It's Free and I Hate it! *Works on Any Engine 

When porting my best tip is have a vacuum running to keep the shavings out of the way during the porting. Just stick it on the back side to keep the port clean to see what your doing

We were a Pontiac family and porting the exhaust side of a Pontiac head will make HUGE changes. I'm loving this build.

Also, after gasket matching the ports, always make sure that the intake port is smaller than the head port. So long as the intake port is slightly smaller than the head port, you build what's called a reversion dam. Any supercharging effect that may possibly happen from the mass of air traveling down the port, when it tries to revert from bouncing off of the piston when cylinder pressure rises or off the back of the valve, this reversion dam will keep pressure in the port. When you go to install the intake gasket, make sure that you glue the gasket to the cylinder head. You can do this with 3M spray adhesive. You don't need to cake it on, but you do need to put a thin layer of spray on the gasket and on the cylinder head. Also on the intake manifold side of the gasket and the intake manifold gasket surface, put a very very thin coat of Vaseline. This will allow the intake manifold to wedge into the gasket helping to compress it and lock it in place. It will also prevent the gasket from moving where you have it lined up on the cylinder head so it does not become an obstruction in the port. You do not want the gasket to move! As the intake is torqued down, stick a flashlight down the ports and see how they are lining up. If the intake seems high, look at the floor in the port. If it still looks high you can either try a different (thinner) intake gasket. If the intake seems too low on the port, you can try a different (thicker) gasket. You can sometimes use generic gasket material. Trace your existing gaskets on the gasket material and cut them out. Add these new gaskets to the existing ones to act as shims. Some OG engine builder tricks.

I was in high school in 1982. You’re capturing the vibe and keeping it alive quite well. A car like that would have been rare to see anywhere but in a magazine. Thanks for preserving/enhancing it.

Very pleased that you are building up the classic Pontiac V8. Keep at it; lots of Pontiac enthusiasts still around that love this!

wow, that's super generous of butler performance to give you a ported head as a template to follow! Saves so much time cutting and testing with a flow bench

Jesus Christ, that paint job is probably the best thing I’ve ever seen.

Hey Tony, really appreciate your work, style, personality, and the person you project. Feel like i been watching your content forever, in one medium or another, so that's comforting in these rapid pace days. Just wanted to say thanks

You're an awesome dude Tony, I met you at LS East Fest 2019, you're a really kind guy and very very nice to me and my friend Jordan Frank. You're definitely living the dream doing stuff I wish I could do so desperately, I just don't have a place where I can do anything unless I want to lay on a steep hill covered in muddy, dusty gravel which is just a recipe to ruin anything before it even gets built. One day I'll get out of this place and have a garage. I live that you're keeping it Pontiac, just nice to see something a little different. The head porting is great, a dab 'ill do ya though, just a mild job since the blower will be doing the work. It should certainly put 600 to the wheels, might take a dribble of race gas to be safe or some ethanol carbs if you can get corn juice. That car is wonderful, I adore it. Definitely a conversation piece. I have a 2004 GTO 6M that has been in storage since 2018, I lost the engine in a tragic accident, I had just dropped $7,000 into the car. Total heart breaker. I have to assemble a new short block one day and get my cam/headers LS rocking again. Your loyal viewer, Lee Henderson

I recommend grinding off the casting flash in the oil collection/pushrod area of those 6x heads. It will improve return oil flow and avoid any little pieces from breaking off and clogging up the oil pan and pickup tube. Also lessen the likelihood of cutting your finger on the rough edges. Overall.... your home porting gets a grade of A minus.

Legend has it Tony is still grinding on these heads

I knew an ancient machinist who ran an equally ancient engine machine shop. All analog machines, tools, etc. When he did gasket matching he used a Crayola Magic Marker for his “dye”. He also used the magic markers when decking heads and blocks. I guess it’s cheaper than dye.

That paint job is pretty tame compared to the pumpkin my friend drove. He had an orange '73 firebird, hence the name "the pumpkin." But where his paint job went above and beyond were the kick ass murals painted on the hood and trunk lid. The main feature was a topless woman riding a unicorn. The outer edges transitioned from black and gold and i can't remember all the colors before fading back to the orange base color. It was truly one of a kind.

Your videos just keep getting better, your humour and personality really make them great.

Putting together a '68 400 for my '71 Lemans right now. Need to port the #16 heads and was looking at different videos. It's great that I can follow your build as I do my own. Thanks for doing this!

