25THRSS

Is it worth it to buy the deluxe porting kit? Anyone have one?

shawn87gta

iTrader: (1)

In my opinion, no. I bought one when I ported my heads and I didn't have enough sanding rolls to finish. I think you can do better by buying a couple of different shape/length/grit carbide bits then buy your sanding rolls and flap wheels separately. The carbide bits last longer and cut the metal quicker. The sanding rolls are good for finishing the metal but not as good for shaping/removing metal in my opinion. Unless you buy a couple hundred of them and change them quite often... But a $15 bit will last far longer than $15 worth of sanding rolls. I would also recommend buying an electric die grinder vs pneumatic, unless you already own or have access to a large air compressor such as used for spray painting. I have an old compressor with a fairly large tank and it can't keep up with the demands of running a grinder. This means that I have to frequently stop & wait for the compressor to catch up, ultimately resulting in porting work taking much longer. One of the smaller ~$300 compressors will most likely not fit the bill for this. I just had the same conversation with a friend, his wife bought him a $79 air-tool kit with several different tools and he doesn't even own a compressor - go figure. But he was talking about buying a small compressor to do some porting work and I told him don't bother, go buy electric instead. The results would come faster and be more consistent as the speed of the grinder would not constantly be changing as the compressor loses air then catches back up. Not to mention the ungodly noise of a compressor running all day long...

Sitting Bull

No, the SA kit is not worth it.

Follow the link at the end of my sig for the lowdown.

AllGoNoShow

Where do you guys reccomend to get the individual sanding wheels just to clean up the ports from the carbide bits'? ANd can you also buy flapper wheels individually? What is used to get the mirror shine on the exhaust anyways(just a fine sand paper?)?

Thanks for the help.

shawn87gta

iTrader: (1)

I get sanding rolls at a shop that sells a lot of auto body-related supplies. I have also found them at an air tool shop, and I think Harbor Freight might have them but I'm not positive, it's been a while since I bought any. As far as flap wheels, I don't recall seeing a whole lot of them in the stores but I think you can get them from Grainger or McMaster Carr. They have quite a bit of this type of stuff that you may not normally find in stock at a retail store. You may want to just get the highest grit flapwheel you can find and stop there, or even just after the sanding rolls. I think I was able to find 120 grit rolls that left a decent finish and 80 grit for removal of grinding lines/final smoothing. You can get by with just the higher rolls but you'll use a few more of them, of course. Another trick I use is to save the 120 grit rolls at about the same point (you'll see the suface finish start to change), then go back afterward with these used rolls. As the abrasive degrades they effectively become a higher grit, just do your final shaping with new rolls then polish last. I've also wrapped pieces of a towel around the sanding roll bit and put some polishing compound on that - I get "creative" sometimes - and used that with decent results. Homemade flap wheel. It is messy... But will that make a performance difference, or is it just obsessive behaviour...?