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
This is my favorite thing to do, especially when porting cast iron manifolds (sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but mainly on turbo manifolds). It's amazing at how well I works.
I fully agree, when porting our 6x4,s I did this vacuum technique with some ear plugs in. Around 1993, it works great so you can see well everything you want to remove and everything you know you should not as well.
Porting the exhaust ports will increase bottom end mid torque numbers… but the problem is there’s not enough cylinder head to port out without going into a coolant or oil jacket.
So I have a question, if I port the exhaust side of my Kauffman heads will that help, how far should I port them. Header gasket match? I don’t want to hit a oil or coolant passage however more flow is very interesting! My heads are CNC ported to 340+CFM.
It was lonely years ago. There were very few of us. But now with the internet and people realizing just how rare birds are there buying then up and creating on line clubs.
I had a 67 Firebird convertible with a 326. I let it go in the 80s, partly out of frustration with aftermarket support. Went to z28s after that. But because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm now working the top end of an Olds 425 for my 65 Delta 88. Still, I have a soft spot for the ponchos. Good memories.
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
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
@@StayTunedTAyea dude I love the steady content from all you motortrend guys. Just normal people with a passion for cars and the skills to make some cool content for all of us to stay entertained by
@@StayTunedTA WOW!!! You have a TA with a ""Corvette Summer"" Paint Job, and you should be very proud of it, due to it's homage to the Movie, Corvette Summer.... Look into the full background of it, that could be a Factory Job, which make it unique....
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
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ford Windsor are really bad. I had them on my 1970 Mach 1, 351 W back the mid 70’s. And unlike today there were NO aftermarket heads forthe Windsor back then. The Cleveland and the FE got all the aftermarket love.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,..
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.
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.
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
The 1976 400 had 7.6:1 compression. All it needed was to mill the heads about .040 to .060 and a set of corresponding push rods and it would wake right up.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
@@StayTunedTA Same for all the block inside, smooth everything to get oil to return faster plus do a very close detailed oil pump inspection to get better flow inside the oil pump housing (or just buy one of Butlers pre finished oil pumps with the double thick bottom plate)
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 .
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! 🖖😎👍
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!!!
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
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.
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 😌
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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!
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. 😂🤞
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.
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
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.
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!
I love this stuff you explain thing to where we can understand how to do it I really appreciate you guy on UA-cam give out this free knowledge it is very inspirational to me and has motivated me to work harder to chase my dreams of having a fab shop I was raised around classic Cars and horsepower but I came into this world in 1988 wish i could have came earlier cuz I missed the cool days but I look forward to reviving some of these old cars too thank u so much for sharing this knowledge.
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!
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! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
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
real reason hes porting the old heads instead of expensive new aftermarket ones ? its his personal channel and it is out of "his" pocket the money is coming from hence the free route. the expensive aftermarket heads come later down the road when he talks the producers into doing an unrelated "pontiac" build using the same style of motor that will fall victim to a cracked block or a thrown rod or something that will total the "motor" at least to the eyes of network producers .. he will then swoop in and offer to remove the engine and discard it .. taking the heads and everything not bolted down and repurposing it for his build here .. wait what ? that never happens ? take a look at frieburgers basement and all the stuff he has acquired from all the car and engine builds over the years .. all that stuff eventually goes somewhere . talk about a car lovers dream job ..they have no business calling what they do WORK about as grueling as hugh hefner dreading going to work every day at the play boy mansion.
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.
@@StayTunedTA That's great! I gave my oldest son his first welding lesson at 6, but none of the other kids were interested that early. My daughter did it the first time at 8. I'm glad you have more time to spend with them, and I hope you all really enjoy it!
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.
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👍
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 😂
Oh cool! Yeah, I'll probably dig into the basement one of these days and see what parts I've got left and build something! Would be cool in the lotus, for sure.
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.
From looking at the videos of the finished head it looks like you can take more off the intake short side radius. The area below the valve seat is not transitioning into the bottom of the runner smoothly. You can take more metal away until their is noticeable point where the runner ends and the area below the valve seat begins.
Butler built my 467 shortblock and i slapped on a set of kre high port heads. Should be around 10.8:1 so i run 93 . Still need a better tune on my holley sniper but already make alot of tire smoke. Cant wait to see yours done
It's been my experience with matching exhaust ports to match the head to the exhaust manifold , there are times when exhaust manifolds is headers don't have enough material to work with a head port that has been opened up to much. I ve found a well matched port of a smaller size if necessary is always more efficient for velocity and scavenge
Porting does nit make "more air flow in and out" that is a huge misconception people like to say, the whole point if porting is to make the air move in and out more efficantly "smoother" and be less turbulant... As fir gasket matching you wanna "Funnel" the gasket opening with a smooth radious and not just hog it out to be that size, if you make the whole port the same size as the gasket then you just slowed down your incoming ait charge. Another VERY overlooked thing people don't think aboutnis the Cumbustion Chamber like deshrouding and make a smooth radious where the air flows around the valves and good valve seat and valve radious angles.
