The battle to make clean, usable power is won or lost at the cylinder heads. Here's a simple how-to that anyone can follow and duplicate at home using nothing but basic tools and a little bit of time.
Before shot, description of problems, after shot, explanation of what you did and why. That's the best home porting video I've seen. Thanks again Uncle Tony
This is not so much a port, but prep and quality control for a casting that received minimal basic machining, then kicked out the door by the car company that made it. Call this a good cleanup that anyone can do, and if you want to hand it over to a porter, he can concentrate on what moves flowbench numbers. The large wall of casting flash in that bowl is beyond sad: they really didn't give a rip. If that broke loose, it's enough to destroy an otherwise good engine. It makes me think if I went back to the 60s/70s in a time machine [to place a few key rides in the family to enjoy later], the first thing I would do on every car is yank the heads off, and fix the sloppy work just like this vid shows. Could be fun, watching the dealer go slack jawed as I demand heads pulled on a brand new car before it leaves the lot...and I would not budge: no sale without my inspection/cleanup.
*>>>* One other tip I'd give - especially for beginners - is to start with the port areas first to get a feel for how much material the carbide bit removes with every pass you make, and how it "feels" as the bit cuts away material. You really want to get a feel for it before doing the more intricate areas of the bowls. You're learning, so if you make any minor mistakes, the ports are a good place to learn because they are more forgiving of any minor mistakes you may make. Get a feel for how your bit cuts and feels with the ports first before doing the bowls. 👍 That, and wear safety goggles to keep metal debris out of your eyes!
Yes!!! Safety glasses *and* face shield. Those chips fly everywhere. The stronger the motor in your die grinder the more they fly. I had a painful trip to the ER to remove a chip from my cornea. T tried to flush it, brush it, and flick it away by myself, but just made it worse. Even tried a magnet. I had some pretty good wrap around safety glasses, but apparently not good enough in that perfect storm of chips. Next time I'll add goggles or face shield to my list of required PPE.
Man,..Tony you hit the head on the head.. got blowed gasket on a440,67 Belvedere, 452 heads, taking them off this weekend to do what you are doing.l was a little scared. Ain't no more. 64 yrs.old Rebel having fun with it...thank you very much for your help, l try to see all of your videos, you have helped me with several things, thanks again...good day to ya.
I'm impressed Tony..Uncle Kathy and you absolutely killed yourselves Sunday with that marathon build and you're back at it the next day or so? Awesome!
I’m not the machine I was 20 years ago in any way, but I know for 100% certain that stuff had to get done. Two tapered bores, a couple of sticky lifter notes, and sand clogged head bolt threads are all killers.
I want to see that project spin Nick's dyno, this one too! this piston flipped 360 stroke 318 head thing is going to be a little torque beast when its finished. its not going to need much of a cam in there for what he's showing us all in this video.
Tip, if you are grinding aluminum use wax on the burr to keep it from clogging. Old candles work well. Cuts better too. Go for a multi angle valve job, as Smokey Yunick said "the valve is the obstruction in the intake path."
Something else to try as Wax just flings... For aluminum what's even better is a mixture of wd-40/ marvel tool oil and a touch of dawn to make it cling. We use that combo no matter the carbide type when working aluminum.
I have a million things to do and almost lost the tip of my other thumb. God damnit. But tony still makes me want to go out and rebuild my top end for a porting job. I’m on borrowed time my engine had 299k miles when I rebuilt it with new valves and lifters, but camshaft is worn and shows copper. Can’t afford a bigger cam, so might as well increase my duration by cleaning up the meat around the seats. Thanks tony. I was having a bad day
That is not going to help duration 1 bit. Get a good valve job that will help more than anything done here. WIth 300k its probably beat to hell anyways
Learn something from UT every time. I always looked at porting like getting max flow at max lift. Never thought of flow just off of the seat. It totally is like more duration. Cool.
Back in the day as a kid , I'd have pops port my heads. Keep it mild , just like this vid here and you'll be golden. And my butt dyno never lied I could always feel an increase.
@@robertclymer6948 Haha mines pretty old , but I see they have new ones 🤣 I heard that one from my old hs shop teacher almost 30 some odd years ago www.onehotlap.com/2014/05/a-real-butt-dyno-anyone.html?m=1
I can sit and do port work all day long, my old man learnt me young at 12 on small stationary motors then 2st bikes then the good stuff. 30 years later I still enjoy it.
thanks for all your technical expertise! you love giving away tech secrets for everyone to benefit! thanks Tony. you're knowledge is priceless! PS. you know your trade. thank you.
Great video; direct and simple to follow instructions. I used the same Harbor Freight Die grinder and have one suggestion: use a speed control. I bought designed for a router (universal motor) for around $20. This allowed me to slow the die grinder and the difference in controllability and smoothness of cut with the carbide burr was amazing. I made it most of the way through one head before I tried it and as a result the second head went much faster and I had better control. An added bonus was that my hands didn't feel like they were buzzing after doing the second head.
Great stuff Tony, finally been simplified. Surprised to see you so eager to grab that grinder again tho after the worlds quickest port job on the marathon build. Thanks for the videos and passing on your knowledge to others.
