Total is 900

Prices to have someone else do it for you is about $1,200 plus $200 for the stock heads. So I suppose its worth it to save the extra $500.

 

You can do it by yourself if you arent worried about making alot of power... but alot of people look at time as $. That aside, figure..

$225-250 by the time you pay to ship a set of heads to you.
$35ish for a decent carbide burr
$15ish for 50 cartridge rolls or so
$6-7 for a cartridge roll mandrel
$90ish for springs
$50ish for retainers
$35ish for locators
$20-25 for locks
$20-35 for seals depending on what type
$160 or so for relatively cheap valves (i.e. manley), or $220-225 for nice valves.
$300-400 in machinework depending on what you have done...

So not counting any head cleanup, or the cost of buying die grinders (elec for ~$100, or a couple grand in a decent pneumatic setup), testing, pressure checking, assembly, etc. you're looking at over $1k + your time in something that probably wont be anywhere close to what you'd pay for. Worst case, you'll bork something & trash your stuff, but that'd likely be from an assembly error etc. & not porting, since it's doubtful you'll really do much even w/ a real burr... Of course you can save a lil $ on materials probably if you buy some porting 'kit,' but from what I've seen, they're not going to be sufficient for actually porting stuff.

Dunno, I've had alot of homeport stuff show up & most of it is in the 230-240cfm peak range... I think the best I ever saw was in fact in the 255ish peak range, but the midlift #'s were way down.

If you want to do something yourself & learn, it's great . If you want to save $, go for it. If you want to make power & go fast, you're probably going to be dissapointed. So I suppose you just have to honestly answer what you want & what its worth to you .

 

Lol, I knew one of the Head Porting Masters was eventually gonna come in this thread and dispell some fiction. You guys have been going at it all weekend back and forth and I looked forward to each installment.,

As far as your second question about making a "moat" around the guide, wtf are you talking about?

Lol., thats great stuff,.I truely hope your heads flow like gangbusters,.,

 

Actually Skardom, 97Z and local head guy here has been giving me some pointers. He looked at what I've done so far and says it looks pretty good. I had the compressor and die grinder so all I've shelled out is 30 bucks for bits. Maybe I might be as happy as I would if I bought a great pair, but I think I'll be more satisfied knowing I did it myself. Not to mentioned the knowledge I've gained looking into it. I've learned about a millions times more about how heads work than if I woulda just bought a set.


thanks for all the help guys.

 

port them yourself.

I did and I wouldn't pay someone else to do something that I can do . It isn't hard. Just buy you the Standard Abrasives port and polish kit, @ $35, a drill and dremel tool, and go at it.

Professional's didn't get there overnight, so do what they did.

Start.

When you think you are done, take it to a professional and let them see what you have done.

If they tell you to go back and port some more, take their advice and port some more.

If they are "good" mechanics, they aren't going to get mad if you tell them to look at your work. If they do, then they don't want your business, because most machine shops will tell you it isn't worth paying all that extra money for the port and polish job, because you can buy a set of heads for what they are going to charge you. (my machine shop did) If they don't, either they don't charge a high rate, or they don't think much of you and want all of your money

Most of the older guys that run machine shops are part of the old "hot rodders", and like to see the new "do it yourselfers" learning and taking charge. Hell, anyone with a load of money can pay someone else to do thier work, but where is the gratitude?

When my machinist saw my heads, he was very impressed, and stated that I had done a very good job.

My heads:
Comp springs: $150
3 angle valve job, milled .020, and putting valves and stacking springs: $225
Standard abrasives port kit: $35

I don't see where I lost anything, but gained knowledge and a lot of power. (and business)

just my .02

 

Could one of you guys post up what your flow numbers were for your home ported heads?

 

All good and well, but where are the results? It isnt hard to get some guy who probably doesnt really know what they're looking at to tell you something looks "nice." So where's the dyno data? I don't mean flow numbers, b/c it seems everyone has fantastic flow numbers these days, I mean dyno #'s. Since one set of 270cfm LT1's makes 500hp, and others struggle to get close to 450... I tend to ignore them these days, as there's too many guys trying to take advantage of people who don't know any better .

FWIW, most mechanics/machinists I've come into contact with (and ive met ALOT here in nascar's mecca) don't know a thing about cylinder heads. Aside from what you've said.. "it looks good"...

I don't want to discourage people from trying to learn, its awesome if you want to. I'm just personally driven by results (hard #'s) and competitiveness, so i tend to look at things that way. For 9/10 guys out there, IF they're wanting to go fast, it isnt worth the $ and time to invest in it (i.e. many sets of heads, tooling, minor equipment, and at minimum months of learning something you'll never "master"). If you seriously want to try to learn, understand that itll take a LONG time and a LOT of work before you're even on par with decent stuff, and are willing to invest in tooling etc., then most definitely go for it. It's enjoyable IMO .

