Reamer! Speaking of head porting...

[Paul Workman]

Azz ya know, I'm in the middle of a top end DIY porting job. My heads are not getting the full treatment this year (gotta have something to do next winter, right?), so I'm just going to port the first 3" or so, tapering down from 36mm to stock diameter at the valve bosses. And, being that the heads are staying on the engine (read: PIA to get to with a die grinder and burr), and after looking at and measuring a "few" monster LT5 performers, it occurred to me a tapered reamer might be the way to go - certainly more precised and maybe even quite a bit faster w/ little danger of having an "oops" moment?

Yesterday I got a quote for a reamer ground to spec; $395 (call it $400) for one, and it goes down to $240 ea. for 3. Anyone interested in splitting the cost, or mebby renting a reamer, or mebby a "bulk purchase"? I'll post pix later.

Any thoughts?

P.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Yesterday I got a quote for a reamer ground to spec; $395 (call it $400) for one, and it goes down to $240 ea. for 3. Anyone interested in splitting the cost, or mebby renting a reamer, or mebby a "bulk purchase"? I'll post pix later.

Any thoughts?

P.

Ah, U guys...Nothin eh??? Y'all are making me feel like "Mikey"!! (of the cereal commercial - some of us ol phardts remember).



"I'm not going to try it...YOU try it!"
"NO! I'm not going to try it...YOOOOU try it!!"
"I know!...Let's get Mikey! He likes everything!...He likes it!! Hey Mikey!"

Now, I just know there's gold at the bottom of those (head) intake ports. I can just about feeeeel another 5-10 or?? more hp if done right (even if one doesn't pull the heads (read: full head porting job) to relieve the valves, etc.) Most (from what I've been told) just do a bit of port matching on the heads on a plenum/IH (only) porting. Considering how pains taking a taper is to do by hand with a die grinder, I understand why.

The reamer quoted me might just be the ticket, but $400 is a lot just now on top of the rest of my winter projects...Hmmmm....(mulling this one over)

P.

[tpepmeie]

How on earth are you going to prevent the debris from entering the cylinder and contaminating the engine? You are very brave to attempt this on the car. I can't recall anyone attempting such a thing.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by tpepmeie

How on earth are you going to prevent the debris from entering the cylinder and contaminating the engine? You are very brave to attempt this on the car. I can't recall anyone attempting such a thing.

It's done allatime. Typically, a sheet is spread over the entire engine bay, as in a operating theater, except for the port being worked on. The bottom of the port is packed with various materials - sometimes lightly oiled as well - to keep the chips, etc. from getting inside the cylinder. The chips, etc are periodically vacuumed out as work progresses, and after a thorough final vacuuming, the material (plug) is pulled out (in the presence of more vacuum, is a common practice). No biggie.

P.

[8upZR1]

I highly advise you to reconsider your "porting with the heads on" idea. I dont mean to be the d!ck but it will not work out good. You will get some debris into the motor. The power gained will be insignificant unless you port the bowls. Take the heads off and do it right.

[XfireZ51]

Paul,

I did the port match of the heads to the IH with the heads on the car last year. I think Lgaff did also. I used a polyfill material with a lubricant to keep material from falling into the bowl area. Vacuumed the HELL out of it also during the time I was removing material. However, I used carbide burr. You'll find that in order to do the port match, you'll need to take off the material in a "crescent" shape. So the reamer doesn't help. I tapered the primary head port for the first 2-2.5". No problem with the secondary. The 35mm ball dropped a full diameter into the runner,and the 36mm would sit halfway into the runner for the taper. Not sure any more than that would yield significant gains in hp.