Guys please wear eye and face protection anytime you mess with anything to do with cutting or grinding. 26 years in fab and machine shops, and I have seen some ugly mishaps. Including a 24 year old who lost his right eye.
I was once prying with a screwdriver when it slipped off the part and went between my left eyeball and eyelid. I wore an eyepatch for three weeks while it healed.
@@johnwilburn Ouch! Eye injuries are painful. Have had more than enough metal chips in my eyes myself. I posted this comment mainly for the young viewers who may not realize the dangers with cutting and grinding. Chisels and prybars have the potential to be deadly. I've seen a few RU-vid videos of guys not wearing PPE. Even saw one the other day of a guy welding in shorts and flip flops.
Good advice - ! He does put on spectacles each time which would afford some protection and probably ok with the tiny bits flying off, but not as good as complete protection from wrap-around safety glasses. Should also be wearing gloves and hearing protection.
When you're going for economy, it's not about maximum flow, it's more about EVEN flow. The more even the cylinders fire the smoother the engine runs and the more economical it will be. The best way to ensure even firing and even cylinder contribution is exactly what Tony showed here, just form the ports to the shape the casting was intended to be so they are all the same size and shape for smooth, even flow.
@@fastinradfordable I never used the term "blueprinted", which refers to machining the block to exact blueprinted specs... but yeah, it essentially IS "blueprinting" the heads. Professional engine builders might have fancier tools to do it with, but they're all essentially just a die grinder, and they also do it by hand. Mass manufacturing practices cause the castings to rarely come out anywhere close to the exact measurements, shapes, and designs that the engineers intended when they were drafting the actual blueprints. The only way to make the castings match the original design is to reshape them... with a die grinder... by hand.
@@livewire2759 "I never used the term "blueprinted", which refers to machining the block to exact blueprinted specs" LOL - It doesn't mean that at all!! You guys should really read some books FFS!!
THousand dollar port job? Back then probably done by a pro that wont show anyone what they do. Those results will not come with watching anyone on yt unfortunately
The way tony explains things is really good , straight to the point and no bullshit , I have learned a lot from watching his videos , he's a hands on guy who's been there and done that and not a text book expert who has never played with a street car .
I do believe this is the BEST of Uncle T's videos - he addresses clearly how anyone with hand, eye, and brain skills can improve the very heart of an engine's power production. Fascinating, and it shows that Uncle Kathy's lesser half REALLY knows his stuff! Of course, I concur with many comments about eye protection, and I would also suggest hearing protection (piano tuner here). Gloves? Nah... not with this; I'd rather feel the tool here. And we need not worry about Uncle Tony's eye protection - when he sneezes, he probably just holds his nose and blasts metal shavings all over the room.
@@doomman700 lol. I actually found David Vizard through another RU-vidr and that man is on another planet when it comes to making power. His knowledge is astounding.
If you're really interested in engine tuning and building, there's a couple books out there that are very interesting. One is "Tuning for speed" by Phil irving, he was a british engine designer responsible for Triumph's 500 and 650 twins as well as a number of other designs. The other is "Tuning secrets from Smokey Yunic" Both are pretty extensive, Irving's being more engineering, Smokey's being more hands on and a lot of great information on making an engine that will perform and last.
Phil Irving was an Australian, he worked for a while in Britain and when he returned to Australia started Perfectune engineering and Yella Terra heads.
Yikes, can't believe you're die grinding without gloves and eye protection. Those little metal shavings ALWAYS end up stuck in me as painful splinters if I don't cover up. But this was an awesome explanation and teaching by example.
Agree - He is putting on spectacles which would give some protection I suppose but still not safety glasses. He also should have hearing protection along with gloves.
This kind of information is like gold. Some people would charge money for this kind of advanced knowledge. Thank you for your journeyman kind of instruction.
I’ve been doin that since I was 16. It’s nice to see someone explaining how it helps flow. I’ve always ported my heads. It does make more power! I’ve finally bought a set of high dollar aluminum cylinder heads, and they still needed to be “touched up “ . Good stuff Uncle Tony!
This video reminded me of the high performance engines class I had at UNOH years ago. Same lessons I was taught by the instructor and still hold true. Continue to share your knowledge and experience Uncle Tony.
See, this right here is what I was trying to explain to a friend!!! That as long as you clean up the ports, remove casting flaws and make sure the area behind the valve has good flow potential, it would open up some extra power. It isn't just about opening the ports as big as they can go, but just cleaning up the path already provided. And I had experience with that with a high compression Honda B18A1 that started out with just a basic clean up of the intake and exhaust ports, what little work was needed. This said, when the head was fully ported to match the new performance intake manifold... there was an even bigger gain. This said, nothing compares to the now VTEC head on the same high compression B18A1, with its port work done and its performance intake manifold.