As a Child in the 70's and late 80's high schooler - I saw these cars along the Jersey shore everywhere. this thing would have been all over Seaside heights and Long Beach Island, looking for chics and heading for pizza on the boardwalk. I was the fox body mustang generation that came next but remember this was just fading as a freshman in Middletown in 1986. the Skyjackers! the Cragars! and the long ass hair everywhere. Mullets were staging a coup on society then. good times.

Porting iron heads is a lot of work so it’s always best to concentrate your efforts where the best results are. When it comes to Pontiacs the exhaust side is where most of the power gains are found. Consider the ultra rare Ram Air 2 heads. The exhaust ports are pretty much the same as the Ram Air 4 but the intake ports are plain old Pontiac style and the RA2 cars kicked the butts of bigger and supposedly better muscle car engines.

Porting is like picking your nose. A small amount of material removed from the right spot, can make a noticeable improvement in airflow.

In 1971 I owned a 68 Pontiac Firebird 350 HO 4-speed with 20k miles that had just blown a head gasket. Pulled the heads had them milled 0.020 and spent about 40 hours porting them. Also added Hooker long tube headers, and a Crane hydraulic cam. The power gain was impressive, went from 9.0 ET to 8.1 ET in the 1/8 mile.

6x4,s and 6x8,s are a good choice! For my 1969 406 I got some Kauffman 340CFM CNC ported heads Portmatched with their Northwind intake with a BDQ Blackdiamond 1050. 600+ is more then enough for my old Tempest. Your build is really gonna be great, can’t wait!

White Snake…or Warrant, Ratt, Cheap Trick, etc. I still remember listening to Warrrant even though I was 7 or 8 at the time…it was about as un-PC you could get away with where I was visiting family in Central GA. 😂😂 Cheers y’all! 🖖😎👍

You crack me up. I like that youre keeping it all old school. Everyone does LS upgrades this is a nice change to high school days. Thanks bro

Porting is fun and meditation, hours go by

Over 25 years ago I had a 78 Bonneville with a 400, 6x heads just like yours. Seeing you going down a similar path I went is really cool. I will say after some modifications to the rear differential by changing the gear ratio that tank would embarrass Camaro's, Firebird's, and them T/A'S too!! I also used to drive Dukes of Hazzard style and smoke the county Sherriff Department.

For making templates ive seen my friend use a regular piece of paper. He then proceeded to keep it tight and rub it with his filthy hands which transferred the outlines perfectly. Its a cool life hack that I’ve used ever since, if you want a stiffer template it’s easy enough to cut the cardboard from the paper template

I really got into Heads and Intakes porting and polishing for the offshore race motors in my 1967 race boat. Once you have the tools it's free like you said and the tools are not that expensive. Now I do spring heights, lapping valves, cut the stems for real valve seals, etc, etc. It can be a pain like a 1000 piece puzzle to get started but once you have been at it for a while it starts to get easier and easier as you go.

The dewalt electric grinder is really nice to use because you don’t have to wait for the compressor to catch up and it’s a lot quieter

Real Wankel wizards were the guys at OMC with marine racing engines! Unbelievable work!

In case it hasn't ever been said, I just want to say how much I appreciate your hair style and facial hair changes on the regular, continuing your time from working with Lucky. Combed, not combed, longish hair, short hair, mustache, beard, mutton chops, wolverine. That just adds to your awesome transmission bench pressing and killer work on cars abilities. I think it's your strength, similiar to Samson. So keep doing awesome things Tony!! Love your work Sir.

Love what your doing showing free old power tricks to a classic motor. I hope you show back facing the valves and reversing the piston center pin on the rods and Pistons. My Dad showed me this in the 70s .It's a lost art any more people just let machine shops do it all for them. I'm glad you showed old school ways. Great job keep it coming.

Hey Tony, glad to see you showing the way things used to be when most cars you owned were iron block and heads, also upgrading to aluminum heads were to expensive or didn't exist. I ported 2 sets of early iron windsor heads and those heads need all the help you can give them, couldn't afford the aluminum ones in the 80's. Love what you are doing.

I actually ported the intake on my 2 stroke 250cc. I went all out, carved extra chambers through the sides just under the water jackets, easily doubling my intake volume. The exhaust has the power valves so I figured we may as well even the score.

How does Tony only have 100k subs ??? He’s freaking good..I’ve got 30yrs wrenching and building engines, and I give him a stamp of approval..but porting the heads if that’s what he is getting at as I’m just watching the start, it’s not free, even if you do it your self , it’s not free,..

From Julian Edgar's channel - air likes to stick to smooth corners, air likes to break away from sharp corners. (Smooth out the court l short side and don't sand the long side as much (breaks up the boundary layer). Also, q=va means if the cross sectional area increases, the velocity drops and vice versa.

