This video was what prompted me to have the courage to do what everyone including myself thought I could never be able to do. I had 2 Mitsubishi Eclipse. 01 2.4 at that was wrecked and an 00 2.4 mt that I'd put a valve thru a piston. I stripped both cars to the frame and rebuilt one mt motor and car completely by myself in my gravel driveway. My confidence has skyrocketed and I've gained respect throughout my community because of my efforts and accomplishments. After watching this video I decided since I'm doing this I might as well go full force. So I did a port polish on the head myself. When I took it to a well respected shop to have the valves reseated the owner asked me 4x who did the porting job which I repeatedly told him I had. By the 4th time he asked I was frustrated why he couldn't believe I'd done it I asked why and his reply was, There are grown men, professionals who don't do work this good. He then asked what I used which I replied with a grin...my Dremel! I thought he was going to pass out! So the little blonde who knew nothing about cars and even less about motors has become somewhat of a legend around that shop for the story of my first rebuild and port/polish abilities. And it's all thanks and credited to you and this video. Again, thank you. You have no idea how it's literally changed my life. I'll be a fan forever~ Cyndi
No really... I'm not sure you're seeing the whole picture. This embodies exactly what I set out to do with this channel. DIY's are too rigid. All I ever wanted to make was motivational videos for mechanical people. A little success and confidence only builds more if you stick to it. It's how I started. Your success brought me success. Oh, and BTW, your cover's blown. Now I know who the female is that watches 2% of my videos. ;) I thought it was either my mom and sister, or some kid using his mom's computer. Kick ass!
I'm seriously the only chick?? Whoa. Ok yeah I'll admit I'm a little different. My friends and neighbors all thought I was just straight crazy. Sheer determination is what drove me. It almost took me several times with that project but I had everything invested in those cars. I couldn't quit. I've always been hands on kind of person but never with cars. Didn't care really as long as it got me there. But Ive always been a 3g fan. Love that body style so when I finally got one that was it. Hooked. I'm actually putting it back together as we speak. The Tob had a kaniption fit in the bell housing. So I've learned about manual transmissions, aluminum flywheels and clutches. I put a stage 3 Apex, Fidanza flywheel and am about to add fluids and see what she's got. When I completed the first project with the 2 cars I was so confident I bought another one to rebuild. Lol I'm addicted. I've just got the basics down but I want to learn about forged pistons, boost, turbo...More about suspension...It's a whole new world. People who knew me before can't believe it if they see me now running to a part store covered in grease hahaha. I love it. You've definitely accomplished your goal. I'm now teaching my girlfriends about their cars and how to take care of it themselves. Very powering for a woman. I know more about this car than any of the guys at my local parts stores. Yeah, all the stores. It's a great feeling.
Your videos are very informational and described is what I liked so much. The detail you give of everything you do and the reasons is invaluable in my opinion. Too many try to rush through with the camera all over the place...Ugh no thanks. So when I saw how you took the time to explain for someone who had no knowledge of anything mechanical, it helped tremendously. You're an incredible teacher I must say.
+briansmobile1 Thanks Brian! Man, I'm flattered to hear that coming from you. I may not upload often, but I try to make up for that however I can. This was an experimental P&P method and thus why I'm doing it on the Hyundai head. I'd do the others a little differently. But here's wishing you good health and double the success in 2016! Merry Christmas!
Makes me hard when someone can talk super technically for us more comprehensive folk... Lots of valuable experience and detail spilling out like poetry.
I OWNED AN AUTOMOTIVE MACHINE SHOP BACK IN THE 80'S AND I'VE PORTED SO MANY HEADS I'M TIRED OF IT, BUT I ONLY DID CAST IRON HEADS AND HAVEN'T DONE IT SINCE THE 80'S... YOU DIDN'T GET TO THE VALVES AND IF YOU DON'T POLISH THE VALVES, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER CHUCKING THEM INTO A HIGH SPEED DRILL PRESS AND POLISHING THEM TOO...VERY PROFESSIONAL VIDEO... YOU BROUGHT BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES FOR ME OF ALL THE WORK I DIDN'T GET PAID FOR...
I second that sentiment. I hate the videos where someone is going um um um or just blabbing unimportant crap. The narration was very informative and critical to understanding how to do this process and why it's done.
The pro shop I use has a porting and polishing setup that is hypnotizing to watch. He fills all the ports half full of steel and lead shot and then tapes them shut. Then this machine rotates it in all three axis at the same time it spins between the clamps. He shuts off the lights and goes home while this thing keeps rolling. Next morning he removes the tape and dumps out all the shot. What's left is amazing. Every single millimeter that the shot can get to is smooth and shiny as a mirror. It peens over any casting lines and casting defects. He claims a 30% increase in flow of both air and fuel. But it only cost him about 40 minutes of prep time in labor. The rest is being done while he sleeps. Liked and subbed
Uhhhh...LS7 head cnc porting routinely sees around a 7.5% increase in flow. That's 7.5% using cnc porting. A 30%(!) Increase for rolling some shot through a head? Gotcha. So, if the intake side flows 330 cfm, after his "porting", it will flow 429 cfm? Engine builders have the easiest job in the world. Selling rubes horsepower.
I looked at this video and only intended to skip through it. Turns out that was the fastest half hour of my life and you're definitely getting another subscriber. Great job.
great work, and an excellent tutorial. One rule I always keep in mind is intake port velocity for torque, more port volume robs that velocity, so it's a balancing act from intake gasket to valve seat.The trick is to resist opening intake ports up too much, once it's gone it's gone... best to aim for progressive transition and know when to stop. To make real power, always do your flowbench tests with 50% valve lift, as that's where most of your flow duration occurs. I made my own once with a vacuum cleaner and a manometer, simple but very effective. Thanks for posting.
No matter the real outcome whether it improves performance, I believe that the extra time spent on polishing, leaves a great amount of satisfaction within each individual. ANYTHING worth doing, Is worth doing RIGHT. I really enjoyed the video and the editing. Thank You
5 yrs later I came back to watch this. I followed most of these points and made good power from porting my heads. Even only doing a Stage 1.5 on my J32 made 316/262.....nice gains! Thanks for an awesome video that is still prevalent till this day.
pilzy els I found 80grit, to 120, to 340ish buff wheels like he has is the best combo. 80 to knock the high stuff down and smooth the port, 120 to smooth and 340 buff to polish (with polish compound).. anything beyond that is a waste of time of a Street, even minor track car. I did polish the combustion chamber and ran 100shot of nitrous for 100k Miles. It was very rare if I got any knock
Thanks for sharing all the hard work, editing that much video is a pain! Not to mention shooting it while you're trying to get car work done. 32 minutes and I wasn't bored once, the narration is excellent. Can't wait to see the Hyundai back together!
Thanks man! I was worried about that. I doubted compressing it to 32 minutes could make it interesting? I lost all perspective of what was boring and what was not boring on this job. 'tell ya the truth... having just returned home from the day job on a Friday, I can tell I still haven't recovered. : |
As an engine builder I still smile when I see a polished intake port ! Polishing a port slows down flow, we worked this out in the 1960s , you have just lost power ! Ports are rough cast for a reason , it is the cheap way to induce turbulence in the flow at the port surface , the ideal port would be smooth with small holes drilled about 3 mm apart, just like a golf ball, it is the same principal , a totally smooth ball only goes half as far as one with little holes all over it, the reason being air flow over the surface of the ball , the holes make little vorticies that make air flow more , same as an intake port , sure the factory can cast super smooth ports , but they know they need disturbance for flow.
That awkward moment when a dude uses one of your accounts for a moment, and you get a taste of what "...collect and use anonymous usage statistics to improve our products, and the products of our affiliates'." actually means.
I have just watched this video for the 17th time and cannot thank you enough. You have given me the confidence to get on the tools and have a go at porting some Honda d16y8 heads I have. Keep doing your thing mate, and thanks again all the way from Australia 👍
I'm not sure if the tech mentioned this tip but.....the term blueprint means to make every cylinder the same as that makes even firing and power supply.It also makes an engine easier to tune and of course gives the engine longevity.That means all your port sizes and finishes must be identical.Another tip i learned from a World class racing builder is to match all your spark plug positions.While the head is apart one by one you make sure the spark plug is parked/seated in the exact position.So that means marking them to suit each cylinder.Turbo and supercharged engines are vastly different to naturally aspirated engines also for abovious reasons.This video is insanely good and much respect to the tech.Happy porting y'all.
So I didn't stumble across this I was looking for info on porting and polishing for my 2013 R1...because it doesn't have enough power for me. That's a complete joke, it has more power than I need. By the time I was finished with the video I moved on and watched the seat cutting video just because you are freakin hilarious! Thanks for the informative video and congrats on the ability to articulate your thoughts so smoothly and concisely while having an awesome sense of humor. I am not subscribed to many channels but, yours and Car Audio Fabrication's channel are the two smartest (and entertaining) I have seen. Glad you found your calling of making youtube videos. I truly enjoy it. I have pictures of my wife's stock R1 rims that I am polishing and I open them from time to time when the world is too sad and they make me smile. :-) I polish the dumbest crap just because I can. Lol
Melvin Weeks Hi! Thanks! Welcome aboard! I too am now a subscriber to Car Audio Fabrication's channel because of your tip. Good stuff! R1 not having enough power… lol.
I have now watched this video 3 times, i have never polished metal or anything and i feel as though im addicted to polishing metal already lmao, definitely gonna try my hand at this when the opportunity presents itself. Great video btw
He sounds mad while being happy, exciting, and enthusiastic. His logical and intelligent commentary is the most honest and real world advice you can listen to.