Thanks UT, lots of us have been afraid to try this in the past, you pulled the curtain back to reveal the simplicity. Wish I had know this 35 years ago!
im in the same boat 40 years as a specialty machinist head porter hes literally telling them how not to port a head ! i could take a duplicate set of heads and not do like 4 big no nos i saw him do and outflow those all day long ! smooth out the throat he thinks the fuels gonna slide in but its not by doing what he did he slowed velocity down it needs to be hourglass shape with teardrop guides if you dont remove them he didnt even smooth the throat
Fantastic video unc! I’ve watched a few videos on porting and either ended with less of a understanding or couldn’t follow because of the technical lingo. You explain it very well and show your work, I can actually say I learned a good bit from this one.
Thank you for your efforts and time spent in making this video. Very generous and- very helpful. The detail is much appreciated explaining not only the how but the why. Bonus - explaining the tooling and some methods and techniques along with it.
Very informative. I have some years of tool and die training and I feel that will be some help along with being a lifetime mechanic in my next project. I got a 97 Nissan pickup I’m doing a 302 bored to 306 with GT40P heads. My goal is to do exactly what you demonstrated in this video. Thank you for the information! It truly was exactly the information I needed from an experienced person that does hand porting.
I just learned more about basic porting than I thought existed. I'm sure Uncle Tony made it look easier than it is but I'm now happy to try it myself. Thanks.
Thank you uncle tony, its been so long since ive done something like this i needed a reminder because im thinking about rebuilding the 318 in my ramcharger soon.
THANK YOU!!! For explaining what to chop on and more importantly WHY to chop it! First video connecting the dots and why porting makes sense! Thank you
Another great video Tony. One of my friends fathers helped me replace a head gasket years ago. While we had the head off, he did the same thing you just did. He said "we are just cleaning it up". I'm not sure of the horsepower it added but on a four cylinder car there was a big notice in gain when you floored it. I was surprised at the little bit of work that went into it and the big return. Thanks again for a great upload.
“Let your vision be like water making its way through the ports. Grind off anything that is assertive to your flow, but adjust the object impeding your flow, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves into atomized flow of gasses into and out of the cylinder. Empty your obstructions to flow, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a port, it becomes the port. You put water into a cylinder and it becomes the cylinder. You compress it by a piston, it becomes highly explosive. Now, air fuel mixture can flow or it can crash. Be water flowing, my friend.” : Uncle Tony or Bruce or someone I forget
Thanks for that live feed UT! I was really enjoying the head porting footage. This video reminds me of old headbyts YT channel and his in depth explanation and guidance of the why's and how less is more until it's a race motor. Really explaining the importance of low lift flow and the low hanging fruit providing the butt Dyno gains for a street build. I am super excited to see the results. I am sure that the area under the curve below 4000 will be impressive and rewarding. Keep it up.
Thank you Uncle Tony. I didn't realize this would be that easy.. I just started on my 69 273 Dart and even I can handle this. It always scared me but after watching your video it's a piece of cake. 👍
Fabulous tutorial. I've never seen such a straight forward example of how to do a basic port cleanup and what that might produce. I feel confident to try my own now. Message? "Stick to the basic cleanup and don't go crazy. You can't miss. Got it!"
Thanks for making it so easy to understand and not to panic out on details. Follow the Golden rules of keep it simple, upgrading the blueprints a little.
Uncle Tony,thank you for showing me this.well now i was only going to do valve lash adjustment.Down the road i might take the motor apart just to do this.
All this time I’ve heard the term “port and polished” and I finally understand what it’s trying to describe and you said the polish isn’t necessary. I thought it was about making ports bigger but you explain it’s about uniformity to flow more gases through.
Tony thank you very much for that incredible live engine rebuild.i can’t tell you how much i enjoyed it and I’m sorry I couldn’t watch the whole thing there was a duck dynasty marathon on and it was difficult for me to choose but thank you for all that I saw please do another one soon
I always thought porting and polishing a head would be difficult.... it’s one thing I never bothered looking up. It’s one thing I’ve never even been okay trying... But, now I shall practice on some junk gt40 heads I have... get it right so I can put new heads on the foxbody. Thanks tony!
Its super difficult to truly learn, takes many yrs and trips to the flow bench. Smoothing things most times may not hurt anything but dont expect to feel any gain from this.
Cool video on basic porting.65 to 70 percent off performance is found in bowl/throat area 25 percent in the short turn and 15 percent or there about is found in port runner roof like ut says not the floor. vavle percentage when it comes to bowl and throat big is never better it all about mean port velocity. One thing to remember is on intake side the port runner starts a inch or 2 into they intake manifold.happy porting
Men from the boys indeed Sir! Most people probably don't understand how far advanced your "golf ball" reference (in the porting world) was. I always enjoy your videos, Thank You!
Man I really want to thank you for your time in making these videos. Im always doing things on a budget and can't wait to build a street rod. But first I need to get my f350 finished. It has a 460 I tore down. The bearing were wiped with a lot of dirt so I'm see sanding the crank and I found the weak spot is the heads. And if I put a nice RV cam in it the heads will fight me. So I'm keeping the pistons and rings and rehoning the cylinders. Then cleaning the oil galleys and block. Then sanding the crank and plastic gauge. Then grinding the heads and lapping the valves. Anyways thanks again