I am sure Butler is helping you I have one of the 474 stroker. Careful with the cam the lifter ports are notorious for breaking. Also, no matter how you set up that Iron head an Aluminum head done right will blow it away!!!

Hey Tony absolutely loved the series on the TA Can't wait to see it's finished I'm 61 so I had one of those cars back in the day 76 TA With the anemic 400 lol Love what you're doing keep doing you

I use the gaskets I'm going to use as a template, that way you can line up the head and intake and exhaust to be sure you get smooth flow all the way thru. Even the header flanges can use some cleanup usually. The hippie porter I learned from said to think of the air as water and imagine how it flows thru the ports and valve. You would go to his garage in the middle of the night and there would be 2 lights on, his little work light and his weed. Had a flowbench but relied on his vision of water flow the most. I built a 468chevy with a 6/71 and the guy had an "awesome welder" to weld that sump on to save me time. He put it on sideways! 🤯😂. Keep up the traditional, diy, lower buck style. I'm tired of everyone buying power, we used to have to make power and you learned so much more that way.

I did this many years ago, hogged out some small block heads then we open up the valves to 2.02/1.60... wow , this was a game changer. I'm sure i picked up more than 100hp. Just takes some time and patience 😌

Awesome project! I put a sump like that on a fresh tank in my 78 T/A way back when but my welding skills were such that when I put water in to test for leaks it was like a strainer, lol. I had to silver solder over the welds to get it to stop leaking. At the same time I put an Aeroquip "tip over" check valve vent in the top of the tank at the recommendation of our local speed shop engine builder/Guru. I also home ported my 6x heads after practicing on some 4x and getting some tips from the same Guru, never ran them though as my motor had some ported 62's on it already.

The last time I did a port match was in 1998, thanks for the tutorial! This looks like fun. Any chance to get a daughter or two in the shop with you? Mine is nine, and she is my favorite garage helper. She even has her own creeper now.

Decade ago I didn't know what I was doing and did alloy heads on girlfriends dinner table after work for a week. Sandpaper and my fingers did the whole thing. Love alloy. 😂🤞

When I was a young buck I got a Dremel and had my stock heads from my mustang off my car. I ported the intake and exhaust ports. Removed the emission humps in the exhaust ports also. I ended up getting some C-9 Windsor heads and gave my buddy the stock ones I ported. They made a difference over stock on my friends car. I spent many hours porting those heads. It made a big difference in how the exhaust sounded also.

So refreshing to see such a beautiful and truly talented "Alex Taylor" take over the Show....... !

hand porting an iron head is straight up rad!

Love the Pontiac content!! Keep it coming - this is a super cool build.

I think it's only a real man that can make big power with poncho:)

Looking forward to this build. the 80s are right in the wheel house of my formative years. Learned the transfer template trick from my old man about 40 years ago and it has served me well since. One tip…the best material to use is the carton from a 12 pack (or case if it’s a difficult project ) of beer. Perfect thickness. Also learned that the same 12 pack carton makes for pretty good gasket material in a pinch.

It reminds me old days porting 2 stroke motorcycle inlet manifolds and cylinders ....by hand when I was 16. Hated the process but gains where noticeable. If I only had rotary tool back then

Back in the SD-455 era I had some SD-455 heads those were the best Pont cast iron head to be had. On that head Pont would drill the push rod guide hole to where a steel tube could be installed. Then the intake runner on the push rod guide side could be ported into the guide then they would press in the tube. That would really open up that intake runner that's one of the secrets of the SD-455 head. That same thing can be done at home on any Pont V8 head.

The comment about porting heads in your backyard with no PPE and smoking a Marlboro is exactly what I was doing when I was 15 in 1984. Somehow I had a set of heads to port for friends and friends of friends, etc every weekend during the summer. I used to get $200 per set which was a lot of money for a 15yo kid back then. Watching this I had a flashback to the taste of rusty iron that always went along with porting...lol Though I will say after geting iron filings in my eye with the first set, I always wore eye protection after that.

Tony! So glad to see that you have a channel. Life is better with you on our TVs

Bringing back some 80s memories. My first car was a brown and gold metal flake 1971 Pontiac firebird 400 I bought when I was 16 in 1984.