Years back, a buddy of mine had the dream and goal of owning his own Harley shop. He was and still is strictly old school and so he does nothing but custom builds and repairs, nothing new. Well, back when he was just starting out I told him if he needed any help, to give me a call. Two days later, he called. This was back when shop space was still part of the dream, so we worked out of his girlfriend's apartment. The first bike we built was his '79 FLH Soft tail. Well, Harley Davidson, then and now finishes a lot of their cast aluminum components i.e. rocker boxes, primaries, secondaries, brake calipers/master cylinders etc. in a "factory" baked on "wrinkled black" finish. And I'm here to tell you that wrinkled black finish hides some of the roughest casting I have ever run across in ALL of the years I have spent Polishing aluminum.(I'm also a retired general contractor/cabinet shop owner/utility patent holder and won and lost and won back small fortunes over the years) From a soda pop can on my fathers polishing wheels when I was a kid to bmx brake levers/center pulls, dual tunnel rams, Holley intakes, Berkeley jets and many other boat parts...Harley takes the cake. At one point, while working on the rear banana caliper for his FLH (we called it "#1"), I was standing at the kitchen sink (wet) working on the outside half of that caliper with 2000 grit (and mind you, it takes 40 grit on a DA to bust that wrinkle black off, so...) But I was ready to go to Mothers applied with 4 ot steel wool, shut the water off. Dried the part and that's when I realized that I was bleeding through the pads of my fingertips, because I had blown out my last pair of rubber gloves a week back and had not yet replaced them! About then, my buddy arrives back from yet another field trip from what ever swap meet he had been to, buying up any and all used Harley parts he could barter down to almost free (he lives to make the deal)(in ways most can not imagine) but he walks threw the back door, sets yet another greasy cardboard box on what once was a nice dinning table and with a shit eating grin turns to me and says, "Hey Shoe shine boy, what are we going to call the place once we have a place to call?" Shoe shine boy? Where did that come from? anyway, I set that thought aside, looked around me at this once upon a time young lady's clean, neat apartment that now had Harley spread from one end to the other along with roll-a-ways, grinders, drill presses and many other shop like tools super imposed over the top of and blended down into this once nice apt. (I have always picked up after my self. My buddy? Not so much.) We stood facing each other, his grin starting to fade as he waited for an answer from his right hand man recently nick named "the shoe shine boy" of all things. I didn't want to be rood, but I can not be anything but whom I am, so I pointedly looked around the place and then back at my buddy and said, "I don't know...The HOG PEN?" And you know what young man? Now that I am retired with nothing but time stretched out in front of me, I had finally reached that point in life when a man has to ask himself, "What do I want to do?" Well, over thirty years later, come the first of the new year, I am loading up my triple pop-out 5th wheel R.V., hooking my new dually Ford diesel up to said hitch and taking my home away from homes up to the little lake town called "Nice" located around "Clear Lake" in Mendocino co. and parking my shit right next to my buddy's long time established down town retail, wholesale Harley and quad shop, named..."The Hog Pen" where I will happily re-earn a once proud nick name, "The Shoe Shine Boy." And I can't wait! So when you can comb your hair in the mirror like finish on a part that came to you with factory wrinkle black? Look me up...I'll be playing in the hog pen with the big boys! (As a hobby, I also write fiction and don't care if I never get published), but this here short story...is 100% true, on my mothers grave. Take care while making it shine! Peace and cool beans! I'm out. Signed, The Shoe Shine Boy (mic drop.) PS I know it ain't the same as polishing and porting heads, I polished my oldest son's aluminum heads that went on the stroker motor we built for his '65 GT350 mustang. (a very fun car!) And yes it is time well spent. You get out what you put in...I call it the 7 "P's". Prior. Proper. Planning. Prevents. Piss. Pore. Performance...Peace
Back in the mid 90's I ported my olds 455 cast iron C heads for my jet boat with the tools he shows. The die grinder ate so much air I had to run two air compressors in my garage to barely keep up. It took me all winter at night and weekends and even burned through one head into the water jacket. Had to get another head and start all over. It was well worth the time. The machine shop wanted $1200.00 per head to do it. And i'm sure they wouldn't have did as through a job that i did. Everything shined like this video. Running a cheater nitrous system and two 750 holley's with mechanical secondaries on top of an Offenhauser tunnel ram made it flow so nice giving me who knows how much more horsepower. I made many a big block chev mad at me on lake berryessa.
Wow. This video makes my top 3 list. Done extremely well, informative yet kept simple. I'm a 30 year home engine builder and still learned a good few things from this video. I thank you....Cheers, Jim
I'm not a machinist, but I certainly have a new respect for all the hard work y'all do. I've spent years around performance cars, and I've seen the finished products from port work, but it was very neat to see it happening, and Im glad I watched the whole thing. Thank you for taping, editing, and uploading this video. I'm still not going to try this myself.
You documented and Explained what and why you were doing it in easy to understand term's. you took the boredom out of what usually is a tedious job to watch... well done and Thanks I am one more step closer to my PhD in porting and Polish. Now on to the 2nd phase of the course..The hands on part. PEACE and Blessing to you and yours. 2 Million views even if it is 6 years old is saying a lot. outstanding.
first watched this video over a decade ago and it is still one of my favorties on the topic. I referenced all of your Head videos when rebuilding my vr6 and was so happy with the outcome.
Excellent vid, mate, almost made me go and tear up the head off the engine and start working. Thank God laziness won over it! At least for the moment.. Thank you for uploading this!
This is what I call a true bombass job. Took your time. Didn’t rush anything and what results you achieved. Damn proud, damn proud of your work. Looks like something I would do myself. This is serious OCDing at it’s finest! 👍🏻👍🏻😊Most impressive young one, most impressive!
I just got halfway through porting a Mazda Protege cylinderhead using the techniques featured in this video. So far I'm pleased with the results. I dove right in with confidence. This video explains with great detail basics and gives a few tips and tricks. Great video Jafro. Hope to see many more. Subscribed.
@@elic.2443 It actually came out pretty good but I may do another one because the head that I polished had some damage from a failed spark plug. The machine shop said it was repairable but I'm thinking of starting over. Go to my channel to see the results.
This is THE best video i have ever come across on porting n polishing heads. Thank you for posting this. I was planning on doing a PnP job on my heads, and after watching this i am far more confident. Comprehensive, concise, and very well described, explained, and exampled.
A great video and you do professional quality videos. You are very informative and explain everything as you go. You don't leave us viewers saying to ourselves "why did he do that". Thanks for your time and knowledge!!
Thank you so much for making this video and taking the time to edit all the hours of work you did. I found this to be incredibly insightful and very informative and the commentary was great, you really explained things clearly. Awesome job, I'm definitely saving this one to my favorites for future reference.
The arguments of rough vs smooth and turbulence being good or bad are due to a misunderstanding of aerodynamics. There are two main types of drag; skin friction drag and form drag. For something shaped like a golf ball, the dominant form of drag is form drag due to the detachment of the boundary layer. The dimples in the golf ball promote turbulence in the boundary layer which keeps it attached longer. This reduces form drag and thus, total drag on the golf ball. For something shaped like an airplane wing in cruise, the dominate form of drag is skin friction, so you want as smooth a surface as possible. This is why recessed rivets are used on planes; it reduces skin friction. For an intake port, I suspect the argument could go either way. At low throttle settings/RPM, rough port surfaces may help keep the boundary layer attached and increase airflow (and thus torque down low). At high RPM/throttle, the flow may detach anyway and it's better to reduce skin friction. This all would depend on the particular port geometry and engine though, so it's impossible to definitively say one or the other is always "best".
Yup my mind fights itself a lot on this topic my friend and I used to port our small cc 2 stroke engines they were carbureted so to get a better fuel/air mix we left the intakes coarse and everything else as shiny as we could get Seemed to work great but the placebo effect always does hahaha It was fun and I would do it again ;)
Air over air is less turbulent on non polished ports. Polished intake ports can cause air to speed up and bounce around causing negative flow behind the valve. Also important the main purpose of the engine such as drag racing only the roof of the port will flow, sides and bottom port dont factor. The purpose to polish the combustion chambers and exhaust ports is to reduce carbon buildup that ultimately reduces surface area.
Enjoyed your video. I did this when I was 19 and working as a finisher in an aluminum and magnesium foundry. We must have done a dozen sets of heads for V8 engines on our lunch breaks over time. Back then they were all cast iron heads. That was 50 years ago!
I have an old set of knock off weld racing wheels on my foxbody they were hazy and chemical stained but one day I sat down with a mothers power cone for about 7 hours and shined all four to a complete mirror shine. After I saw what I could do I polished my intake and the stainless steel exhaust tips ... I was so proud
There must be professional mechanics out there, who watch this and can't follow! And after all that I hear him mention this is a stage '1.5' porting job, you Sir are a legend. Garages that charge an arm and leg for stage 3 etc... , I can't see how they would do a better job than this full stop
3 things to do.... 1: subscribe to your channel. Done! 2: watch the rest of your posts. 3: do all the stuff you've done on your engine. Goodbye friends, see you all in about 3 months....
Wow man, thanks a lot for putting this up and being sooo to the point. I have a prelude vtec head sitting in my basement with a ton of dremel stuff too, so this is my research part.
Voiceovers are work, man. I hold that as the highest-esteemed compliment from the 1-take master of DIY videos. I've seen you do it more than once. Every time I do, I'm all like... "man how much time it would save editing if I can do that." :) b
I never got crazy results from the heads, but when I polished the inside of aluminum intake manifolds on Subarus, WOW. Every time it's like a different car completely, you can't help but giggle when you mash the pedal.💯
This brought back a lot of good memories, a friend and I would do this to VW heads. The intake was always cast small compared to the carbs and manifolds we used so I finally bought a Craftsman electric die cutter. We would use the gaskets to mark the ports then open them up to size. Then clean up the passages in the head. I would polish the combustion chambers to a mirror finish. I was lucky enough to have a friend with a flow bench. The work was worth it. Why mirror shine the chambers, no hot spots and after a years driving and racing the chambers had a smooth carbon build-up. I left the old valves in the head when polishing the chambers so I didn't booger anything up.
FrostyCoug lol... those aren't for me. They're for the machinists that do all my machine work. Showing up with coffee and donuts is how I get my parts in and out of their shop faster than anyone else. ;) Whenever you see that place roll by, it's foreshadowing to a part being re-engineered to my specifications without showing it happening. I've illustrated it in several other videos. Always show up at the in-laws and at the machine shop with a token of appreciation. :P
***** Boundary layer turbulence is about helping the air make the turn into the chamber itself by keeping the boundary layer consistent throughout the radius of the port itself which prevents the air from "sticking", which creates deeper level turbulence. If you would like to learn more about the topic, it's called fluid dynamics. Not assuming that you don't know about it, just sharing in case you don't. That is why you would want to keep the intake port a little rough. The fuel argument as you pointed out is invalid. It's about helping the air break up and to not be "sticky".
I would say 120, but 80 would be fine, too... as long as the surface is uniform the full length of the port, that's about as much as you can ask for with a DIY job. I say 120 because the texture it leaves is easier to SEE as you're working than 80 is. After you're done with the 80, you'll be able to see where you made mistakes as the texture changes. The sandpaper the 120 grit rolls are made from is thinner and more flexible, so you can actually smooth and reach places that you would damage trying to grind with the coarse grits. Going beyond that anywhere else in the port is splitting hairs for 1-3% potential.
***** I apologize for not immediately subscribing - some comfort at least... I subscribed after watching the second video LOL. Great videos, awesome advice, respect
Blown away. Mad Props dude, thorough with not only what to do but what to look for as you're doing it. So well done, wish I could hit multiple thumbs ups. Crazy good video!
I know I'll never do this to my car giving how I don't have neither the resources or the skill, I still watched the whole 32 mins tho This has got to be the best video I've seen on UA-cam for a long while now!
Your comment is well written and I honestly appreciate your rebuttal. Thanks for taking the time and effort to offer a better explanation....in reading your reply I realize I was the one who should have done more research ..my apologies
;) Just a FYI, my experiment didn't produce any results worthy of accolades or scientific awards. There was a lot of wasted efforts in this video and we both agree on the theories and principles of airflow, I'm sure. Joe Mondello is and will remain a legendary automotive badass!
