Best cylinder head mods for stock heads

[usetaboost]

What's worth doing and what's not? Don't plan on going any faster than high 10.

 

[Sal 87WE2]

Wondering the same thing myself...

Subscribed.

 

[RegalT-type85]

I would think a DIY Port and polish job and adding bigger valves(if thats a DIY thing) should be. The 100lb spring swap out is always great update.

 

[Just a Six??]

Just get a set from Champion & its real easy if the wallet can take the hit.
Otherwise, your local Buick shop or even a board member may be able to do it for you a bit cheaper. I know there were a couple guys doing them.
There is a local here that for just porting (machine shop does the bigger valves) charges $400-$500 for a good job. Add valves, machine work etc & your into $1100-$1200-$1300 anyways. Champions are CNC & $1500. Choose your poision.
You can also find a good used set like I did 7-8 years ago ($800) that are the same as Champion (ferrera oversize valves, flow sheet blah blah blah) but I got a deal being they were used & from a friend. Cleanup with Beehive Springs & cut for roller 2-3 years ago for $200 & I'm happy with what I spent in total. If your not in a rush post a parts wanted & see what comes up?

 

[bison]

I posted about this b4. Stock valves, a good valve job, and about an hour or grinding and a few sandpaper rolls will net 90% of the gain. Big valves dont do dick. Neither does porting for your goals.

 

[jdpolzin]

I posted about this b4. Stock valves, a good valve job, and about an hour or grinding and a few sandpaper rolls will net 90% of the gain. Big valves dont do dick. Neither does porting for your goals.

What if you had a choice between two different set of heads, same price. Which would you choose:

Set 1:
3 angle valve job
Stock valves
New seals
Guides cut
Comp 980 springs installed
unported

Set 2:
5 angle valve job
Large Stainless valves
unported
new seals
guides cut
100# Chevy springs

 

[Just a Six??]

Big valves dont do dick. Neither does porting for your goals.

He posts no goals that I see??

Why in your sig does it say: NO MORE TECH ADVISE. Please do not contact me unless you have a response to parts for sale
Yet you are in tech??

 

[TurboJim]

Three angle valve job, cleanup and port match is my suggestion on the inexpensive side. 5 angle i understand doesnt give enough surface area to cool the face for a driver. Thats my opinion anyway. Large valve are a waste on a stock bore as the valves are shrouded by the cyl wall. I mean youll realize a gain, but not as great as a multiangle valve job and port match.

 

[Sal 87WE2]

I posted about this b4. Stock valves, a good valve job, and about an hour or grinding and a few sandpaper rolls will net 90% of the gain. Big valves dont do dick. Neither does porting for your goals.

Bison, will the bang be worth the buck or put the money and time spent on it elsewhere?

 

[Sal 87WE2]

He posts no goals that I see??

The "goal" is in his 2nd sentence...:wink:

Don't plan on going any faster than high 10.

 

[usetaboost]

I posted about this b4. Stock valves, a good valve job, and about an hour or grinding and a few sandpaper rolls will net 90% of the gain. Big valves dont do dick. Neither does porting for your goals.

I did a little searching before posting this. Didn't see much but some home porting threads which looked like a waste of time. Thanks for posting Bison, much appreciated and I welcome any more suggestions.

What if you had a choice between two different set of heads, same price. Which would you choose:

Set 1:
3 angle valve job
Stock valves
New seals
Guides cut
Comp 980 springs installed
unported

Set 2:
5 angle valve job
Large Stainless valves
unported
new seals
guides cut
100# Chevy springs

This guys so slick he should be a used car salesman. Wait, he kinda is

He posts no goals that I see??

Why in your sig does it say: NO MORE TECH ADVISE. Please do not contact me unless you have a response to parts for sale
Yet you are in tech??

Some tech advise is better than none:biggrin:

 

[chadly]

There is a sticky in this section that I read some time ago. Lots of good info and pictures.

 

[bison]

He posts no goals that I see??

Why in your sig does it say: NO MORE TECH ADVISE. Please do not contact me unless you have a response to parts for sale
Yet you are in tech??

Dont plan on going any faster than high 10's sounds like a target to me. Therefore his goal is high 10's or slower. Yeah but im not posting any useful tech. I already posted that a few mos. ago on the same subject. I still get many emails and phone calls but i wont post anything ive tested here.

 

[bison]

Bison, will the bang be worth the buck or put the money and time spent on it elsewhere?

I made over 500whp (uncorrected) with stock valves and bowl blended heads on a low compression 234ci engine with a 61 turbo. Some spend over $1k on Champion heads and run much more wheel and cant even get their **** box to make 450hp. Or they cheap out and buy a POS converter and the car is a fvcking turd out of the hole of slips like a bitch up top and kills it. Its worth it if everything else is spot on. Otherwise its a waste and the car should be left alone. They would be better off buying some c16 with the $.

