Hey guys. i have a set of heads here and after looking at the info Matt posted on the head flow i would like to know who everyone uses for head porting? i'm sure porting the heads isn't cheap, but i realize that the head flow of these things SUCK. back when i got these heads i was told by a "Performance shop" to just polish the exhaust sides myself and that would be sufficient. So i did that and after some research i found that this said shop SUCKS and now that i see how crappy these heads flow i have come to terms with the fact that i will be needing some real porting, not the crap i did. LOL. my goal is to get around 600-650 on fuel so i'm assuming that full porting(runners and pockets) will be needed???
the heads are already setup with hardened seats, valves, new guides, seals, 3 angle valve job, the polishing that i did, and i had them shaved down 15 thou in hopes to gain a little from the nozzles being closer to the pistons. i think i could shave the heads a little more, but since i'm not an expert on this and i knew that what i did would be safe if i flycut pistons i left it at that. currently they have comp 910's, but i want to switch those up for some hi rev springs b/c i want to run a larger cam as well.
so i want a lesson on what all work i need to do to these heads. Like, how much could you deck the heads and what would need to be done with the compression/pistons after you mill them down so far? Like i said i did 15 thou on mine so i will need to lower compression some and probably flycut the pistons, but how much more could to mill the heads and mess with the pistons and stuff to allow this to work? Also i see a lot of people talking about different installed heights on springs, but i have no clue why they are talking about that or what effect that has on things so if someone could give me a lesson on that as well that'd be awesome. just trying to learn here and didn't find some of this stuff in my searches and i have seen some ppl who also need a lesson on this stuff too so i thought i'd post. sorry if these are dumb questions, just trying to learn what is needed from these crappy heads and what i can do to help as much as possible. thanks guys!!
i found his pics. so what are we actually going to be doing to the area at the seat when we port them? i can probably do everything he did myself. i need to look at my heads sometime to see what needs to be done and i'm sure it will be tough for me to mess up these hardened seats so i'm not too worried about that.. LOL. i already smoothed out the exhaust sides so i guess i'm half way to what i need to do.. do we just need to smooth everything out real good and get rid of the restrictions like the lumps and stuff that are in the runners or is there more that needs to be done? i know i spent a solid day just trying to smooth a couple of the exhaust ports on these things the first time around.. it's a slow azz process for sure..
Porting heads is a funny game. You really can do more damage than good if you just cut without knowledge. I have done several sets of heads, and thought I knew what I was doing, until I got involved with GTP-Racing here in Houston. Craig has been doing heads for 22 years and has forgotten more that most people know.
Not a lot can be done with the 7.3 head intake side with out major surgery, but he manages to get a lot of nice throttle response from the heads he has done for DI Performance. I am sure he did the ones on Danny yellow truck.
I do know that if you mess up the intake side, you can screw with the built in swirl and then that helps to promote lots of smoke.
Cylinder head work is kind of one of the Black Arts.
Could you go into this a lot more? I have often wondered if my heads were over ported on the intake side and were losing swirl. I had smoke and response problems for a long time although w/ my current set up I definitely don't.
The intake port is the restriction. The exhaust port is a perfect straight shot so I wouldn't waste time w/ that.
What I can tell you is there is a weird dude that sleeps all day and ports all night here in Austin and is known for excellent work. He does all of my bikes, ceramic coatings, and he also does diesel heads. He also does most race shops in the area's stuff.
People that have seen my junk said "man that is good" but it's not cheap although maybe it's cheaper than other guys. He quoted me a grand and regretted it after he had to remove 10# of metal. I tipped him 2 bills because he accidentally undercharged me.
Here is a pic of my intake port if you want to compare.
How much did he weld back in? The area in front of and behind the boss is in ? IMO. Not judging his work but I wonder why he killed the aproach and return.
Head porting is not the same as wood carving. You don't start with a blank canvass (unless we're talking fresh aluminum castings). The shape of the runner promotes flow, not size. I would be sick if someone took out that much wall/floor/cieling out my heads, unless there's 10lbs in the VGB's. Something to remember also is the E. port is subject to the manifold, the flow is the key. If the size of the E. port is enlarged without any mod to the mani the flow gets stagnent and creates more heat but less movement. A welder is as needed as a grinder here.
You can take this FWIW because while I've ported/epoxied many heads, I haven't ported 1 set of PSD heads. I can tell you that very few of the NA rules apply here, like flowbenches.
10 lbs is a big pile of dust I bet....looks good.
I takked to machinist on here and there was a lot more to it then I had expected.
Though that was doing an all out job, and figuring in high temp valves and hypermax springs. Not sure we even got to what gaskets to go back with either.
I will go pick the Headmasters head on Monday. What I know about it after working with him, I find that my factual knowledge of the cylinder head porting subject would fit on the end of a very small pin being written with a large crayon. On the other hand he he knows far more that anyone I have met before and can back it up with customer bases and good info.
Joe is a pretty savy guy. I grew-up watching him kill with factory Olds big blocks. That said, it sounds like someone was writing his ideas from memory rather than quotes.
i will have to try to read that link at work tomorrow. For whatever reason my computer will open PDF's for a split second then it disappears.. When i gut the heads again of the springs and valves i will be wanting to port them some more. the dang things are just sitting here. i had them done a few months ago, but they just sit here waiting on me to quit being lazy. LOL So i thought while i'm being lazy about it i could make them better by porting. after that these heads should be about as good as they get i guess. thanks for the posts so far guys. can't wait to read through that link tomorrow.
Well i finally got to read the link posted on the last page. very good read. wish i could afford to get him to port my heads. LOL
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