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
I know your expertise is in sword fights but this is a good tip 👍
This is my favorite thing to do, especially when porting cast iron manifolds (sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but mainly on turbo manifolds). It's amazing at how well I works.
It’s worth setting up a fan and collecting bucket. Much less noise and stress.
I fully agree, when porting our 6x4,s I did this vacuum technique with some ear plugs in. Around 1993, it works great so you can see well everything you want to remove and everything you know you should not as well.
Smokey Yunick is the man that started this. Hat's off 🤠
We were a Pontiac family and porting the exhaust side of a Pontiac head will make HUGE changes. I'm loving this build.
They look really restrictive.
@@jcnpresser - Yeah and such a small exhaust valve for the CI.
@@danmyers9372 670 heads would be nice but getting hard to find I'd imagine.
Porting the exhaust ports will increase bottom end mid torque numbers… but the problem is there’s not enough cylinder head to port out without going into a coolant or oil jacket.
So I have a question, if I port the exhaust side of my Kauffman heads will that help, how far should I port them. Header gasket match? I don’t want to hit a oil or coolant passage however more flow is very interesting! My heads are CNC ported to 340+CFM.
Jesus Christ, that paint job is probably the best thing I’ve ever seen.
You should see the candy tangerine orange 3 tone on my Cadillac $20,000
Very pleased that you are building up the classic Pontiac V8. Keep at it; lots of Pontiac enthusiasts still around that love this!
It was lonely years ago. There were very few of us. But now with the internet and people realizing just how rare birds are there buying then up and creating on line clubs.
I had a 67 Firebird convertible with a 326. I let it go in the 80s, partly out of frustration with aftermarket support. Went to z28s after that.
But because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'm now working the top end of an Olds 425 for my 65 Delta 88.
Still, I have a soft spot for the ponchos. Good memories.
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
Butler has been awesome supporting this build! Yeah, this head was cracked, so they had it laying around and shipped it up.
@@StayTunedTA - Get two cracked heads and weld them up and use them...
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
Dude, thanks so much! I super appreciate everyone that has already started to support the channel.
@@StayTunedTAyea dude I love the steady content from all you motortrend guys. Just normal people with a passion for cars and the skills to make some cool content for all of us to stay entertained by
@@zgrecaSame! I miss watching him and Lucky on HRG.
@@StayTunedTA WOW!!! You have a TA with a ""Corvette Summer"" Paint Job, and you should be very proud of it, due to it's homage to the Movie, Corvette Summer....
Look into the full background of it, that could be a Factory Job, which make it unique....
It isn't free over $100 in materials and electricity was a shitload of Labor if you're lucky
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
Real Wankel wizards were the guys at OMC with marine racing engines! Unbelievable work!
Your videos just keep getting better, your humour and personality really make them great.
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
Legend has it Tony is still grinding on these heads
I AM! I literally have to do the 2nd one today.
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.
Porting is fun and meditation, hours go by
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.
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!
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!
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.
Tony! So glad to see that you have a channel. Life is better with you on our TVs
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.
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.
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.
Right on!
Ford Windsor are really bad. I had them on my 1970 Mach 1, 351 W back the mid 70’s. And unlike today there were NO aftermarket heads forthe Windsor back then. The Cleveland and the FE got all the aftermarket love.
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.
Just takes some time.
Seems to take me from an hour to maybe 2 per port depending on how bad they are.
@@MrTheHillfolk Need good bits though. 👍👍
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,..
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.
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.
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
The 1976 400 had 7.6:1 compression. All it needed was to mill the heads about .040 to .060 and a set of corresponding push rods and it would wake right up.
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.
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.
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
Love the Pontiac content!! Keep it coming - this is a super cool build.
Thanks! Will do!
Yess!
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
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.
Yeah, I noticed that in the butler head and planning to do it as well, for sure! I’ll take that grade!
Yeah because they haven't broken off in 40 years but they may break off tomorrow.
Chris Eason probably 90% wont, but why take the chance?
@@chriseason2785 Caustic cleaning or shot cleaning could change their integrity just enough ...
@@StayTunedTA Same for all the block inside, smooth everything to get oil to return faster plus do a very close detailed oil pump inspection to get better flow inside the oil pump housing (or just buy one of Butlers pre finished oil pumps with the double thick bottom plate)
So refreshing to see such a beautiful and truly talented "Alex Taylor" take over the Show....... !
Prototype gaskets have been made that way for a long time now great that your passing the trick on . Bravo
I’ll never get tired of the movie one liners lol the flow got me
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.
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 .
Porting is like picking your nose. A small amount of material removed from the right spot, can make a noticeable improvement in airflow.
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! 🖖😎👍
hand porting an iron head is straight up rad!
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!!!
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
That Firebird has old school roller skating rink written all over it. Bro, your vides are amazing. I love this channel
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
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.
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
It wont freeze your hand with cold air in a cold shop either
@@ericj3112 so true
The promblem with air tools is you have no torque when you slow the rpm down . Electric still has torque at low rpm.
Sweeeeeet. There's not many cars made after 1974 that I dig. You got a steal on this beauty.
A Throwback to the way it was done back in the days and believe it its is a workout in deed....🤘🙂🙏
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 😌
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.