Thank you for this video!!!! After watching it I did a bit more research and then did a P&P job on my STI heads. It consumed much more time that I initially thought, 40-60 hrs, but in the end I feel my throttle response is amazing and power curve is much smoother. I'm helping my buddy do a P&P on his built KA24 and I told him to watch your head series in prep. Good work on this video my friend!!!
You see... this right here. This is why I do this. Personal satisfaction... community... and someone took an idea and produced results they can be proud of. This is what makes my efforts worthwhile. I never wanted to be the definitive guide to porting, I wanted to just be one of the voices. You did it right! You gathered the ideas of many to determine your path, and produced results that you can FEEL. You can't put a price tag on that. You did it. I keep telling people I really only make motivational videos, not instructional videos... I always get back blank stares. Not everybody understands that. Nobody learns anything from watching my videos, they don't learn anything until they go and do the work. You graduated! I'm proud of you, man!
nick f this makes a pretty big difference esp if your running a bigger cam. I have a 2008 trx700xx I bought the other weekend that I put a stage three cam, black diamond valves/springs, and a 12.1 JE Piston but failed to clean the head up which had carbon build-up all in the exhaust side and the chamber wasn’t all that great neither was the intake but me not having the tools at the time I was working on it I just went head and slapped it back together. Now I can’t really tune it to get all I can get out of it because my heads are so dirty. ANYTHING dealing with how fuel/air flows makes a big difference especially with a high performance engine because it’s gonna need more fuel to turn it regardless. You must not know too much about motors lol.
Polishing doesn't improve performance, this has been shown time and time again. In fact having the inlet polished can make things worse. Port shape is the important parameter, not surface finish.
@@ferrumignis Surface finish makes big differences around the port... Dimped or rough surfaces change laminar flow, this causes air/fuel to tumble or flow considerable better or worse. The reason most cars don't come like that, even race cars is because its extremely time consuming for very very small result, but from a numbers point it shows.
Fantastic video! The editing and high speed was perfect to demonstrate what you have done. I am a professional head porter (I work for a top name guy doing chevrolet cylinder heads). We never take the time to polish as you did. I believe it is beneficial in the chambers but unnecessary in the runners (we finish with a 80 - 120 grit cartridge roll). I would spend the polishing time shaping the bowls with a carbide instead. I understand and agree it is critical (esp with novices) to be conservative but there are a lot of inconsistencies in the bowl area you could clean up with minimal increase in volume. All things considered a great video!
Thanks Kenneth! I make the same recommendations to everyone today as well. It was suggested I try this after a discussion with a reputable shop (that I still won't out) about polyquad heads and how they create more tumble and swirl in a 4V configuration. They mentioned using the dual-textured port to disrupt boundary layers and create tumble earlier in the port. I thought it sounded like a good experiment. Ultimately I went from being able to tune this car for 10.5:1 A/F ratios without knock to 10.6:1 A/F without knock. Nothing amazing or worth bragging about. It did nothing for the butt dyno. So like in the video where I gave people the out after the 120 grit, I still give that advice today in the comments. I can't pin a tenth of a point of A/F ratio on this texture work on a head that was also ported. It's just not a big enough gain to be worth this effort. My biggest gains were probably just from cleaning up the casting. I learned something from this one, so I have no regrets. :)
Very nice work and not because it's shiny. From the sight of my limited experience and knowledge i would have reduced the lateral bumps on the valves guides and widened the ports a bit just here. it would help the flow since it's a restriction zone caused by the valves and guides. widening the port here would compensate a bit for that. Maybe i would have rounded a bit more the squish angle to limitate detonation since you said it's a high compression engine. because of the forced induction the squish turbulence is not a big necessity i think. you have quite a nice tumble on a 4 valves cylinder. It may help you next time : i use a vacuum cleaner with a fuel hose taped to it that i plunge in the port that i'm working on to suck the debris when i grind (especially the exhaut ports) it works very good to see what i'm doing and to limitate the tools to clog. Very nice work again. Thank you for showing that. It's really interesting.
Good point on the vacuuming of debris. I have seen awesome basement woodshops with central vac system to get rid of all that annoying sawdust. Now that stuff is annoying, but much more important to get rid of metals and such. Glad he wore a mask.
this video made me work on a old itr integra head I had.... now I'm about to get. into a cnc machining course because of it...... also my wife was furious at me cause I was so in to this video lol
Awesome video man. My 2.0T ecotec Saab recently jumped time and bent my valves. Swapped heads for another known good head. Now I have a spare in need of a rebuild, which lead me to your video. Feel much more confident in taking on this port and polish job, and actually really excited to get started now. Thanks for documenting this!!
Yeah, true that! Lol. I'd love to see this same head after a week of running it in....... I bet a good car wash would last longer! However if your looking to kill/waste time, have at it bro!
One of the best DIY Porting videos I've seen. Oh the hours I spent Porting and Polishing Buick and Pontiac Heads at NorthWest Buicks in Oak Harbor Washington. A good respirator is a MUST. I had to use carbide on the cast iron, but once the shape and diameters are where you want them, then yep the spiral sanding tips are where you want to be. I applaud you on the rough floor, in big bore engines at idle or when they are cold the rough surface helps keep the fuel from pooling and sticking to the floor as the air hits the pockets and pulls the fuel up into the air stream. The smooth surface on the roof and walls is great at the high rpm's to keep the turbulence down and things flowing with little obstruction to the valves. Unless you have a flow bench it's a good idea just to port match then smooth and blend the walls, as the engineers know what they're doing and most people don't, so removing the imperfections is the best all around thing to do. If for some reason you just have to increase it and don't have a flow bench or Dyno, KEEP it all the same size between the channels using a set of dividers. Measure the width, height and diagonal dimensions and keep them as close as possible. The same goes for the combustion chambers too with the valves installed, except you'll have to CC them to make sure they're all the same volume, and yes blend those sharp edges to keep pre-detonation down. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes and Blessings. Keith Noneya
This is the first of your videos I have watched. It is excellent and I really enjoyed it. Great information, great editing, and excellent verbal presentation. Really impressive. Thanks for posting.
***** Oh man… I hope your schedule is clear. This is the format all of my videos follow. You're about to lose your entire weekend here. Thank you for sharing and welcome aboard! :) b
I know what you mean about getting the polishing bug! I spent 300 hours hand polishing my BBS LM wheel barrels/lips, and I loved it so much I just went wild and half my engine bay is polished now! Ordered a new motor coming soon so I’ll be doing this to my head for sure! Can’t wait!!!
I've watched this video couple years ago, and watched now again, however I will never do this job in my life, more likely. But I enjoyed to watch it. Good job.
Hey Jafro, i know its probably no big deal but the little pot holes in the casting in the ports can be filled with JB or some sort of epoxy, let to harden, then blended in with the rest of the port work. Its commonly done on SBC and BBC heads when they tube them. Tubing Its an old trick where they would actually port into the water jacket on purpose, press in a tube and epoxy it in. There is a guy here on youtube that is the only one Ive ever seen do it. Ive only heard about it before in school at UTi and seen the heads done but never watched someone do it until this one guy, he is an old timer and knows his shit. His channel is Headbytes porting I think. He is a cool dude. Check him out if you get a chance. Ive learned a few things from him. Its always good to learn from the old guys!
I have watched this whole video series on my second time through. Such good information to absorb. Not only well done man, but thank you for going through such lengths to get this put together for everyone else.
That's a lot of work man, and good work too. I got to hand it to you. As for the people you said think a ruff casting helps atomize the fuel. I think they don't understand what atomization of fuel is. Port turbulence won't even mix the fuel. The only thing the ruff port finish does is increase boundary layer turbulence thereby essentially reducing the flow size of the port. As for amortization. Honda did a study more than 40 years ago and they found that amortization ONLY happens when the piston is compressing the fuel/air mix. The compression of the fuel/air and heat vaporizers (amortization) the fuel. At near TDS the pressure can run 300 psi for a light load, to 1000 psi for a production engine at full power, to even 1500 psi for race engines. People worrying about mixing or amortization of the fuel in the manifold or intake port are wasting their time.
Thank you! So many people believe that port textures are religion. I made this video, but even I don't believe that. I just wanted to demonstrate all the techniques that were possible while experimenting. When you get into forced induction, 90% of the port texture crap goes right out the window. Flowbenches don't test with boost, they test with vacuum. Boost compresses the boundary layer, so the observed tests from a flowbench change under the engine's running condition anyway. EFI engines don't mix fuel in the manifold like carbureted engines do. The reason I was willing to try this has more to do with the principles you explained. My reading on the topic exposed that 4V/cylinder engines don't produce swirling airflow currents as the combustion chamber is filled. 2V/cylinder engines do (like most normally aspirated V8's). The majority of fuel mixture that occurs comes from the tumbling effect as air rushes in and gets compressed. My efforts were to try to exaggerate the tumbling effect a tad by disrupting only one side of the boundary layer of the port. Did it work? WHO KNOWS?! LOL! Wait... that's your user name... ROFL. Really, the car is running extremely well. It's making a ton of power for what it is. I know I didn't hurt it. I also know that I can't afford having someone make me a PolyQuad head to produce swirl, and I'm not willing to invest that kind of cash on a 1st gen Elantra that's only gunning for 12's in the 1/4 mile. Thanks again for getting it. :)
I don't know what is more impressive, the twenty hours of pure craftsmanship, or the half hour of commentary that is compacted into an almost overload of useful information. I'm sure most of this is useless in regards to to me and my cast iron Chevy 283 heads but it does inspire me to want to give it a shot. Maybe I'll try out some of this crash course magic on my predator 212 mini bike engine. This a fantastic video, you got my subscribe man, I loved it!
+Jafromobile You need to have your PayPal listed in the descriptions of these videos! Not in an asking for handouts type thing, but I have never found a more in-depth tutorial, that is well edited and great commentary. I would gladly donate for each video that's helped me. That way you can buy more parts and post more videos! It's a Win/Win!
What's happened to me? I used to be a musician, but now I'm watching exhaustive polishing videos of parts of my car that no one will ever see!! Why am I obsessed with this stuff? That's rhetorical
+Stacy McMillan What happened to me? I used to be a musician, but now I'm making exhaustive polishing videos of parts of my car that only people on UA-cam will ever see. Why am I obsessed with this stuff? That's the second chorus.
+Jafromobile Same thing over here, i used to be a garage guitar player, a good boyfriend, a guy who liked to go with friends and having a beer on friday night! But instead i watched 32 mins of your video, making my first head job in my Tercel head and Can't wait to go to the junk yard and find a Toyota 5E-FE head and start polish and porting it to put on my little Tercel 3E Block... Then boost it! :D Regards from Honduras!
Rhetorical or not, you're a musician, that implies great brain functions, engineering is only a few blocks away, could've been architecture, or medicine. I know a doctor who started his high school (europe) with architecture in mind, got awfully bored (as he put it) and switched mid Uni to medicine.
