is it really worth the 3to400 dollers to get ur heads ported and polished?

 

depends which heads youre talking about and if youre going to need new valve guides, seats on top of that amount. if you cant afford aftermarket then most likely as long as you dont need said above then yes, and as long as the heads are decent. also you can DIY for a lot less just takes time and patience.

 

Agreed. I'd emphasize the "decent" part.

If you have decent factory heads, then I'd say it is worth it to port them, but not worth it to have them ported.

 

i agree id assume you have 081 from your profile there. fbird88 has been getting great results out of these heads so as long as no work needs to be done on them then id say DIY porting would be great. the exhaust side will need most of the attention on those heads. its really easy to do just takes time.

 

Being a professional cylinder head porter. I will give you my point of view.

If you have a decent set of castings to work with, as was stated above, it is worth every penny to have them ported. Efficient cylinder heads are the best thing you can do for your engine from a performance and efficiency standpoint. With the proper cylinder heads, you are looking at a win win situation. There is no trade off. Gains are across the entire rpm range.

As far as the diy operation, this is where I greatly disagree. I have been working with performance engines for 20 years. I started with the diy porting myself and thought my gains must be tremendous. Through the years, I read everything I could get my hands on and eventually even went to a cylinder head school. Looking back, I know for certain that the work that I did 20 years ago wasn't worth a crap, in fact, I may have made them worse. At this point I have many formulas and calculations that I go through before I even start on a set. This is because I want to know just what the engines demands/needs are.

Most of the diy's, address the wrong areas, and even if the do, it isn't right. If you are even thinking about spending much time at the gasket openings, you are off on the wrong foot. Little or nothing to be gained there.

I have flow test many guys personal work, and they are ALWAYS disappointed with their before and after results. That is, unless they have a lot of experience.

The flowbench is an amazing unit to work with. One of its greatest attributes, is learning what NOT to do. There is so much to learn with head porting. I'm not saying you cannot make improvements. But without the help of a flowbench and several junk castings, I don't expect that you will gain much.

It is very true that you can gain 10-15% just from bowl and guide work. But this work must be spot on to get that much. Another very tricky area is the short turn. It is VERY difficult to get this part right even with years of experience.

I have a couple of good recommendations. 1- Send them to a professional. For 500-600 you should have a bitch'n set of heads that will add 50 hp/tq with no downside whatsoever. 2-Send one head out, have the professional do one cylinders intake/exhaust/combustion chamber. Then you will at least have a blueprint of what it should look and feel like. 3- Do it yourself, but at least find a flowbench in the area to check your work.

If you are really into learning, go with #2. You will learn a lot.

If you into the most performance, go with #1.

If you are into the least expensive, #3 is it.

I myself, charge 500.00 for my street port. This addresses the ports weakest areas, the bowl, short side radius, and the push rod pinch. And another 150.00 for a good competition valve job. Beyond this work, it starts into the law of diminishing returns.

I am not trying to sell you work, as I have plenty. Just trying to steer you in the right direction.

ARN