Best video yet no LS voodoo magic just good old Pontiac torque magic naturally Aspirated power and you add that blower Well you have an old school monster

A Throwback to the way it was done back in the days and believe it its is a workout in deed....🤘🙂🙏

You have got to love the light metal flake paint Pontiac used ! It kinda don’t make sense because the first big name was Indian names like cheifton . Might have been like a red color but I don’t know why the blue but I always liked it ! Then back when Chevy went to v8 in 1955 GMC was part of the Pontiac garage ! So the GMC trucks had Pontiac motors in them up in to the 60’s ! Knowing this I found a 1976 Grand Prix 63 k miles took that motor put in my 1980 C-10 short wheel base I used the motor and transmission automatic as well . Used the plug and wiring harness just moved a few wires in the plug ! It run real well . I still got a standard shift belt housing for Pontiac-Buick-Oldsmobile because I was going to go standard 3 speed on the tree .

I did my 96 casting and a friend of mine that raced his Pontiac helped me out to guide me , I used a carbide burr like yours

I ported my first set of heads with a Dremel in my living room. (In 1999) Took something like two months. Ended up buying a set of Edelbrock heads for that project and giving a friend those heads. As far as I know they are still out there creating burnouts to this day.

Direct connection used to sell template's. With my limited experience, the roof and bowl's are the important part. The floor has water jacket's and doesn't effect flow as much as the roof where most of the flow is.

Can confirm on the aluminum heads taking a while. Ordered round port 72CC Edebrock Performers for my 455 in March of 22 and just got them in January of 23

When I make a gasket, I usually start with the bolt holes, then I put the bolts in, to hold the gasket in place while I do the outside and inside.

Prototype gaskets have been made that way for a long time now great that your passing the trick on . Bravo

Engine masters did a test on stock, port matched and fully ported heads. Port matched was worth 1/2 the horsepower of a fully ported head. Across the entire rpm range. Totally worth it. You also don’t have to port everything. Look at your entire intake tract and see where your restricted.

I work with a guy that had a blue firebird about the same color as one of the stripes on your car. Hes the original owner and had had it since he was 17. He still drives it to work every day. Little 305 putting in some work.

I’ll never get tired of the movie one liners lol the flow got me

There is a lot of information in this video. Thank you for your time.

Absent head stands, a high bench is brilliant. I picked up a 45" tall used bookshelf for nothing, and just put cardboard on top as a sacrificial layer. A fair amount of chamber blending needs heads stood on end for good visibility and tool control, which is fine. The moment tool control feels weird/hand position sucks... I change the head position

That Firebird has old school roller skating rink written all over it. Bro, your vides are amazing. I love this channel

I've been wondering what happened to this guy! So cool to find him again ! !

Exact same heads that are on my 77 Trans Am 400. I’ve been told they’re desirable good heads. Thanks for fortifying this 👍👍

Nice episode, Tony! I strangely like the methodical work of porting heads. Cast iron, however, is its own animal. Good work; they look sweet, dude! Have a good weekend! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦

I’m having flashbacks to 460 and 454 cast iron heads I’ve done over the years 😂 always dread it, never regret it ✌🏽😎

I had a 76 TA with the same blue velour seats and headliner. Fun car to have at 18.

One of my ex work colleauges did a home porting on the heads, inlet manifold, fitted a fast road cam, skimmed the heads and ballanced the pistons. The wheezy Ford 2.8 V6 came to live from 135hp to about 200. I fitted headers, hotter spark plugs, 8.5mm spark wires, converted from points to optic ignition, penzoil oil, Motorcraft oil filter and 38 DGAS Weber carb. Stock Capri with the 2,8i engine (160HP), did the 0-62 in 7.9 sec, but with that engine I clocked mine at 6.5 sec 0-62mph. I sold that engine with my car, but I do have the oppertunity to buy the engine back if I want to. People is told you can't get more than 180 ish reliable horsepower from those. That's crap talking! Another note, the euro 2.8 has siamese ports (2 ports at each bank), vs the US one has 3 ports (2 of the ports are together, which is a bit waste in my opinion). But the clue the euro heads flows better and the US heads are prone to cracking. And if you are using US heads you have to use the inlet as well. Same goes for the euro spec engine. I have never cracked a head or heard anyone that have a engine that did that, so I belive the euro version is much better.

I've been porting heads for over 40 yrs, and have had a flowbench for nearly as long.... vids like this one keeps me busy fixing all of the hacked up shit found at swap meets. ..

Tony, tool tip for you, wrap the magnet with cling wrap or a thin baggy, makes it a snap to clean really easily.

I learned to do that in 1979 on board the us Johnston in the back Basin in Philadelphia naval base

Youre on of the reasons I got into rotaries back in the early 2000s. Would love to see you dive into a rotary build again. I understand if you're passed those nightmares now though 😂

Love that your still slamming out content! Just ordered a shirt hopefully it helps keep the content flowing and hopefully your family is doing well! Much love man.

