. 3 was plenty bad.

I feel your pain, one of my w2 opened like this and I had to find and pay for another casting.

 

[Garrett Ellison]

So, how much for the wall hanger cylinder head? It's probably worth something to someone (maybe even me!) for educational value...

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

So, how much for the wall hanger cylinder head? It's probably worth something to someone (maybe even me!) for educational value...

Maybe a how to remove more than necessary for 270 cfm? Definitely a where the thin spots are with a smog head, plenty.
I don't know what the end goal was but the push rod pinch didn't need to go away @270cfm. You can even touch 290 without doing that, though still can have turbulence around or after. Speaking for myself I would be doing the sleeves after I found closer to 280@ .500, that's when you really got a live one!
Yellow knows what he is going for, so I'm going to dump opinions all over it. Looked like it was fun while it lasted.
For the average joe... the look...most people don't even know what they're looking at. Big giant bowl w/ rounded shape visually acceptable/appealing...to the average eye maybe...can still flow like a swollen prostate..dribble dribble...can back up.
You can do this and that and it makes look sweet....till it hits the flow bench and is a disaster you sweat bullets fixing.
This is where Porter is hinting at, imo. Least for the most. Some work just doesn't pay off well I guess you could say.
You don't even have to gasket match to achieve say 250 or more, really...till the fps is off the charts.
This is just food for thought for those who don't port heads.

 

[yellow rose]

Maybe a how to remove more than necessary for 270 cfm? Definitely a where the thin spots are with a smog head, plenty.
I don't know what the end goal was but the push rod pinch didn't need to go away @270cfm. You can even touch 290 without doing that, though still can have turbulence around or after. Speaking for myself I would be doing the sleeves after I found closer to 280@ .500, that's when you really got a live one!
Yellow knows what he is going for, so I'm going to dump opinions all over it. Looked like it was fun while it lasted.
For the average joe... the look...most people don't even know what they're looking at. Big giant bowl w/ rounded shape visually acceptable/appealing...to the average eye maybe...can still flow like a swollen prostate..dribble dribble...can back up.
You can do this and that and it makes look sweet....till it hits the flow bench and is a disaster you sweat bullets fixing.
This is where Porter is hinting at, imo. Least for the most. Some work just doesn't pay off well I guess you could say.
You don't even have to gasket match to achieve say 250 or more, really...till the fps is off the charts.
This is just food for thought for those who don't port heads.

If you want to sum up my porting philosophy, it's really very simple.

I don't port for CFM. Intake or exhaust. CFM is the last thing I look at. When you look at all the metrics, my heads do very well for the valve size. I could have leg humped the flow numbers a bit with a back cut. But I'd loose what I think is more important in other areas.

The reversion bothered me, but not as much as it used to. It didn't get any worse with higher test pressures, and I wasn't willing to find more water. So I let it go.

Again, for me, porting for flow numbers can be counterproductive. So I don't do it.

 

[PRH]

Porting a set of heads isn’t an open ended proposition for me.
Theres almost always a budget involved....... which dictates how much time can be spent on them.
I usually have a number in my head that I’d like to see, within the alotted time.
I don’t like to give away porting time, so...... sometimes the target number can be reached in the alotted time, sometimes it can’t.

Also, some engine platforms have heads that reward you with nice flow increases with a reasonable amount of work....... and others don’t.
Most of the factory Mopar wedge heads respond pretty well to straightforward modifications........ so the “most for the least” strategy generally works out pretty well if you spend your time on the things that matter.

The other thing to keep in mind is, not all castings are created equal.

Flow 10 100% Stock 915 heads and they won’t all flow the same........ and you might find a few that are either surprisingly good or surprisingly bad.
And often times the bad ones will never end up being as good as if you had started with a good one instead.

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

Porting a set of heads isn’t an open ended proposition for me.
Theres almost always a budget involved....... which dictates how much time can be spent on them.
I usually have a number in my head that I’d like to see, within the alotted time.
I don’t like to give away porting time, so...... sometimes the target number can be reached in the alotted time, sometimes it can’t.

Also, some engine platforms have heads that reward you with nice flow increases with a reasonable amount of work....... and others don’t.
Most of the factory Mopar wedge heads respond pretty well to straightforward modifications........ so the “most for the least” strategy generally works out pretty well if you spend your time on the things that matter.

The other thing to keep in mind is, not all castings are created equal.

Flow 10 100% Stock 915 heads and they won’t all flow the same........ and you might find a few that are either surprisingly good or surprisingly bad.
And often times the bad ones will never end up being as good as if you had started with a good one instead.

Good points and a shared approach.
That's more of how I see it. I like to see X by Y lift, it's a mental program...you know what to expect for the work you've done.. If there IS a target HP, you bet I'm going for X amount of cfm by chosen lift...and port volume for the cid and range.
It IS about airflow, just not exclusively.
I do port for power, that means airflow...but not just raw cfm, but speed and is the port working 100% or 70%...which is where you see turbulence, one side is just dead slow wet crap...garbage port....torqueless pos is what that makes...and boy will shut off when the cam does.
I read a lot of ****...boy ot sticks out.
Not talking about you, just in general...
...some folks can really confuse the clergy , so to speak, out of trying to sound like the smartest guy in the room. Keep the people 2nd guessing so they'll send their $$$$ ... lmao.
Im not going to be caught in the vacuum of covering every variable...because we arent reinventing the wheel here...there are no more secrets. Majority of people here , we all are working production limits... there is no "too big" ..there is only a "too small cid" in this sbm game...and no one I know is messing with 273's.
If the op is moving some head for bigger cid, then he spent his time wisely. If not, then it's more than necessary...though it really doesn't matter, mytime, his time, your time.. is our own.

I like seeing others porting threads, it's a personal thing.... gotta be careful what and how you state your opinion and or offer advice...or even just be careful pointing out the obvious.

@yellow rose
What is the port volume ?
Does the x head have its tubes to check?
I bet you are just under 190cc, maybe 185 or so. It's a ton of just carving for cross section.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I go for both max cfm possible and more importantly controlled air speed. To me they work hand in hand and I will milk them back and forth as I will continue to see given gains. As I’ve posted before first I gotta see at least 200 cfm@.300 lift and go from there. The reason I keep porting till I don’t see turbulence. the smart head porters that really know their stuff all think an engine sees more than the 28 inches of depression most of us flow at on our benches. I often crank my test pressure up to almost 40 inches to see what happens.

 

[Cudafever]

On the flow bench your ears will tell you as much as anything. a bad port will literally SCREEEEEEM at you.
I have a port that flowed vary well at .550 lift, but if i add .005 of lift or took my hand and waved in front of the port it would drop 20 cfm and just start to scream at me.