Fun to go to the track with a stock appearing engine and clean house:) The real power is in quality porting on the inside not the bling on the outside.
i'm a wood carver/ worker. The polishing process could be made easier/faster with wood working supplies. Now days they make really big contoured sanding attachments with all kinds of grits as well as different shaped buffing wheel/things. basically, a bunch of old guys like making wood sculpture and wood bowls. They're arthritis and low energy level makes it hard for them to sand and polish more than one bowl per retirement/life. so, there's multiple companies that make all kinds of crap for this. Go check it out!! *try woodcraft also! we spend allot of time sharpening and stropping our tools. we can feel the difference between stropping (polishing) compounds. There was a study done with microscope cameras on polishing compounds and most that are on the market are a mix of different size particles. They only thought they needed some particles of a certain grit size, they didn't think it would be a problem to throw in a bunch of particles that are way bigger. this is all the polishing compounds in hardware stores. Theres very few that really polish without scratching. Flexcut gold. DMT. henry tylor. the only ones i've found so far. good luck.
You should try menzerna compounds. I'm a woodworker and luthier myself, and I've found their compounds to be excellent for everything from stropping, to polishing metal, to buffing out lacquer. They are aggressive, but have a consistent particle size and take less grit steps to get the end results.
You want about 80-100 grit surface roughness on intake. Flows air at a higher velocity because like a golf ball, the roughness provides "air bearings" so air moves quicker. Extrude honing doesn't work very well, only works on parts you cant get to like some intake manifolds and exhaust manifolds.
No questions there. Most people see the thumbnail and assume those are intake ports. My intake ports are 1/2 rough. I left the bare cast texture on the length of the floor inside the intake ports. You can't see it very well in the video because the ports curve downward, but there's a few shots in this video where it shows the floor is rough. The polished texture is blended into the roof, only. The short radius was de-burred only and smoothed before the seats. Because of some of the casting flaws, I know at the very least that I improved what I started with. It would be sweet if I could find someone in my area to flow a stock 1.6L 4g61 cylinder head and the one I polished. I can get my hands on another one of these heads, but I called everyone who advertises the service and they all told me they can't even attach their equipment to it, or that they can't give me accurate results. What's the point of flowbench equipment that doesn't give accurate results? According to my datalogs, I have no shortages of airflow now that it's bolted back together, but I'd rather know cfm per-runner and what my work did? I'll find a reason to tear the head off, get that other head, and drive a reasonable distance if I could find someone that wants to do it. People near me don't even seem to want to let me pay them for this info. I researched how to build my own flowbench because of this, but have since lost the motivation due to time and space constraints. I just don't have the room to build it. I also don't really want to ship this head. I want to be able to film it and talk about the shop that did it. I'd ship my pants, I'd ship my drawers, but I don't want to ship my head.
...also please note at 14:39 where I gave 90% of the viewers an out. I told them that's a stopping point for intake work. The rest of this is a waste of time. I do know the golf ball theory and how it's being evolved into aeronautic and the lab cars that got 70+mpg. I don't disagree with existing data. If someone had a cylinder head that was cast as irregularly machined and poorly put together as mine, I would still expect this treatment to yield significant gains.
Jafromobile love all your vids I see them several times no matter if was sub when you upload them and by the way bad obsession garage aka project Binky mention you on the last video Q&A 😲💪💪
Dude you are a riot. The mono logging during the work is funny and insightful and packed with very sound advice. This is by far one of the best DIY videos I have watched. If it wasn't as good as it was I never would have made it thru the half hour of watching it. The thing I keep running thru my mind is the hours vs. cost of a shop. You say you took it to a 1.5 level port job at 30 hrs of labor. If you paid a shop 100/hr that's 3k and I don't know what shop rate is where you live but out here in CA. performance shops can charge that per hour. Take it to a level 2 or 3 porting with a 5 angle valve job ( I would say x2 for a v-8, but with 4 valves per cylinder you did the same work ) and I would think that would double the hours from 30 to 60+ hours. SO your time is worth money ,but it seems to me you saved between 1500 - 3000 with the material cost under 100. That is a job well done !!! I look forward to seeing the engine running and to hear what other things you did to it along the road to being rebuilt.
I'm reading this about 3 years later after this post and still prices have probably gone up on labor and polishing /porting no one ever does for the simple fact that they don't want responsibility of you blaming them for their car not being where they expected their car to be at and don't intend to care about what you might say or what they have contributed to the problem since they don't know what they're talking about and the majority will just try and blame the mechanic that worked on their their car or anyone else that touch their head or just anyone who even drove their car not the person who worked on the entire engine for like 3 years and tried to blame the guy who just touched up the surface of theirr onehead t's incredible the amount of money you'll spend for a job like this nd he's right California is one of the most expensive especially here in Los Angeles to get a port job done
So YEARS ago, in my late teens on into my mid-twenties, I had a "Project Car" that also happened to pull double duty as my Daily (lol) Driver. It was my coveted '89 Probe GT, with the (some would say) infamous Mazda F2-T motor: 2.2 liter SOHC 12 valve (odd I know?) Turbo 4. For some reason or another, that engine was laughably rated at only 145 hp. Well, I can tell you-- and so can many other Fox body 5.0's-- without any exaggeration what so ever, that this just could NOT be the case: After careful consideration, and frequent use of my Butt Dyno, I am now certain that the true hp, at full 12 psi of boost, was in the neighborhood of 170-180 hp. Now, the TORQUE rating was more accurate: I think it was rated at 190 or so lb.ft. Personally, I believe it to be just a tad higher: somewhere around 220 lb.ft. (at full boost). ANYWAYS, I digress....So this one time the car had some "down time" while I waited on both the car parts to come in, and my energy and willpower to arrive. After staring blankly at the motor w/ the hood up, I thought "why don't I shine up some of this aluminum in the engine bay?" There was a good amount of it: the valve cover, T-body, intake, etc. etc. all the usual stuff. And it was all dreary & stained & very tired looking-- a sad gray color. It looked very boring. So I took off the valve cover first. Since it had alot of flat sides, I figured (correctly) that my DA Sander ought to get right in there with ease. I started with 200 grit (it was all VERY rough casted) and slowly slowly worked my way up to frikin' 2K (2,000!) grit sandpaper. After the sanding & smoothing part of the metal was done, I then went to town with Mother's® Aluminum Polish. Man.....after finishing up with this little job, a week later, I could literally use the flat top of the valve cover as a mirror. It was a FunHouse mirror because of the slight bending shape, but a mirror it was nonetheless. It looked GOOD in there, under the hood. So I started with the rest of it... The intake manifold/plenum was slightly tubular, which equated to hell getting in the curves with my DA Sander. I got all that I could, and used my hands for the curved parts. Same thing for the T-body-- It was of course "round"shaped, which led to a majority of it getting polished by hand. This. Took. A while. My friends thought I was crazy: Everytime they stopped by, I was out on the side of the house-- Probe's hood was up, and I was sitting, leaned over in a lawn chair, sander in one hand, random engine part in the other. My parents almost called the "Men in the White Lab Coats" to come and get me, they were so worried. My neighbors started talking about the "wacko kid who sands anything made of metal at all hours of the night & day". I had become the Black Sheep of my family. All this from wanting an attractive under-hood setup for the next time I visit the local Friday Night Hangout. But, it was ALL SO WORTH IT. From that point on, ANYTIME I popped my hood (...too add oil, too add coolant, or to tighten up a sparkplug that was constantly prone to backing itself out and being blown out of the cylinder head...) random people & passerbys would catch just a GLIMPSE of all that mirrored-finish Aluminum catching the sun's rays, and they would FLOCK to me all at once, asking the usual questions like, "MAN! Whatcha got in this thing!" or "wow--is this stock?". I relished in all the attention. I won't lie. It would seriously draw attention at any auto parts store I went to. And this wasn't a good looking car, either. I mean, the aesthetics of it weren't good looking: The OEM red paint was just atrocious. The shit was horrible: faded spots everywhere, clear coat starting to peal, you name it. The BODY, however, was straight-- not a dent on it... Which was just unbelievable considering some of the crap I did in it when I was young. So, I'm with you on the whole "polishing metal takes along time" thing. I'm also with you on the whole "polishing metal is long, arduous, back-breaking work BUT-- It's totally absolutely worth it in the end".
Nice video, I've ported heads myself and your words are true, you must have lots of patience, I like the explanation of the different theories of what works and where to concentrate the work on. Only thing I may have done differently is to remove the valve guides to allow greater access and cut off the part that sticks out into the port, at least on the intake side. I like the dowel pin trick, I know what you mean about the chuck gouging the aluminum. Try some noise cancelling or blocking earbuds and an MP3 player to preserve your sanity and hearing. Porting and polishing has a lot to do with "feel". You have to feel the contours of the ports as you remove metal. Make sure you know where your water jackets and bolt holes are. He definitely made that crappy casting look it's best.
The most power to be had from porting a sb chevy head is the roof of the exhaust port. This came from a Hot Rod article in 1966. With the headers removed, engine in car, you stick your finger in the top of the exhaust port. There is a big sharp lump there that has to come out. 1 1/2 hour job tops with the head already removed. Good for 35 horsepower.
good thoughts about the surface finish in the intake ports..... but your missing a key physics function of air moving through a tube/port/runner its called "boundary layer" they tested it on mythbusters (very crudely) with a car surface for top speed. similar principles are applicable to port work. the rougher surface breaks up the boundary layer increasing port flow. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_layer
`polishing can be detrimental ALSO Jafro needs to understand the difference between DETONATION and preignition which rarely occurs on automobile engines
yes there is a difference, I can assure you both can and do happen on automobile engines, not as much as 20 years ago but they still do.....especially with poor fuel or lack of servicing.
There's something about the self accomplishment and pride you feel when completing Keyes's projects such as this. There's not to me things out there that you can compare it to. Although my comments 5 years Or so After the upload of this video just thought you might come across that then put a smile on your face, great job. ''Hast makes waste''
When you start studying how an engine effectively works and dive in this head porting world you wrongly start to believe in lots of myths and misunderstood information that normaly have been empiricly tested but never proved... Example ,I can compare it with the academic welding scenario. There is lots of information present in the literature which are wrongly assumed as true just because it was evidencied by someone who mentions traditional knowlogements as true facts, (sometimes they're not real or sustainable). Yep this maybe can be a way in science, but you never know the true facts by this way. I liked your work and effort trying to bring us a solid statement about this subject.
This video was what prompted me to have the courage to do what everyone including myself thought I could never be able to do. I had 2 Mitsubishi Eclipse. 01 2.4 at that was wrecked and an 00 2.4 mt that I'd put a valve thru a piston. I stripped both cars to the frame and rebuilt one mt motor and car completely by myself in my gravel driveway. My confidence has skyrocketed and I've gained respect throughout my community because of my efforts and accomplishments. After watching this video I decided since I'm doing this I might as well go full force. So I did a port polish on the head myself. When I took it to a well respected shop to have the valves reseated the owner asked me 4x who did the porting job which I repeatedly told him I had. By the 4th time he asked I was frustrated why he couldn't believe I'd done it I asked why and his reply was, There are grown men, professionals who don't do work this good. He then asked what I used which I replied with a grin...my Dremel! I thought he was going to pass out! So the little blonde who knew nothing about cars and even less about motors has become somewhat of a legend around that shop for the story of my first rebuild and port/polish abilities. And it's all thanks and credited to you and this video. Again, thank you. You have no idea how it's literally changed my life.
