Okay, so I'm porting a set of LT1 aluminum heads here using a round file that I ground in half and an electric drill. Its actually working surprisingly well. Time consuming though!

Anyways, I was curious if its worth it to polish the ports and bowls when I'm done, and how to do it?

 

No, the only part of the head that you want to polish is the exhaust port. A rougher finish, around 80 grit or so, is more suitable for the intake port and bowl so that the incoming air/fuel charge gets thoroughly mixed up before entering the combustion chamber.

 

Ah okay, so what type of bit should I get to polish the exhaust port? Would I be able to get the part from somewhere local?

 

Dude, the best thing you can get is a set of sanding rolls from Standard Abrasives. I used that to clean up my intake/bowls and exhaust ports. They have all kinds of grits in there. Like said the only thing that needs to be "polished" is the exhaust port and combustion chamber...

Have you ever done this before?? Know what you are doing? Read up on this at all? If not you stand to hurt more than help if you try to do too much...

 

Try using an air nibbler

 

pollinshing the combustionchamber in my opion is worth a bunch, but I do not know what to do as I have heard that if you polish the chamber you better know what you are doing or the flow can be messed up. Maybe what i heard is BS

I don't know for sure

later

rk

 

Follow that up with a coat of Zaino?

 

Follow the link at the end of my sig, it has lots of pictures and will answer all your questions.

 

Cool thanks, I had skimmed through taht thread many times in the past and I've read many other articles on DIY porting. I'd say I'm doing very similar to what you did except the valve guides protrude quite far into the bowls on these LT1 heads. In either case, I'm working to fix that and smooth everything out...that's my goal, just to smooth everything out. I'm not trying to change the shape of anything except the material around the valve guides.

Just didn't know how to pollish

 

Some places don't polish the exhaust, they just leave it with the carbide cutter's finish. Polishing does look nice but if you get a good surface finish with the cutter you might find that it will be good enough. Basically, you don't want to leave any indentations or gouges but rather want a fairly smooth and consistent finish throughout the port, bowl and chamber.