 

[turbofabricator]

First off, porting a cast iron cylinder head is a DIRTY, DIRTY job. You will NEED a good electric die grinder of high quality. Makita makes an affordable one that works great. You need to get a motor controller, or wire in a dimmer switch to control the RPM of the grinder. A few carbide burrs in 6" shank (4" minimum) I usually cut the shanks down on my double cut burrs to 4"-5" to help control wobble. Eye protection, and a dust mask and a vacuum running all time to help control dust.
Have a valve job done with a good three angles on the seat. Then dyekem the valveseats and lap the valves for a good visual of the lower angle. Open the valve bowls up while leaving a .125" wide lower angle remaining. On the intake, shorten the valve guide about .30" and shape the leading edge of the guide into an airfoil. Radius the back side of the guide on the biased side (the widest area along side the guide) into a good radius, as the air wants to go around the back side of the guide, so let it. Straighten the port walls and open the inlet of the port to match the gasket. Open the port up all the way at the pushrod pinch. (stock intake gasket, NOT 1200 FelPro) widen the port floor on the short side radius, but do NOT completely remove the hump in the short side corner, just put a nice radius on it, and continue with a nice radius into the valve seat. Raise the intake port roof about .125", too. Grind out the head bolt bulge on the port wall, and clean up all the lums and bumps in the port. Polishing the intake port does nothing for flow, but it does show you where you have low/high spots. This will net you about 85-90% off what an intake is capable with out moving valve centerlines.
The exhaust: Completely remove the valve guide in the port bowl, put a good radius on the short side while widening it about .125" on both sides. Straighten the port walls, and polish. Maintain a .125" valve seat lower angle, too. You can open the bowl up wider under the seat, but be careful, as there is water real close on the inboard side of the bowl, and it is CLOSE on some heads. (ask me how I know.)
The combustion chamber: Polish the lumps and bumps out of it, and smooth to the exhausr valvel seat. Be REAL carefull so you don't kill the valve job. Some guys put a junk valve in place so as not to touch the seat, but I find the valve gets in the way and just use good tool control. (i.e. strong hands and forearms) Mark out the diameter of the head gsket fire ring (use a old head gasket, because it is already pre-flattened.) Unshroud the vlaves as much as possible, but don't go past your scribe marks or you will have to use a larger head gasket. (felpro 1026 for example, or Cometics)
Grind the side of the rocker pedistals so you can install roller rockers, too.
Hope this is what you are looking for. BUT.....if you have to buy the tooling, it will cost you about the same as buying a real nice head from someone.
REad ALOT about flow dynamics prior to starting, too. speedtalk.com is a good source for reading for HOURS.
Good luck, and after you are finished with just one head, you will find out why they cost so much.:biggrin:

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

First off, porting a cast iron cylinder head is a DIRTY, DIRTY job. You will NEED a good electric die grinder of high quality. Makita makes an affordable one that works great. You need to get a motor controller, or wire in a dimmer switch to control the RPM of the grinder. A few carbide burrs in 6" shank (4" minimum) I usually cut the shanks down on my double cut burrs to 4"-5" to help control wobble. Eye protection, and a dust mask and a vacuum running all time to help control dust.
Have a valve job done with a good three angles on the seat. Then dyekem the valveseats and lap the valves for a good visual of the lower angle. Open the valve bowls up while leaving a .125" wide lower angle remaining. On the intake, shorten the valve guide about .30" and shape the leading edge of the guide into an airfoil. Radius the back side of the guide on the biased side (the widest area along side the guide) into a good radius, as the air wants to go around the back side of the guide, so let it. Straighten the port walls and open the inlet of the port to match the gasket. Open the port up all the way at the pushrod pinch. (stock intake gasket, NOT 1200 FelPro) widen the port floor on the short side radius, but do NOT completely remove the hump in the short side corner, just put a nice radius on it, and continue with a nice radius into the valve seat. Raise the intake port roof about .125", too. Grind out the head bolt bulge on the port wall, and clean up all the lums and bumps in the port. Polishing the intake port does nothing for flow, but it does show you where you have low/high spots. This will net you about 85-90% off what an intake is capable with out moving valve centerlines.
The exhaust: Completely remove the valve guide in the port bowl, put a good radius on the short side while widening it about .125" on both sides. Straighten the port walls, and polish. Maintain a .125" valve seat lower angle, too. You can open the bowl up wider under the seat, but be careful, as there is water real close on the inboard side of the bowl, and it is CLOSE on some heads. (ask me how I know.)
The combustion chamber: Polish the lumps and bumps out of it, and smooth to the exhausr valvel seat. Be REAL carefull so you don't kill the valve job. Some guys put a junk valve in place so as not to touch the seat, but I find the valve gets in the way and just use good tool control. (i.e. strong hands and forearms) Mark out the diameter of the head gsket fire ring (use a old head gasket, because it is already pre-flattened.) Unshroud the vlaves as much as possible, but don't go past your scribe marks or you will have to use a larger head gasket. (felpro 1026 for example, or Cometics)
Grind the side of the rocker pedistals so you can install roller rockers, too.
Hope this is what you are looking for. BUT.....if you have to buy the tooling, it will cost you about the same as buying a real nice head from someone.
REad ALOT about flow dynamics prior to starting, too. speedtalk.com is a good source for reading for HOURS.
Good luck, and after you are finished with just one head, you will find out why they cost so much.:biggrin:

Ok SOOOO... Ya wanna do my heads?

 

[it's just a six]

I use this grinder,variable speed Makita, Makita GD0800C 1/4-in Variable Speed Die Grinder

That price is not good,it's just a link.

If you do not know what you are doing with a porting tool, you should not do the porting,it's easy to mess up the flow of a cylinder head.
Just my 2 cents.

The reason people who do see an improvement in there HP is because ,when supercharging or turbocharging ,air & fuel is forced through the cyl heads. Cyl head ports are not as critical.

So if you loose port velocity ,by making the ports too big,you have a blower or supercharger that will fill up the cylinder ports fast by stuffing it w/air from the blower or turbo.

Normally aspirated engines are different,if you mess up the airflow on the cylinder heads,you will normally loose power from the engine also.

 

[turbofabricator]

Nice grinder. I agree that a turbo covers lots of mistakes.

 

[charlief1]

First off, porting a cast iron cylinder head is a DIRTY, DIRTY job. You will NEED a good electric die grinder of high quality. Makita makes an affordable one that works great. You need to get a motor controller, or wire in a dimmer switch to control the RPM of the grinder. A few carbide burrs in 6" shank (4" minimum) I usually cut the shanks down on my double cut burrs to 4"-5" to help control wobble. Eye protection, and a dust mask and a vacuum running all time to help control dust.
Have a valve job done with a good three angles on the seat. Then dyekem the valveseats and lap the valves for a good visual of the lower angle. Open the valve bowls up while leaving a .125" wide lower angle remaining. On the intake, shorten the valve guide about .30" and shape the leading edge of the guide into an airfoil. Radius the back side of the guide on the biased side (the widest area along side the guide) into a good radius, as the air wants to go around the back side of the guide, so let it. Straighten the port walls and open the inlet of the port to match the gasket. Open the port up all the way at the pushrod pinch. (stock intake gasket, NOT 1200 FelPro) widen the port floor on the short side radius, but do NOT completely remove the hump in the short side corner, just put a nice radius on it, and continue with a nice radius into the valve seat. Raise the intake port roof about .125", too. Grind out the head bolt bulge on the port wall, and clean up all the lums and bumps in the port. Polishing the intake port does nothing for flow, but it does show you where you have low/high spots. This will net you about 85-90% off what an intake is capable with out moving valve centerlines.
The exhaust: Completely remove the valve guide in the port bowl, put a good radius on the short side while widening it about .125" on both sides. Straighten the port walls, and polish. Maintain a .125" valve seat lower angle, too. You can open the bowl up wider under the seat, but be careful, as there is water real close on the inboard side of the bowl, and it is CLOSE on some heads. (ask me how I know.)
The combustion chamber: Polish the lumps and bumps out of it, and smooth to the exhausr valvel seat. Be REAL carefull so you don't kill the valve job. Some guys put a junk valve in place so as not to touch the seat, but I find the valve gets in the way and just use good tool control. (i.e. strong hands and forearms) Mark out the diameter of the head gsket fire ring (use a old head gasket, because it is already pre-flattened.) Unshroud the vlaves as much as possible, but don't go past your scribe marks or you will have to use a larger head gasket. (felpro 1026 for example, or Cometics)
Grind the side of the rocker pedistals so you can install roller rockers, too.
Hope this is what you are looking for. BUT.....if you have to buy the tooling, it will cost you about the same as buying a real nice head from someone.
REad ALOT about flow dynamics prior to starting, too. speedtalk.com is a good source for reading for HOURS.
Good luck, and after you are finished with just one head, you will find out why they cost so much.:biggrin:

I think Ken is trying to discribe what I did. Here's a few pics for you.:biggrin: