Well, I look at a lot of performance stuff, even for cars I don't own or ever want to lol. I was checking out some Volkswagen 8v sites, I noticed a lot of stuff about doing your own porting...it seemed like something to tackle at home. These 8v guys seemed pretty into it. Supposedly you can get decent effects without a flow bench as well, basically just by making stuff smoother. I think I might give this a shot on an old 22R my neighbor said I could have for free if I take his truck off his lot hehe. The frame is dead but the engine is still strong at 240k miles...I may pull the head and see if I can figure out how I would go about polishing it with a dremel or something. If it works, I can do it to MY truck hehe. I'd also like larger valves if I can find a machine shop...

 

I have thought about it myself, but too :chicken: to try it on my cars.. Let me know how it works out.

 

Use caution when messing with the intake runners/head. Turbulent air is necessary for proper combustion.

When I do the header install, I am going to do some smoothing of the exhaust ports. Good idea.

 

Places like eastwood sell DIY port/polish kits, with everything you need except the Dremel.

I'm going to try it on a ford V8 engine I have in a beater truck I inherited from someone who owed me money, since I'm stripping the engine anyway.

Be careful however - I have heard of people who don't know what they are doing that actually do more harm than good. There is a black art to this stuff. Also flowing the intake in moderation can be good, you do still want turbulent air but you can (if you know how, which I don't) increase the flow rate - this is the "black art" part of it, knowing how far to go without going too far...

 

My dad did a port and polish job on an old snowmobile I used to have with excellent results. He just used a dremel and winged it. Be a bit different with a truck engine though.

 

Okay this is sounding encouraging...I am definitely up for being a guinea pig...it's time to give something back to the community hehe. Any hey, free engine! lol.... anyway I am doing more research. I'm a very very "hands on" person...I have a much easier time figuring stuff out if it's in my hands. I will try to get the truck moved this weekend, so I can pull the head and see what's in there....

 

Go man Go make sure and post some results!

 

Anyone have an idea of how to measure results? I don't have a flow bench or anything like that...and the pickup isn't driveable, really...

 

The guy that said its a black art is right on the money. It absolutely does take experience to do it correctly. If you do it yourself, remember it is better to UNDERDO it than OVERDO it. I have watched people put HOLES in their runners/intakes with a dremel on accident from taking too much out. Go for more polishing than porting if you know what I mean. Aluminum is like butter to a dremel tool hehe gl

 

For example, the B18C5 (Integra Type-R motor) which has its intake and exhaust ports hand polished. And we all know how much power Honda can squeeze from such small displacement (S2000, 240HP, 2.0L). Its most definetly an art. In order to get good, you may have to destroy a few heads in the process. You can get them free at speed shops that do swaps, they usually just throw out all the old motors anyway.

 

I've done the polishing and porting on my V6. It worked and it provided more horsepower and a smoother runnin' engine. And more fuel consumption.:pat:
But two weeks later the igniter failed and this caused a large hole in one piston.
I don't know if the porting job had anything to do with the ignition. Before the engine was running without problems, only the occasional head gasket.
If anyone wants to do this also I suggest you play it safe and stick to removing only a small layer of material and start polishing rather than just 'diggin' in.