I'll be a fan forever~
Cyndi
Right on Cyndi! I wish I could shake your hand!
You just did my friend. Props ;-)
No really... I'm not sure you're seeing the whole picture. This embodies exactly what I set out to do with this channel. DIY's are too rigid. All I ever wanted to make was motivational videos for mechanical people. A little success and confidence only builds more if you stick to it. It's how I started. Your success brought me success. Oh, and BTW, your cover's blown. Now I know who the female is that watches 2% of my videos. ;) I thought it was either my mom and sister, or some kid using his mom's computer. Kick ass!
I'm seriously the only chick?? Whoa. Ok yeah I'll admit I'm a little different. My friends and neighbors all thought I was just straight crazy. Sheer determination is what drove me. It almost took me several times with that project but I had everything invested in those cars. I couldn't quit.
I've always been hands on kind of person but never with cars. Didn't care really as long as it got me there. But Ive always been a 3g fan. Love that body style so when I finally got one that was it. Hooked. I'm actually putting it back together as we speak. The Tob had a kaniption fit in the bell housing. So I've learned about manual transmissions, aluminum flywheels and clutches. I put a stage 3 Apex, Fidanza flywheel and am about to add fluids and see what she's got.
When I completed the first project with the 2 cars I was so confident I bought another one to rebuild. Lol I'm addicted. I've just got the basics down but I want to learn about forged pistons, boost, turbo...More about suspension...It's a whole new world. People who knew me before can't believe it if they see me now running to a part store covered in grease hahaha. I love it. You've definitely accomplished your goal. I'm now teaching my girlfriends about their cars and how to take care of it themselves. Very powering for a woman. I know more about this car than any of the guys at my local parts stores. Yeah, all the stores. It's a great feeling.
Your videos are very informational and described is what I liked so much. The detail you give of everything you do and the reasons is invaluable in my opinion. Too many try to rush through with the camera all over the place...Ugh no thanks. So when I saw how you took the time to explain for someone who had no knowledge of anything mechanical, it helped tremendously. You're an incredible teacher I must say.
This has got to be one of the most comprehensive videos on porting and polishing I've seen. Mad respect!
+briansmobile1 Thanks Brian! Man, I'm flattered to hear that coming from you. I may not upload often, but I try to make up for that however I can. This was an experimental P&P method and thus why I'm doing it on the Hyundai head. I'd do the others a little differently. But here's wishing you good health and double the success in 2016! Merry Christmas!
Still watching this video, all the cylinder head guy guard information like this and won't tell what they do!
Did a 205 pinto 2.0 short engine & cylinder head with half your enthusiasm great results great video
Makes me hard when someone can talk super technically for us more comprehensive folk... Lots of valuable experience and detail spilling out like poetry.
its good, but he jumped the gun in the beginning. over polished valve seats.
"You'll start polishing the dumbest crap just because you can" ha TRUE
+joelyboyblue ive polished to much crap, i started to polish coins :(
i too am cursed with the polish touch...
+imashankusobad i even polish my polish!
Xiuhcoatl
I polished the harmonic balancer and now the belt squeaks
From a 40 year + veteran of High Performance head building, you sir have mad skills and can't wait to see what you do once you have a flow bench
I OWNED AN AUTOMOTIVE MACHINE SHOP BACK IN THE 80'S AND I'VE PORTED SO MANY HEADS I'M TIRED OF IT, BUT I ONLY DID CAST IRON HEADS AND HAVEN'T DONE IT SINCE THE 80'S... YOU DIDN'T GET TO THE VALVES AND IF YOU DON'T POLISH THE VALVES, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER CHUCKING THEM INTO A HIGH SPEED DRILL PRESS AND POLISHING THEM TOO...VERY PROFESSIONAL VIDEO... YOU BROUGHT BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES FOR ME OF ALL THE WORK I DIDN'T GET PAID FOR...
Nicely narrated. Not any "umms" and such. And thanks for talking while showing the work instead of us looking at you.
I second that sentiment. I hate the videos where someone is going um um um or just blabbing unimportant crap. The narration was very informative and critical to understanding how to do this process and why it's done.
The pro shop I use has a porting and polishing setup that is hypnotizing to watch. He fills all the ports half full of steel and lead shot and then tapes them shut. Then this machine rotates it in all three axis at the same time it spins between the clamps. He shuts off the lights and goes home while this thing keeps rolling. Next morning he removes the tape and dumps out all the shot. What's left is amazing. Every single millimeter that the shot can get to is smooth and shiny as a mirror. It peens over any casting lines and casting defects. He claims a 30% increase in flow of both air and fuel. But it only cost him about 40 minutes of prep time in labor. The rest is being done while he sleeps. Liked and subbed
Uhhhh...LS7 head cnc porting routinely sees around a 7.5% increase in flow. That's 7.5% using cnc porting. A 30%(!) Increase for rolling some shot through a head? Gotcha. So, if the intake side flows 330 cfm, after his "porting", it will flow 429 cfm? Engine builders have the easiest job in the world. Selling rubes horsepower.
I looked at this video and only intended to skip through it. Turns out that was the fastest half hour of my life and you're definitely getting another subscriber. Great job.
great work, and an excellent tutorial. One rule I always keep in mind is intake port velocity for torque, more port volume robs that velocity, so it's a balancing act from intake
gasket to valve seat.The trick is to resist opening intake ports up too much, once it's gone it's gone... best to aim for progressive transition and know when to stop.
To make real power, always do your flowbench tests with 50% valve lift, as that's where most of your flow duration occurs.
I made my own once with a vacuum cleaner and a manometer, simple but very effective.
Thanks for posting.
No matter the real outcome whether it improves performance, I believe that the extra time spent on polishing, leaves a great amount of satisfaction within each individual. ANYTHING worth doing, Is worth doing RIGHT. I really enjoyed the video and the editing. Thank You
JUST AWESOME
not often i watch a 30 min video but I managed to with this one, excellent work!
I was just thinking the same thing haha
You have redefined polish and porting. Brilliant.
I thought this was a 10min video😂
you and me both, I'm usually good for 9 minutes before I'm on to the next video
5 yrs later I came back to watch this. I followed most of these points and made good power from porting my heads. Even only doing a Stage 1.5 on my J32 made 316/262.....nice gains!
Thanks for an awesome video that is still prevalent till this day.
pilzy els I found 80grit, to 120, to 340ish buff wheels like he has is the best combo.
80 to knock the high stuff down and smooth the port, 120 to smooth and 340 buff to polish (with polish compound).. anything beyond that is a waste of time of a Street, even minor track car. I did polish the combustion chamber and ran 100shot of nitrous for 100k Miles. It was very rare if I got any knock
Thanks for sharing all the hard work, editing that much video is a pain! Not to mention shooting it while you're trying to get car work done. 32 minutes and I wasn't bored once, the narration is excellent. Can't wait to see the Hyundai back together!
Thanks man! I was worried about that. I doubted compressing it to 32 minutes could make it interesting? I lost all perspective of what was boring and what was not boring on this job. 'tell ya the truth... having just returned home from the day job on a Friday, I can tell I still haven't recovered. : |
As an engine builder I still smile when I see a polished intake port ! Polishing a port slows down flow, we worked this out in the 1960s , you have just lost power ! Ports are rough cast for a reason , it is the cheap way to induce turbulence in the flow at the port surface , the ideal port would be smooth with small holes drilled about 3 mm apart, just like a golf ball, it is the same principal , a totally smooth ball only goes half as far as one with little holes all over it, the reason being air flow over the surface of the ball , the holes make little vorticies that make air flow more , same as an intake port , sure the factory can cast super smooth ports , but they know they need disturbance for flow.
What about the carbon?
@@turbosloth2 what about carbon ? If you have carbon in the intake port you got more problems than good flow !
Egr and direct injection and loads of carbon
Gentleman I think society lost one of the best surgical doctors we could have. You are a talent bud. Excellent work.
This is exactly the steps (and about same time lap) my sister takes when she is polishing her fingernails.
lol!
HAHAH!!
classic
Do her nails perform better after?
That awkward moment when a dude uses one of your accounts for a moment, and you get a taste of what "...collect and use anonymous usage statistics to improve our products, and the products of our affiliates'." actually means.
thank you for making such a good video and not ruining it with music in the background.
I have just watched this video for the 17th time and cannot thank you enough. You have given me the confidence to get on the tools and have a go at porting some Honda d16y8 heads I have. Keep doing your thing mate, and thanks again all the way from Australia 👍
Aight so what happened
I'm not sure if the tech mentioned this tip but.....the term blueprint means to make every cylinder the same as that makes even firing and power supply.It also makes an engine easier to tune and of course gives the engine longevity.That means all your port sizes and finishes must be identical.Another tip i learned from a World class racing builder is to match all your spark plug positions.While the head is apart one by one you make sure the spark plug is parked/seated in the exact position.So that means marking them to suit each cylinder.Turbo and supercharged engines are vastly different to naturally aspirated engines also for abovious reasons.This video is insanely good and much respect to the tech.Happy porting y'all.
"plug indexing". ...and thank you! All correct!
13 mins in and I'm hooked you got the best port Polish info on UA-cam
So I didn't stumble across this I was looking for info on porting and polishing for my 2013 R1...because it doesn't have enough power for me. That's a complete joke, it has more power than I need. By the time I was finished with the video I moved on and watched the seat cutting video just because you are freakin hilarious! Thanks for the informative video and congrats on the ability to articulate your thoughts so smoothly and concisely while having an awesome sense of humor. I am not subscribed to many channels but, yours and Car Audio Fabrication's channel are the two smartest (and entertaining) I have seen. Glad you found your calling of making youtube videos. I truly enjoy it. I have pictures of my wife's stock R1 rims that I am polishing and I open them from time to time when the world is too sad and they make me smile. :-) I polish the dumbest crap just because I can. Lol
Melvin Weeks Hi! Thanks! Welcome aboard! I too am now a subscriber to Car Audio Fabrication's channel because of your tip. Good stuff! R1 not having enough power… lol.
I have now watched this video 3 times, i have never polished metal or anything and i feel as though im addicted to polishing metal already lmao, definitely gonna try my hand at this when the opportunity presents itself. Great video btw
+TriniRogue You were warned. xD
He sounds mad while being happy, exciting, and enthusiastic. His logical and intelligent commentary is the most honest and real world advice you can listen to.