I just want to add to the tooling discussion. You NEED a real strong compressor for this kind of work. LIttle things like die grinders and D/A sanders take a lot of air volume, and honestly, it's the amount of time on trigger that makes them top draws. 60 gallon air tank with a DUAL STAGE compressor is a must have. Get a BIG regulator, at least 1/2", I prefer 3/4" to 1". set tank pressure to 150-175, and regulate it to 90-120, depending on your tool needs. If you're not up to task on the compressor, invest in a good 110volt die grinder. Die grinders on a small or midsize compressor is miserable.

There's more to it than just increasing airflow unless it's a direct injection engine. It's not hard to really foul up flow and mixture distribution at low throttle openings or low RPM by just hogging out ports. If all you're looking for is high RPM full throttle improvement and don't care if it works on the street, then by all means just hog em out. In almost all cases a good three angle valve job has no negative effects and does work. In almost all cases port matching has no negative effect and does work.

Butler performance is literally 15 minutes from my Dads house. 25 minutes from mine. Jim, Rodney & David

Can't wait to see it completed. My 455 has a set #96 heads that are ported and have the center heat xover filled with aluminum. They work well, but sure would like a nice set of cnc butler ported heads at some point. My 96's have the 2.11 1.77 valves and give a 455 around 9.2 comp for pump gas! The heads are lookin good!

Been porting heads for 35 plus years first set was with a dremel took forever.. then upgraded to air powered with carbide bits that can actually cut a head into 2 quite easily. Then purchased a $40 long shaft electric cheapo die grinder off amazon and made a rheostat electrical speed controller for less then $12 so the speed of the die grinder can be infinitely adjustable making it perform exactly like a $400 name brand die grinder. this saves wear and tear on your air compressor because porting takes a LOT of time

Great video. You are a master of simple explanations. One thing I could suggest to help with control and fatigue build an arm rest that you can lay your arm against to steady yourself and give you leverage instead of just hanging it out in mid air. Great edit and fantastic content. Thanks for sharing Tony!!

Did this to my old jeeps 4.2 head. Made a big difference in bottom end power. And it used less fuel which was an added bonus

Sweeeeeet. There's not many cars made after 1974 that I dig. You got a steal on this beauty.

Im working on my boys 81 firebird with a 75 400 6x heads as well. While hes in cuba on military deployment. Its gonna be a surprise. So watching what you're gonna do is gonna be helpful. Thank you👍

i drove to Ohio from Missouri to get a set of X heads off a 340 Dodge engine to put on my 360. i did all the porting and opening them up myself, it sucked but was way worth it. crazy how the engine sounded different with the bigger heads.

I use angle die grinders often as they feel more natural in hand for controlling the bit, Unable to do such work anymore so I watch you guys for entertainment ...Thanks!

Wow when i saw that transfer i was like woah!!!! Never thought i would take it that far!!!

You are so funny. I remember watching my father do this in the backyard on a Pontiac Firebird 400. Crazy power.

Speaking of angry Doritos, One of the coolest vids I’ve seen lately is one of RE Amemiya’s Ame-son porting and putting together a 3 rotor genesis, the cameraman made him mess up and he had to throw the side housing away lol

Awesome episode, I did this to my 383 stroker, brand new vortec heads and rpm air gap intake, it was scary but worth all the time, eagle rotating assembly is great for the money… my engine rips, just need to swap the th350 for a tkx!

For porting work a Dremel can use a cable from the tool to a Chuck that is about the size of a sharpy or fat pencil. It would be easier to used than holding a big tool. The one I want is sold by Micro Mark. It’s a large motor with a long cable. The motor hangs from a stand and the piece you hold is just like the cable attachment for a Dremel.

I put Rotary in the same category as 2 strokes. They become very wild for there size and make outrageous power but are very temperamental

Those are good heads for the street, especially with the blower, the Edelbrock heads probably don’t flow much better than a ported set of 6x heads, especially at the lift numbers on a street blower motor. I’m using the 6x 4 heads on my 455 with hydraulic flat tapped cam, the best part of the aluminum heads would be the weight savings

I would recommend mocking up the heads and intake on the finished deck of the block you are using prior to port matching. It's amazing how much mismatch to an aftermarket intake can exist and still bolt up. I returned a couple of Team G SBC intakes because they were so trash in alignment to my Dart Iron Eagle heads.

Can't wait to see this against Mike's Rubber Duck, or maybe the Crusher Camaro. It will be a good show anyway you look at it.

Oh wow free horsepower! that sounds awesome! let me just go get a fully-equipped shop real quick.

Hey Tony, love your channel!!, I miss you and Lucky doing your shows together as you boys cracked me up when working together!!!