Exact same heads that are on my 77 Trans Am 400. I’ve been told they’re desirable good heads. Thanks for fortifying this 👍👍
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.
There is a lot of information in this video. Thank you for your time.
Thanks for watching!
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 had a 76 TA with the same blue velour seats and headliner. Fun car to have at 18.
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.
You are so funny. I remember watching my father do this in the backyard on a Pontiac Firebird 400. Crazy power.
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 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.
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!
9:20
Hmmm, that's kinda funny.
I could swore the title of the video said "free".
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.
😂🤞
Tony, tool tip for you, wrap the magnet with cling wrap or a thin baggy, makes it a snap to clean really easily.
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
I learned to do that in 1979 on board the us Johnston in the back Basin in Philadelphia naval base
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 think it's only a real man that can make big power with poncho:)
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
Audio is working very well with your videos these days, Tony. Thanks for working on that!
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.
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!
I love this stuff you explain thing to where we can understand how to do it I really appreciate you guy on UA-cam give out this free knowledge it is very inspirational to me and has motivated me to work harder to chase my dreams of having a fab shop I was raised around classic Cars and horsepower but I came into this world in 1988 wish i could have came earlier cuz I missed the cool days but I look forward to reviving some of these old cars too thank u so much for sharing this knowledge.
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.
Love the down and dirty cheap work that makes all the difference
Call me crazy, but I love porting and polishing heads. It’s therapeutic
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!
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! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
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
real reason hes porting the old heads instead of expensive new aftermarket ones ? its his personal channel and it is out of "his" pocket the money is coming from hence the free route. the expensive aftermarket heads come later down the road when he talks the producers into doing an unrelated "pontiac" build using the same style of motor that will fall victim to a cracked block or a thrown rod or something that will total the "motor" at least to the eyes of network producers .. he will then swoop in and offer to remove the engine and discard it .. taking the heads and everything not bolted down and repurposing it for his build here .. wait what ? that never happens ? take a look at frieburgers basement and all the stuff he has acquired from all the car and engine builds over the years .. all that stuff eventually goes somewhere . talk about a car lovers dream job ..they have no business calling what they do WORK about as grueling as hugh hefner dreading going to work every day at the play boy mansion.
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.
My oldest is now 6, so we will get her in her soon, she's definitely excited about it and a brilliant little kid.
@@StayTunedTA That's great! I gave my oldest son his first welding lesson at 6, but none of the other kids were interested that early. My daughter did it the first time at 8. I'm glad you have more time to spend with them, and I hope you all really enjoy it!
@@StayTunedTA you gotta introduce them to Faye Hadley and Emily Reeves and the like. The world could always use more chicks in the garage.
@@StayTunedTA - The magic of videos... we watch you do 2 ports... then come back when 16 are done... LOL !
I have two boys, 11 and 13 now, and have never been able to get either of them interested in the garage…and I have some cool sh!t in there! 😣
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.
I would but I don’t have the blower intake in hand yet!
Gasket matching heads and also intake should take care of that... bolts hold gasket in correct spot...
@@BuzzLOLOL provided holes line up. I've seen some crazy crap where they don't. Should be fine unless very unlucky.
Hey Tony, love your channel!!, I miss you and Lucky doing your shows together as you boys cracked me up when working together!!!
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👍
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 😂
Oh cool! Yeah, I'll probably dig into the basement one of these days and see what parts I've got left and build something! Would be cool in the lotus, for sure.
@@StayTunedTA Rotary Lotus would be sick! DO IT!
Wow when i saw that transfer i was like woah!!!! Never thought i would take it that far!!!
I've been wondering what happened to this guy! So cool to find him again ! !
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.
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
Good info Tony, If it was 1973 again and I knew this stuff I would have one bad ass Camaro!
From looking at the videos of the finished head it looks like you can take more off the intake short side radius. The area below the valve seat is not transitioning into the bottom of the runner smoothly. You can take more metal away until their is noticeable point where the runner ends and the area below the valve seat begins.
Butler built my 467 shortblock and i slapped on a set of kre high port heads. Should be around 10.8:1 so i run 93 . Still need a better tune on my holley sniper but already make alot of tire smoke. Cant wait to see yours done
Motor trend is where I started watching Tony he gets it done
It's been my experience with matching exhaust ports to match the head to the exhaust manifold , there are times when exhaust manifolds is headers don't have enough material to work with a head port that has been opened up to much. I ve found a well matched port of a smaller size if necessary is always more efficient for velocity and scavenge
Oh wow free horsepower! that sounds awesome! let me just go get a fully-equipped shop real quick.
Porting does nit make "more air flow in and out" that is a huge misconception people like to say, the whole point if porting is to make the air move in and out more efficantly "smoother" and be less turbulant... As fir gasket matching you wanna "Funnel" the gasket opening with a smooth radious and not just hog it out to be that size, if you make the whole port the same size as the gasket then you just slowed down your incoming ait charge. Another VERY overlooked thing people don't think aboutnis the Cumbustion Chamber like deshrouding and make a smooth radious where the air flows around the valves and good valve seat and valve radious angles.