Years back, a buddy of mine had the dream and goal of owning his own Harley shop. He was and still is strictly old school and so he does nothing but custom builds and repairs, nothing new. Well, back when he was just starting out I told him if he needed any help, to give me a call. Two days later, he called. This was back when shop space was still part of the dream, so we worked out of his girlfriend's apartment. The first bike we built was his '79 FLH Soft tail. Well, Harley Davidson, then and now finishes a lot of their cast aluminum components i.e. rocker boxes, primaries, secondaries, brake calipers/master cylinders etc. in a "factory" baked on "wrinkled black" finish. And I'm here to tell you that wrinkled black finish hides some of the roughest casting I have ever run across in ALL of the years I have spent Polishing aluminum.(I'm also a retired general contractor/cabinet shop owner/utility patent holder and won and lost and won back small fortunes over the years) From a soda pop can on my fathers polishing wheels when I was a kid to bmx brake levers/center pulls, dual tunnel rams, Holley intakes, Berkeley jets and many other boat parts...Harley takes the cake. At one point, while working on the rear banana caliper for his FLH (we called it "#1"), I was standing at the kitchen sink (wet) working on the outside half of that caliper with 2000 grit (and mind you, it takes 40 grit on a DA to bust that wrinkle black off, so...) But I was ready to go to Mothers applied with 4 ot steel wool, shut the water off. Dried the part and that's when I realized that I was bleeding through the pads of my fingertips, because I had blown out my last pair of rubber gloves a week back and had not yet replaced them! About then, my buddy arrives back from yet another field trip from what ever swap meet he had been to, buying up any and all used Harley parts he could barter down to almost free (he lives to make the deal)(in ways most can not imagine) but he walks threw the back door, sets yet another greasy cardboard box on what once was a nice dinning table and with a shit eating grin turns to me and says, "Hey Shoe shine boy, what are we going to call the place once we have a place to call?" Shoe shine boy? Where did that come from? anyway, I set that thought aside, looked around me at this once upon a time young lady's clean, neat apartment that now had Harley spread from one end to the other along with roll-a-ways, grinders, drill presses and many other shop like tools super imposed over the top of and blended down into this once nice apt. (I have always picked up after my self. My buddy? Not so much.) We stood facing each other, his grin starting to fade as he waited for an answer from his right hand man recently nick named "the shoe shine boy" of all things. I didn't want to be rood, but I can not be anything but whom I am, so I pointedly looked around the place and then back at my buddy and said, "I don't know...The HOG PEN?" And you know what young man? Now that I am retired with nothing but time stretched out in front of me, I had finally reached that point in life when a man has to ask himself, "What do I want to do?" Well, over thirty years later, come the first of the new year, I am loading up my triple pop-out 5th wheel R.V., hooking my new dually Ford diesel up to said hitch and taking my home away from homes up to the little lake town called "Nice" located around "Clear Lake" in Mendocino co. and parking my shit right next to my buddy's long time established down town retail, wholesale Harley and quad shop, named..."The Hog Pen" where I will happily re-earn a once proud nick name, "The Shoe Shine Boy." And I can't wait! So when you can comb your hair in the mirror like finish on a part that came to you with factory wrinkle black? Look me up...I'll be playing in the hog pen with the big boys! (As a hobby, I also write fiction and don't care if I never get published), but this here short story...is 100% true, on my mothers grave. Take care while making it shine! Peace and cool beans! I'm out. Signed, The Shoe Shine Boy (mic drop.) PS I know it ain't the same as polishing and porting heads, I polished my oldest son's aluminum heads that went on the stroker motor we built for his '65 GT350 mustang. (a very fun car!) And yes it is time well spent. You get out what you put in...I call it the 7 "P's". Prior. Proper. Planning. Prevents. Piss. Pore. Performance...Peace
Back in the mid 90's I ported my olds 455 cast iron C heads for my jet boat with the tools he shows. The die grinder ate so much air I had to run two air compressors in my garage to barely keep up. It took me all winter at night and weekends and even burned through one head into the water jacket. Had to get another head and start all over. It was well worth the time. The machine shop wanted $1200.00 per head to do it. And i'm sure they wouldn't have did as through a job that i did. Everything shined like this video. Running a cheater nitrous system and two 750 holley's with mechanical secondaries on top of an Offenhauser tunnel ram made it flow so nice giving me who knows how much more horsepower. I made many a big block chev mad at me on lake berryessa.
Wow. This video makes my top 3 list. Done extremely well, informative yet kept simple. I'm a 30 year home engine builder and still learned a good few things from this video. I thank you....Cheers, Jim
Holy shit, this is the most satisfying thing ive ever seen.
Thank you John! I've got a lot of content that's like this. A lot of it is very technical, but I have fun doing it.
I'm not a machinist, but I certainly have a new respect for all the hard work y'all do. I've spent years around performance cars, and I've seen the finished products from port work, but it was very neat to see it happening, and Im glad I watched the whole thing.
Thank you for taping, editing, and uploading this video. I'm still not going to try this myself.
You documented and Explained what and why you were doing it in easy to understand term's. you took the boredom out of what usually is a tedious job to watch...
well done and Thanks I am one more step closer to my PhD in porting and Polish.
Now on to the 2nd phase of the course..The hands on part.
PEACE and Blessing to you and yours.
2 Million views even if it is 6 years old is saying a lot. outstanding.
first watched this video over a decade ago and it is still one of my favorties on the topic. I referenced all of your Head videos when rebuilding my vr6 and was so happy with the outcome.
Excellent vid, mate, almost made me go and tear up the head off the engine and start working. Thank God laziness won over it! At least for the moment.. Thank you for uploading this!
LOL! I enjoyed the chuckle this morning. Thank you!
This is what I call a true bombass job. Took your time. Didn’t rush anything and what results you achieved. Damn proud, damn proud of your work. Looks like something I would do myself. This is serious OCDing at it’s finest! 👍🏻👍🏻😊Most impressive young one, most impressive!
I just got halfway through porting a Mazda Protege cylinderhead using the techniques featured in this video. So far I'm pleased with the results. I dove right in with confidence. This video explains with great detail basics and gives a few tips and tricks. Great video Jafro. Hope to see many more. Subscribed.
How did it go?
@@elic.2443 It actually came out pretty good but I may do another one because the head that I polished had some damage from a failed spark plug. The machine shop said it was repairable but I'm thinking of starting over. Go to my channel to see the results.
This is THE best video i have ever come across on porting n polishing heads. Thank you for posting this. I was planning on doing a PnP job on my heads, and after watching this i am far more confident. Comprehensive, concise, and very well described, explained, and exampled.
I haven't skipped a single second of this video. You're like DiyGuys, but your videos are long and extremely detailed.
A great video and you do professional quality videos. You are very informative and explain everything as you go. You don't leave us viewers saying to ourselves "why did he do that". Thanks for your time and knowledge!!
Thank you so much for making this video and taking the time to edit all the hours of work you did. I found this to be incredibly insightful and very informative and the commentary was great, you really explained things clearly. Awesome job, I'm definitely saving this one to my favorites for future reference.
The arguments of rough vs smooth and turbulence being good or bad are due to a misunderstanding of aerodynamics. There are two main types of drag; skin friction drag and form drag. For something shaped like a golf ball, the dominant form of drag is form drag due to the detachment of the boundary layer. The dimples in the golf ball promote turbulence in the boundary layer which keeps it attached longer. This reduces form drag and thus, total drag on the golf ball.
For something shaped like an airplane wing in cruise, the dominate form of drag is skin friction, so you want as smooth a surface as possible. This is why recessed rivets are used on planes; it reduces skin friction.
For an intake port, I suspect the argument could go either way. At low throttle settings/RPM, rough port surfaces may help keep the boundary layer attached and increase airflow (and thus torque down low). At high RPM/throttle, the flow may detach anyway and it's better to reduce skin friction. This all would depend on the particular port geometry and engine though, so it's impossible to definitively say one or the other is always "best".
Yup my mind fights itself a lot on this topic my friend and I used to port our small cc 2 stroke engines they were carbureted so to get a better fuel/air mix we left the intakes coarse and everything else as shiny as we could get
Seemed to work great but the placebo effect always does hahaha
It was fun and I would do it again ;)
Air over air is less turbulent on non polished ports. Polished intake ports can cause air to speed up and bounce around causing negative flow behind the valve. Also important the main purpose of the engine such as drag racing only the roof of the port will flow, sides and bottom port dont factor. The purpose to polish the combustion chambers and exhaust ports is to reduce carbon buildup that ultimately reduces surface area.
Enjoyed your video. I did this when I was 19 and working as a finisher in an aluminum and magnesium foundry. We must have done a dozen sets of heads for V8 engines on our lunch breaks over time. Back then they were all cast iron heads. That was 50 years ago!
6 years later.. still love seeing this vid pop up on my youtube feed.
I have just reported this video to youtube as hardcore porn.
+bingoberra18 28:26 ... how did that not get flagged??
I have an old set of knock off weld racing wheels on my foxbody they were hazy and chemical stained but one day I sat down with a mothers power cone for about 7 hours and shined all four to a complete mirror shine. After I saw what I could do I polished my intake and the stainless steel exhaust tips ... I was so proud
It’s these types of videos that make UA-cam so awesome. Thanks for taking the time man!
There must be professional mechanics out there, who watch this and can't follow! And after all that I hear him mention this is a stage '1.5' porting job, you Sir are a legend.
Garages that charge an arm and leg for stage 3 etc... , I can't see how they would do a better job than this full stop
No annoying music, comment with the touch of humor and under mechanical aspects? Well explained. A very fast 1/2 hour. Thx 4 it : )
3 things to do....
1: subscribe to your channel. Done!
2: watch the rest of your posts.
3: do all the stuff you've done on your engine.
Goodbye friends, see you all in about 3 months....
Wow man, thanks a lot for putting this up and being sooo to the point. I have a prelude vtec head sitting in my basement with a ton of dremel stuff too, so this is my research part.
This video has a lot of great lines, but my favorite is @ 9:43 with that visual of two valve guide eyes staring you in the face.
Voiceovers are work, man. I hold that as the highest-esteemed compliment from the 1-take master of DIY videos. I've seen you do it more than once. Every time I do, I'm all like... "man how much time it would save editing if I can do that." :) b
I never got crazy results from the heads, but when I polished the inside of aluminum intake manifolds on Subarus, WOW. Every time it's like a different car completely, you can't help but giggle when you mash the pedal.💯
This brought back a lot of good memories, a friend and I would do this to VW heads. The intake was always cast small compared to the carbs and manifolds we used so I finally bought a Craftsman electric die cutter. We would use the gaskets to mark the ports then open them up to size. Then clean up the passages in the head.
I would polish the combustion chambers to a mirror finish.
I was lucky enough to have a friend with a flow bench.
The work was worth it.
Why mirror shine the chambers, no hot spots and after a years driving and racing the chambers had a smooth carbon build-up.
I left the old valves in the head when polishing the chambers so I didn't booger anything up.
FrostyCoug lol... those aren't for me. They're for the machinists that do all my machine work. Showing up with coffee and donuts is how I get my parts in and out of their shop faster than anyone else. ;) Whenever you see that place roll by, it's foreshadowing to a part being re-engineered to my specifications without showing it happening. I've illustrated it in several other videos. Always show up at the in-laws and at the machine shop with a token of appreciation. :P
Brendan Raymond Just never walk in backwards with a attitude. It will never go well anywhere.