If you're playing with stones & a "kit" from somewhere pieced together with stuff that will keep the end user from doing much so he doesnt trash his stuff.. well, you aren't doing much. Even if your mechanic says so .

This is the Summit kit for $30...
This is the Standard Abrasives kit for $40 or so.

Look at both of those, what do you get? Cartridge rolls... What are you going to do with those? Nothing but make it pretty. Trying to actually carve out a decent port with that is an excercise in futility - like hacking at a redwood with a butterknife. Moreover, this is sillyness.. it's just another polished/gasket matched port, which will get you next to nothing .

Another thing that'll make all the difference in the world... make a friend out of a professional engine builder, and not a mechanic. If you can find a head guy who has more impressive dyno results than flowbench results, that'd obviously be better.

Oh, stay away from the f'n internet, as many boards (yeah, inclusive ) are full of a bunch of people parroting stuff they don't understand.

Maybe b/c I'm competitive to a fault, I approach things differently though, as I tend to want to beat everyone, so I suppose it's a bit difficult to understand why people would want to save a few dollars & be way down on power. Satisfaction to me is winning, not losing & claiming i did it myself.

Not what people want to hear, but eh.. I've never been too good at that anyway .


The good Dr. Krause likes to post this now and again, and if ever there was an appropriate thread...


Take Care & good luck with all of your projects!

-Phil

 

I agree with you.....
[QUOTE]Originally posted by SkarodoM
[B] I don't mean flow numbers, b/c it seems everyone has fantastic flow numbers these days

Aint that the truth.

IF they're wanting to go fast, it isnt worth the $ and time to invest in it (i.e. many sets of heads, tooling, minor equipment, and at minimum months of learning something you'll never "master"). If you seriously want to try to learn, understand that itll take a LONG time and a LOT of work before you're even on par with decent stuff, and are willing to invest in tooling etc., then most definitely go for it. It's enjoyable IMO .

I already had all the tools and I'm having fun doing it.

This is the Summit kit for $30...

I got the Summit Kit and a few carbide burrs...

Oh, stay away from the f'n internet, as many boards (yeah, inclusive ) are full of a bunch of people parroting stuff they don't understand.

Agreed..... I am also competitive but on the other hand, I'm in the process of rebuilding my motor and have these heads sitting here. I'm not a harcore racer to I really give a ratza** about perfect numbers. Just figure I'd learn something and make a lil improvement. Been working on the sons a biyatches for going on 20 hours and I will bet my left nut it will be better than stock. Thats all I ask for. The weird mart is I am actually having fun except for a few minor questions and having to find that damn long carbide burr.

later

Thanks again

 

first off let me say, you guys should listen to phil and loyd. they do this everyday.

also let me say this was my first attempt at this, so dont be to brutal. im not going say they are good or that they will make good power. but i did learn alot doing this, and that was my goal. these are not near finished.

SJS you asked for some pictures so here it is.

here are some that i have drawn arrows on to show you some things that may help.

here
here
here

there is a link to the rest of the album below. like i said these were taken about 5 or 6 months ago and was my first set. the heads look alot different now.

man i hope this helps you out some, but my advice is dont think that your going to make a killer set of heads for your self. just learn from it.

here are all my albums

 

Bout time 97Z hahahahhaaha. Just playin thanks man. Dude that is some great pics. You went through some trouble for me. Gimme your addy I'll send you something from here. Like a hula girl.

Did you see my post. I dont care if they suck as long as I learn something.

O yeah.......Dude I know they know what they are talking about thats why I had that post adressed to him. I'm a happy go lucky guy and just wanna have fun. Anyway you of all people should know why I'm doing this lol.

One more thing......so you took nothing out of theexhaust bowls??? Just cleaned them up and polished um?

thanks again.

 

sorry i took so long but my god ive been busy. but anyway i did take some out of the exhuast i got all the stock casting marks out and opened it up alittle. but in one of the pics you can see how i ported to the scribe line on the floor of the exhuast port dont do that leaving that lip helps on reversion.

any way got to go be back later got to get a engine ready for decking .

 

Aight here are some pics of my work.

http://www.tennesspeed.net/gallery/s...cat=500&page=1

http://www.tennesspeed.net/gallery/s...cat=500&page=1

http://www.tennesspeed.net/gallery/s...cat=500&page=1

I know the detail isn't that great as far as seeing the port work and stuff, but it's all I have. Basically I took a little material out, and didn't get too crazy.

 

Thanks guys......so you did take some of the exhaust valve guides.

 

Yea I took quite a bit off of the exhaust valve guides. And intake valve guides for that matter.

 

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