Hi guys .. I want to perform a *light* port and polish on my Y8 head. Nothing hardcore. I'd just like to match the ports to my manifolds, and polish them out a bit to reduce friction & buildup. Can anyone offer any tips, or links to articles on how to do it? What sort of tools are required? I've got patience.

 

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.htm

I just got done doing the rough porting on my project z6 head, I still have to deshroud the combustion chamber but I'll be finished when time permits.

 

ya, you will **** your head up, port matching gives no gains, its not worth the price of the new gaskets.

Leave it to a professional

 

I don't know much (since I sent mine to Portflow), but I do know this: It's a very difficult skill to master, and I wouldn't want to "practice" on my own perfectly good head. If you really want it done right, send it to a pro, IMO. This also makes them reponsible if they screw it up. If you screw it up, it's all on you.

 

Buy all those p75 (non-vtec head) to practice.

Since no one want them, they are use less, why don't we practice on them.

 

Yeah you wouldnt want to do anything yourself, god forbid you dont actually pay someone to do something. As being a hard skill to master, a basic port and polish can be done by an amatuer with patience and still produce a significant gain.

 

Oh no. It's really hard? If I mess up then I'm responsible? Well in that case I better send it off to someone who really knows what they are doing and pay them over a weeks pay to port and polish my head. Or I could research whats going on and practice on an old crappy aluminum head, learn myself, then become the expert that everyone goes to in order to get their head ported.

 

It's not that easy. Even guys that have been doing it for years are still learning.They also spent thousands of $$ on expensive flowbench equipment and software. Anybody can take a dremel to a cylinder head and take off material, but it takes a pro to do it without hurting flow.
That said, if someone is really serious, and has the time and patience, they could take junk heads and practice on them. They will just need someone with the proper equipment to check their results, or they are just pissing in the dark.

 

I know it requires a lot of practice and skill to properly port & polish a head for an F1 car -- but I'm not talking about an F1 car, I'm talking about my 1.6L Civic, and I'm not going to tear the thing all to hell, all I want to do is smooth out the ports so a bit less gunk sticks to them.

I'm not going to open anything up or anything like that, so a flow bench is not needed. And IMO it's pretty hard to f*ck up a port match .. all you're doing is removing a rough edge. All I need is some reading material and tips & suggestions on how to do it, and maybe one old 1.5L junk head from the junkyard for $15 to practice on.

 

Exactly. A mild port and polish is not rocket science. Conversely, if you wanted to port and polish a high output racing engine there are alot of other things to consider. You can't even think about starting on a project like that without exact specifications of compression ratio, cam lift and duration, piston quench area, headers, intake manifold, throttle body, ecu, injectors, if its for turbo, nitrous, N/A, type of exhuast system, the application, altitude, average ambient temperature, average humidity, etc.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dokta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh no. It's really hard? If I mess up then I'm responsible? Well in that case I better send it off to someone who really knows what they are doing and pay them over a weeks pay to port and polish my head. Or I could research whats going on and practice on an old crappy aluminum head, learn myself, then become the expert that everyone goes to in order to get their head ported.
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Let me know when you become an expert. I'll be sure to send you the next head I want ported .

 

I have done a DIY P&P. Its not hard. It takes some time though. There are some good tips on the old ones board. I practiced on my old d16a6 head. It was then given to a friend because he had a blown HG. He said he could easily tell the difference especially in the mid and upper RPMs. I then did my B16a head. I used a porting kit from powerhouse tools ($49). I also got the 8" porting rod to do the intake manifold. I'd say a stage one porting job is no problem. Heres a few pics of my B16 head and the link to the P&P kit.
http://www.powerhouseproducts....51700


Check out that radial valve job . Not bad for an amature.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Type R Bob &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Let me know when you become an expert. I'll be sure to send you the next head I want ported .</TD></TR></TABLE>

My shop is located in Hartford, CT. I've been porting, polishing, and machining honda and nissan heads for about 9 years. If you want any work done, just send me an e-mail. If you want any references, pictures, or dynos of my work, just let me know and I can send them right over to you. I learned and started my own business by buying used heads from a junkyard in here in hartford, and practiced as much as I could. Most information I learned from books and online. The rest was dyno testing, track testing, and experience.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dokta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