***** Boundary layer turbulence is about helping the air make the turn into the chamber itself by keeping the boundary layer consistent throughout the radius of the port itself which prevents the air from "sticking", which creates deeper level turbulence. If you would like to learn more about the topic, it's called fluid dynamics. Not assuming that you don't know about it, just sharing in case you don't.
That is why you would want to keep the intake port a little rough. The fuel argument as you pointed out is invalid. It's about helping the air break up and to not be "sticky".
Joe11Blue Hi Joe, so what roughness do you recommend. 80 grit? 120 grit? Just curious :-)
I would say 120, but 80 would be fine, too... as long as the surface is uniform the full length of the port, that's about as much as you can ask for with a DIY job. I say 120 because the texture it leaves is easier to SEE as you're working than 80 is. After you're done with the 80, you'll be able to see where you made mistakes as the texture changes. The sandpaper the 120 grit rolls are made from is thinner and more flexible, so you can actually smooth and reach places that you would damage trying to grind with the coarse grits. Going beyond that anywhere else in the port is splitting hairs for 1-3% potential.
***** I apologize for not immediately subscribing - some comfort at least... I subscribed after watching the second video LOL.
Great videos, awesome advice, respect
Watched the whole vid - Thanks - I'm now inspired to apply all lessons to my stock original 35k miles R5 GT turbo
Blown away. Mad Props dude, thorough with not only what to do but what to look for as you're doing it. So well done, wish I could hit multiple thumbs ups. Crazy good video!
I know I'll never do this to my car giving how I don't have neither the resources or the skill, I still watched the whole 32 mins tho
This has got to be the best video I've seen on UA-cam for a long while now!
Your comment is well written and I honestly appreciate your rebuttal.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to offer a better explanation....in reading your reply I realize I was the one who should have done more research ..my apologies
;) Just a FYI, my experiment didn't produce any results worthy of accolades or scientific awards. There was a lot of wasted efforts in this video and we both agree on the theories and principles of airflow, I'm sure. Joe Mondello is and will remain a legendary automotive badass!
Thank you for this video!!!! After watching it I did a bit more research and then did a P&P job on my STI heads. It consumed much more time that I initially thought, 40-60 hrs, but in the end I feel my throttle response is amazing and power curve is much smoother. I'm helping my buddy do a P&P on his built KA24 and I told him to watch your head series in prep. Good work on this video my friend!!!
You see... this right here. This is why I do this. Personal satisfaction... community... and someone took an idea and produced results they can be proud of. This is what makes my efforts worthwhile. I never wanted to be the definitive guide to porting, I wanted to just be one of the voices. You did it right! You gathered the ideas of many to determine your path, and produced results that you can FEEL. You can't put a price tag on that. You did it. I keep telling people I really only make motivational videos, not instructional videos... I always get back blank stares. Not everybody understands that. Nobody learns anything from watching my videos, they don't learn anything until they go and do the work. You graduated! I'm proud of you, man!
OMG! The attetion to detail! Great work man!! :D:D
I would have loved to seen dyno before and after polishing :/
nick f Clearly you’ve never ported a head
@nick f more then u got for painting your gas lid
nick f this makes a pretty big difference esp if your running a bigger cam. I have a 2008 trx700xx I bought the other weekend that I put a stage three cam, black diamond valves/springs, and a 12.1 JE Piston but failed to clean the head up which had carbon build-up all in the exhaust side and the chamber wasn’t all that great neither was the intake but me not having the tools at the time I was working on it I just went head and slapped it back together. Now I can’t really tune it to get all I can get out of it because my heads are so dirty. ANYTHING dealing with how fuel/air flows makes a big difference especially with a high performance engine because it’s gonna need more fuel to turn it regardless. You must not know too much about motors lol.
Polishing doesn't improve performance, this has been shown time and time again. In fact having the inlet polished can make things worse. Port shape is the important parameter, not surface finish.
@@ferrumignis Surface finish makes big differences around the port... Dimped or rough surfaces change laminar flow, this causes air/fuel to tumble or flow considerable better or worse. The reason most cars don't come like that, even race cars is because its extremely time consuming for very very small result, but from a numbers point it shows.
The consistent sarcasm and honesty from this video is immaculate
Fantastic video! The editing and high speed was perfect to demonstrate what you have done.
I am a professional head porter (I work for a top name guy doing chevrolet cylinder heads). We never take the time to polish as you did. I believe it is beneficial in the chambers but unnecessary in the runners (we finish with a 80 - 120 grit cartridge roll). I would spend the polishing time shaping the bowls with a carbide instead. I understand and agree it is critical (esp with novices) to be conservative but there are a lot of inconsistencies in the bowl area you could clean up with minimal increase in volume. All things considered a great video!
Thanks Kenneth! I make the same recommendations to everyone today as well. It was suggested I try this after a discussion with a reputable shop (that I still won't out) about polyquad heads and how they create more tumble and swirl in a 4V configuration. They mentioned using the dual-textured port to disrupt boundary layers and create tumble earlier in the port. I thought it sounded like a good experiment. Ultimately I went from being able to tune this car for 10.5:1 A/F ratios without knock to 10.6:1 A/F without knock. Nothing amazing or worth bragging about. It did nothing for the butt dyno. So like in the video where I gave people the out after the 120 grit, I still give that advice today in the comments. I can't pin a tenth of a point of A/F ratio on this texture work on a head that was also ported. It's just not a big enough gain to be worth this effort. My biggest gains were probably just from cleaning up the casting. I learned something from this one, so I have no regrets. :)
Very nice work and not because it's shiny.
From the sight of my limited experience and knowledge i would have reduced the lateral bumps on the valves guides and widened the ports a bit just here.
it would help the flow since it's a restriction zone caused by the valves and guides.
widening the port here would compensate a bit for that.
Maybe i would have rounded a bit more the squish angle to limitate detonation since you said it's a high compression engine.
because of the forced induction the squish turbulence is not a big necessity i think.
you have quite a nice tumble on a 4 valves cylinder.
It may help you next time : i use a vacuum cleaner with a fuel hose taped to it that i plunge in the port that i'm working on to suck the debris when i grind (especially the exhaut ports)
it works very good to see what i'm doing and to limitate the tools to clog.
Very nice work again.
Thank you for showing that.
It's really interesting.
Good point on the vacuuming of debris. I have seen awesome basement woodshops with central vac system to get rid of all that annoying sawdust. Now that stuff is annoying, but much more important to get rid of metals and such. Glad he wore a mask.
this video made me work on a old itr integra head I had.... now I'm about to get. into a cnc machining course because of it...... also my wife was furious at me cause I was so in to this video lol
Rodolfo Munoz
Women aye. Cant please em
its always about them isn't it. they can't enjoy life and want you miserable with them
When i polished my bikes exhaust ports i took plenty of pictures and literally showed them to anybody.
I might have a problem.
Love your comment. Same here lol.
don’t be that guy
The 1st port I ported was completely ruined. My mentor let me do that to show me what not to do.
It was a junk head.
Awesome video man. My 2.0T ecotec Saab recently jumped time and bent my valves. Swapped heads for another known good head. Now I have a spare in need of a rebuild, which lead me to your video. Feel much more confident in taking on this port and polish job, and actually really excited to get started now. Thanks for documenting this!!
My hat goes off to anyone with your determination and grit, partner! Older video, but it is still very valid and rather honest for the internet.
I’d love to see a before and after Dyno run. Great work man!
That was great work, mirror-like finish and all. too bad it will never be seen on the inside of the engine.
Yeah, true that! Lol. I'd love to see this same head after a week of running it in....... I bet a good car wash would last longer! However if your looking to kill/waste time, have at it bro!
Sensei, master, doctor, all this you are! New sub, phenomenal contribution.
One of the best DIY Porting videos I've seen. Oh the hours I spent Porting and Polishing Buick and Pontiac Heads at NorthWest Buicks in Oak Harbor Washington. A good respirator is a MUST. I had to use carbide on the cast iron, but once the shape and diameters are where you want them, then yep the spiral sanding tips are where you want to be. I applaud you on the rough floor, in big bore engines at idle or when they are cold the rough surface helps keep the fuel from pooling and sticking to the floor as the air hits the pockets and pulls the fuel up into the air stream. The smooth surface on the roof and walls is great at the high rpm's to keep the turbulence down and things flowing with little obstruction to the valves. Unless you have a flow bench it's a good idea just to port match then smooth and blend the walls, as the engineers know what they're doing and most people don't, so removing the imperfections is the best all around thing to do. If for some reason you just have to increase it and don't have a flow bench or Dyno, KEEP it all the same size between the channels using a set of dividers. Measure the width, height and diagonal dimensions and keep them as close as possible. The same goes for the combustion chambers too with the valves installed, except you'll have to CC them to make sure they're all the same volume, and yes blend those sharp edges to keep pre-detonation down. Thanks for sharing. Best Wishes and Blessings. Keith Noneya
I keep coming back to this video ever time I need to understand what I'm doing wrong so I thank you so much for taking your time to make this video
I've spent more time than that on a single cylinder 2 stroke. Good video.
So have I you could have eaten out of the ports on my cylinder
I can only imagine your idea of a stage 3,4 or 5 port polish is.
You can use as a telescope
Haha right!
This is the first of your videos I have watched. It is excellent and I really enjoyed it. Great information, great editing, and excellent verbal presentation. Really impressive. Thanks for posting.
***** Oh man… I hope your schedule is clear. This is the format all of my videos follow. You're about to lose your entire weekend here. Thank you for sharing and welcome aboard! :) b
I know what you mean about getting the polishing bug! I spent 300 hours hand polishing my BBS LM wheel barrels/lips, and I loved it so much I just went wild and half my engine bay is polished now! Ordered a new motor coming soon so I’ll be doing this to my head for sure! Can’t wait!!!
I've watched this video couple years ago, and watched now again, however I will never do this job in my life, more likely. But I enjoyed to watch it.
Good job.
Hey Jafro, i know its probably no big deal but the little pot holes in the casting in the ports can be filled with JB or some sort of epoxy, let to harden, then blended in with the rest of the port work.
Its commonly done on SBC and BBC heads when they tube them. Tubing Its an old trick where they would actually port into the water jacket on purpose, press in a tube and epoxy it in.
There is a guy here on youtube that is the only one Ive ever seen do it. Ive only heard about it before in school at UTi and seen the heads done but never watched someone do it until this one guy, he is an old timer and knows his shit. His channel is Headbytes porting I think. He is a cool dude. Check him out if you get a chance. Ive learned a few things from him. Its always good to learn from the old guys!
I have watched this whole video series on my second time through. Such good information to absorb. Not only well done man, but thank you for going through such lengths to get this put together for everyone else.
I love how you mentioned that surface texture only matters for carb setups.
