How hard is it to port your heads. Any problems or difficulties? My dad said something about running into water jackets. Any tips on what to do or use. I really wanted to get more power out of my 305 and dont have the money to have it done so thats why I thought of self porting. My dad knows alot about cars but has never ported heads and isn't to sure about wanting to help me do it. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Do a search on porting heads. Searchs will almost always answer any questions you might have. Here:https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sea...der=descending .This should fix you up for awhile.

 

Here's another www.sa-motorsports.com

Gotta be the highest HP/$$$ mod you can do..... highly recommended.

 

Porting yourself is easy. You will need a die grinder, the Standard Abrasives Porting kit, and possibly a few carbide cutters (depending on how much metal you need to take out). I'm working on a set right now. You should read the thread by Sitting Bull about porting 305 heads, and read the Standard Abrasives article. You can get the porting kit from Summit, and the cutters from carbideburs.com. Just remember to take it slow and if you run into something, post up here.

 

you come to Iowa I'll do it for 40 bucks (the price of the kit). I'll leave an 80 grit finish on the intake and leave a satin finish on the exhaust ports. I will bowl blend and short angle polish your heads. No pcket porting though.

www.eifba.org

 

I lightly ported my 6x4's and polished the chambers. Found the inexpensive electric Dremel tool was the one I used the most... and a lot of scotchbrite. remove all the casting flash while your there. Umm. Be careful around the valve seats, good idea to set a valve there. Had to have mine recut

 

Go to Barnes & Noble and buy the book "How to Build and Modify Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Cylinder Heads" by David Vizard.

There's nothing you won't learn from that book.

AJ

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

here a pic of my heads before, and after. It was a dirty, crappy, and time consuming. but saved alot of money doing it my self, they should make about 40hp more.

 

here the pic

 

after

 

Now that's what I want — a set of self-porting heads!!!

Seriously though, it's not that hard, buy the Standard Abrasives kit www.sa-motorsports.com and just follow the instructions, they're excellent, and the kit (while maybe not the absolute best possible selection of goodies) is pretty decent too.

 

Yes it that ease. If you don't mind gitting a little dirty. If I were going to do it again i would defently wear a dust mask because medal dust don't tast good , and not to mention that you will be blowing the dust out your nose for a cople of days.
Just follow the instructions provided and have fun. My heads should be good for about 30-40 more Hp and 20-30 more pounde of tork
If you have any Q's just post them or e-mail me at bluedude@hotmail.com. let me know how you made out.

 

Can we assume you're talking about the heads from the '81 van engine in your other post?

If so, don't. Not the right material to start with. Some 416 casting heads would be okay, but not late-'70's/early-'80's truck 305 heads.

 

Here are the heads I did for my car:

 

And another:

 

Last one:

 

Porting 305 heads is not hard. It is hard work and time consuming. You'll need a hi speed die grinder and some carbide cutter bits. A dremel won't cut it. (too slow).
The only area that needs quite a bit of metal removal in the ports where you'll have any chance of braking through is
on the common long port wall in the intake port. Right where it passes the bolt hole between the two ports.
The common wall needs to be "straightened" right there by removeing material This is combined with raising the port roof
all the way from the bowl/ guide area to the port opening.
The other place that needs material removed to improve flow
that might get you into trouble is the pushrod pinch.
All the rest of the port only needs to be cleaned up.
If you do happen to break throu in these two critical areas
you can repair them with epoxy putty.
But there isn't really any reason to remove that much material that you should worry about busting thru.
You need to install larger 1.94 valves to see the effect of the porting you are looking for on these heads.
Get a book by David Vizard, called "How to build Chevy Small Blocks on a Budget"
Everthing he shows on porting the other chevy heads is relevent
to the 305 heads. Best $10 you'll spend on going fast.
Don't sweat over this. You have to grind quite a bit more than nessessary to bust thru. And like I said, its repairable.

Not all the 305 heads are worth the time ,$$$ and bother to port.
The better ones are 416's 601's 450's and 081. (centerbolt TPI head). If yours are something other than these, don't bother, start with a better head.

 

Hey F-BIRD'88 how about the 187 cast 305 heads. Are they all that bad???? I've got 2 pair of these.
Thanks
Keiran

 

I doubt it. Especially on 305 heads. MAYBE 20 HP. (if even that)