My shop is located in Hartford, CT. I've been porting, polishing, and machining honda and nissan heads for about 9 years. If you want any work done, just send me an e-mail. If you want any references, pictures, or dynos of my work, just let me know and I can send them right over to you. I learned and started my own business by buying used heads from a junkyard in here in hartford, and practiced as much as I could. Most information I learned from books and online. The rest was dyno testing, track testing, and experience.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's great. So why are you ripping on people that 1) don't have a shop 2) already have a mild port job and need an expert to finish the job 3) don't have the time to learn how to do mild porting. Yeah, I paid Tom @Portflow for my head, and it was money well spent. You recommend to the creator of this thread that they go and buy a dremel and do it themselves. I say get it done professionally if you want it done correctly. You claim to have been practicing for 9 years. So you suggest anyone who wants a head ported should practice for 9 years before doing it so they know what they are doing as opposed to just paying someone else. Interesting theory. I do quite a bit myself, but know when I am out of my league. The most knowledgable and best motor builders I know on this board send their heads out to be done. For a mild port matching job, get a dremel. For a real port and polish, I will pay an expert every time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Type R Bob &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For a mild port matching job, get a dremel. For a real port and polish, I will pay an expert every time.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I said I was doing a mild port match only, which is probably why he suggested I get the dremel. I think both Dokta and myself are quite aware that if I wanted a race-caliber job, I need a professional. No one's arguing with you. But since I'm just looking to do a little something minor by myself, I don't need to be spending 400 bucks on a pro, and I appreciate the advice.

Anyway .. arguing is pretty pointless. Thx for the links guys!!

 

Dremel is only like 30 at homedepot.

 

i feel it is a waste of time and money for the money you spend you will only see minimal gains and that is IF you do it right .... if your serious send it to portflow they are good.. and you dont have to worry about it after you install it

 

From the limited knowledge I have of head work, I understand that polishing the ports are not a good idea because a smooth wall is not condusive to a good laminar flow. It takes a bit of surface turbulence to create a buffer zone in the airflow and that inturn facilitates laminar flow.

It's like the dimples in a golf ball. If you remove the dimples ther is no turbulence around the ball and this eliminates the low pressure zone at the surface of the ball which will make more resistance against the air.

 

Porting a head is very tricky work, but like i said the mild port and polish can be accomplished by an amatuer and still yield gains. Its important for the person to read, practice and synthesize in order to develop a porting strategy for his/her goal with the cylinder head. An understanding of fluid dynamics is critical for more advanced porting, so its best to leave the advanced stuff to either a reputable head porting company. BTW, with forced induction applications the overall flow of the ports is not as critical with naturally aspirated port shaping. On the d16z6 head that is pictured I opened up the intake port .030", while the exhaust port was opened up 0.15" on the exit and tapers into a exhaust valve area radius of 0.040". My goal was to open up the head to flow more cfm at high boost pressures that the head is going to see. The valves are 1mm oversized, along with a 11.4mm lift camshaft that is going to increase the overall flow of the cylinder greatly. I took out more material in the intake/exhaust ports due to overall increase in ability of the cylinder head to move air with the larger valves and higher lift camshaft. I know off boost there is going to be a significant loss in low end power from low velocity but when boost hits at higher psi the gains are going to be substantial.

 

Isn't the polishing the hardest part?

I READ (not from personal experience) that the polishing techniques are trade secrets.

 

The polishing is only for show. The flow is better with a slightly roughier surface. The theory behind it is based upon fluid dynamics. With the smoother walls of the port there is more turbulence with the entering/exiting airflow. The reasoning behind this is that the roughier surface creates turbulence near the surface of the port, which creates low pressure. The low pressure gradient allows for the majority of the airflow to pass overtop of the low pressure, which yields a greater overall flow.

 

I thought there was a post on HT a while ago about PNP the exh. side of the head with it on the block.. said you just drop the header and close the valves of the port you're working on... I've been working on some heads off the car already and am wanting to hit the exh. side on my head now... Can that be done safely though? I'll be able to pull the whole head in about three weeks, but thought I'd get a head start if possible.

 

If you dont take the head off and drop out the valves, you'll only be getting the "mouth" of the exhaust port. You'll need to take the valves out and get into the "throat" of the port to be able to maximum flow.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dokta &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh no. It's really hard? If I mess up then I'm responsible? Well in that case I better send it off to someone who really knows what they are doing and pay them over a weeks pay to port and polish my head. Or I could research whats going on and practice on an old crappy aluminum head, learn myself, then become the expert that everyone goes to in order to get their head ported.
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Yeah well don't forget your flow bench. You do know how to use a flow bench, right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Phat_Optimo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have done a DIY P&P. Its not hard..</TD></TR></TABLE>

No one said it's hard, to *remove material*. What's hard is maximizing flow. If it's so easy, instead of posting pictures of the head, how about a before and after flowbench chart?