That's a lot of work man, and good work too. I got to hand it to you. As for the people you said think a ruff casting helps atomize the fuel. I think they don't understand what atomization of fuel is. Port turbulence won't even mix the fuel. The only thing the ruff port finish does is increase boundary layer turbulence thereby essentially reducing the flow size of the port. As for amortization. Honda did a study more than 40 years ago and they found that amortization ONLY happens when the piston is compressing the fuel/air mix. The compression of the fuel/air and heat vaporizers (amortization) the fuel. At near TDS the pressure can run 300 psi for a light load, to 1000 psi for a production engine at full power, to even 1500 psi for race engines. People worrying about mixing or amortization of the fuel in the manifold or intake port are wasting their time.
Thank you! So many people believe that port textures are religion. I made this video, but even I don't believe that. I just wanted to demonstrate all the techniques that were possible while experimenting. When you get into forced induction, 90% of the port texture crap goes right out the window. Flowbenches don't test with boost, they test with vacuum. Boost compresses the boundary layer, so the observed tests from a flowbench change under the engine's running condition anyway. EFI engines don't mix fuel in the manifold like carbureted engines do. The reason I was willing to try this has more to do with the principles you explained. My reading on the topic exposed that 4V/cylinder engines don't produce swirling airflow currents as the combustion chamber is filled. 2V/cylinder engines do (like most normally aspirated V8's). The majority of fuel mixture that occurs comes from the tumbling effect as air rushes in and gets compressed. My efforts were to try to exaggerate the tumbling effect a tad by disrupting only one side of the boundary layer of the port. Did it work? WHO KNOWS?! LOL! Wait... that's your user name... ROFL. Really, the car is running extremely well. It's making a ton of power for what it is. I know I didn't hurt it. I also know that I can't afford having someone make me a PolyQuad head to produce swirl, and I'm not willing to invest that kind of cash on a 1st gen Elantra that's only gunning for 12's in the 1/4 mile. Thanks again for getting it. :)
I don't know what is more impressive, the twenty hours of pure craftsmanship, or the half hour of commentary that is compacted into an almost overload of useful information. I'm sure most of this is useless in regards to to me and my cast iron Chevy 283 heads but it does inspire me to want to give it a shot. Maybe I'll try out some of this crash course magic on my predator 212 mini bike engine. This a fantastic video, you got my subscribe man, I loved it!
+Jafromobile You need to have your PayPal listed in the descriptions of these videos! Not in an asking for handouts type thing, but I have never found a more in-depth tutorial, that is well edited and great commentary. I would gladly donate for each video that's helped me. That way you can buy more parts and post more videos! It's a Win/Win!
Ooooo... shiny.... moth... flame...
What's happened to me? I used to be a musician, but now I'm watching exhaustive polishing videos of parts of my car that no one will ever see!! Why am I obsessed with this stuff? That's rhetorical
+Stacy McMillan What happened to me? I used to be a musician, but now I'm making exhaustive polishing videos of parts of my car that only people on UA-cam will ever see. Why am I obsessed with this stuff? That's the second chorus.
+Jafromobile Same thing over here, i used to be a garage guitar player, a good boyfriend, a guy who liked to go with friends and having a beer on friday night! But instead i watched 32 mins of your video, making my first head job in my Tercel head and Can't wait to go to the junk yard and find a Toyota 5E-FE head and start polish and porting it to put on my little Tercel 3E Block... Then boost it! :D
Regards from Honduras!
+Jafromobile visit w
Rhetorical or not, you're a musician, that implies great brain functions, engineering is only a few blocks away, could've been architecture, or medicine. I know a doctor who started his high school (europe) with architecture in mind, got awfully bored (as he put it) and switched mid Uni to medicine.
Fun to go to the track with a stock appearing engine and clean house:) The real power is in quality porting on the inside not the bling on the outside.
Your comment is well written and I honestly appreciate your rebuttal.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to offer a better explanation
i'm a wood carver/ worker. The polishing process could be made easier/faster with wood working supplies. Now days they make really big contoured sanding attachments with all kinds of grits as well as different shaped buffing wheel/things.
basically, a bunch of old guys like making wood sculpture and wood bowls. They're arthritis and low energy level makes it hard for them to sand and polish more than one bowl per retirement/life. so, there's multiple companies that make all kinds of crap for this. Go check it out!! *try woodcraft
also! we spend allot of time sharpening and stropping our tools. we can feel the difference between stropping (polishing) compounds. There was a study done with microscope cameras on polishing compounds and most that are on the market are a mix of different size particles. They only thought they needed some particles of a certain grit size, they didn't think it would be a problem to throw in a bunch of particles that are way bigger. this is all the polishing compounds in hardware stores.
Theres very few that really polish without scratching. Flexcut gold. DMT. henry tylor. the only ones i've found so far. good luck.
I love old arthritic guys that make tools to make life easier. All good information! Thanks for chiming in!
yeah...i wish you would get a honda express to restore. really nice video man. top notch. i know how much work it is.
I end up using Diamond files to really fine tune a port/polish.
You should try menzerna compounds. I'm a woodworker and luthier myself, and I've found their compounds to be excellent for everything from stropping, to polishing metal, to buffing out lacquer. They are aggressive, but have a consistent particle size and take less grit steps to get the end results.
You want about 80-100 grit surface roughness on intake. Flows air at a higher velocity because like a golf ball, the roughness provides "air bearings" so air moves quicker. Extrude honing doesn't work very well, only works on parts you cant get to like some intake manifolds and exhaust manifolds.
My information is from UNOH using a flowbench. Take it for what it is worth.
No questions there. Most people see the thumbnail and assume those are intake ports. My intake ports are 1/2 rough. I left the bare cast texture on the length of the floor inside the intake ports. You can't see it very well in the video because the ports curve downward, but there's a few shots in this video where it shows the floor is rough. The polished texture is blended into the roof, only. The short radius was de-burred only and smoothed before the seats. Because of some of the casting flaws, I know at the very least that I improved what I started with. It would be sweet if I could find someone in my area to flow a stock 1.6L 4g61 cylinder head and the one I polished. I can get my hands on another one of these heads, but I called everyone who advertises the service and they all told me they can't even attach their equipment to it, or that they can't give me accurate results. What's the point of flowbench equipment that doesn't give accurate results? According to my datalogs, I have no shortages of airflow now that it's bolted back together, but I'd rather know cfm per-runner and what my work did? I'll find a reason to tear the head off, get that other head, and drive a reasonable distance if I could find someone that wants to do it. People near me don't even seem to want to let me pay them for this info. I researched how to build my own flowbench because of this, but have since lost the motivation due to time and space constraints. I just don't have the room to build it. I also don't really want to ship this head. I want to be able to film it and talk about the shop that did it. I'd ship my pants, I'd ship my drawers, but I don't want to ship my head.
...also please note at 14:39 where I gave 90% of the viewers an out. I told them that's a stopping point for intake work. The rest of this is a waste of time. I do know the golf ball theory and how it's being evolved into aeronautic and the lab cars that got 70+mpg. I don't disagree with existing data. If someone had a cylinder head that was cast as irregularly machined and poorly put together as mine, I would still expect this treatment to yield significant gains.
Jafromobile love all your vids I see them several times no matter if was sub when you upload them and by the way bad obsession garage aka project Binky mention you on the last video Q&A 😲💪💪
Im literally watching this video the 3rd time becouse its too interesting...
This has encouraged me to finish replacing the hydraulic lifters in my isuzu. I've never done any mechanical work before, but this has helped.
Dude you are a riot. The mono logging during the work is funny and insightful and packed with very sound advice. This is by far one of the best DIY videos I have watched. If it wasn't as good as it was I never would have made it thru the half hour of watching it. The thing I keep running thru my mind is the hours vs. cost of a shop. You say you took it to a 1.5 level port job at 30 hrs of labor. If you paid a shop 100/hr that's 3k and I don't know what shop rate is where you live but out here in CA. performance shops can charge that per hour. Take it to a level 2 or 3 porting with a 5 angle valve job ( I would say x2 for a v-8, but with 4 valves per cylinder you did the same work ) and I would think that would double the hours from 30 to 60+ hours. SO your time is worth money ,but it seems to me you saved between 1500 - 3000 with the material cost under 100. That is a job well done !!! I look forward to seeing the engine running and to hear what other things you did to it along the road to being rebuilt.
I'm reading this about 3 years later after this post and still prices have probably gone up on labor and polishing /porting no one ever does for the simple fact that they don't want responsibility of you blaming them for their car not being where they expected their car to be at and don't intend to care about what you might say or what they have contributed to the problem since they don't know what they're talking about and the majority will just try and blame the mechanic that worked on their their car or anyone else that touch their head or just anyone who even drove their car not the person who worked on the entire engine for like 3 years and tried to blame the guy who just touched up the surface of theirr onehead t's incredible the amount of money you'll spend for a job like this nd he's right California is one of the most expensive especially here in Los Angeles to get a port job done
So YEARS ago, in my late teens on into my mid-twenties, I had a "Project Car" that also happened to pull double duty as my Daily (lol) Driver.
It was my coveted '89 Probe GT, with the (some would say) infamous Mazda F2-T motor: 2.2 liter SOHC 12 valve (odd I know?) Turbo 4. For some reason or another, that engine was laughably rated at only 145 hp. Well, I can tell you-- and so can many other Fox body 5.0's-- without any exaggeration what so ever, that this just could NOT be the case: After careful consideration, and frequent use of my Butt Dyno, I am now certain that the true hp, at full 12 psi of boost, was in the neighborhood of 170-180 hp. Now, the TORQUE rating was more accurate: I think it was rated at 190 or so lb.ft. Personally, I believe it to be just a tad higher: somewhere around 220 lb.ft. (at full boost).
ANYWAYS, I digress....So this one time the car had some "down time" while I waited on both the car parts to come in, and my energy and willpower to arrive.
After staring blankly at the motor w/ the hood up, I thought "why don't I shine up some of this aluminum in the engine bay?" There was a good amount of it: the valve cover, T-body, intake, etc. etc. all the usual stuff. And it was all dreary & stained & very tired looking-- a sad gray color. It looked very boring.
So I took off the valve cover first. Since it had alot of flat sides, I figured (correctly) that my DA Sander ought to get right in there with ease. I started with 200 grit (it was all VERY rough casted) and slowly slowly worked my way up to frikin' 2K (2,000!) grit sandpaper. After the sanding & smoothing part of the metal was done, I then went to town with Mother's® Aluminum Polish.
Man.....after finishing up with this little job, a week later, I could literally use the flat top of the valve cover as a mirror. It was a FunHouse mirror because of the slight bending shape, but a mirror it was nonetheless. It looked GOOD in there, under the hood. So I started with the rest of it...
The intake manifold/plenum was slightly tubular, which equated to hell getting in the curves with my DA Sander. I got all that I could, and used my hands for the curved parts. Same thing for the T-body-- It was of course "round"shaped, which led to a majority of it getting polished by hand.
This. Took. A while. My friends thought I was crazy: Everytime they stopped by, I was out on the side of the house-- Probe's hood was up, and I was sitting, leaned over in a lawn chair, sander in one hand, random engine part in the other. My parents almost called the "Men in the White Lab Coats" to come and get me, they were so worried. My neighbors started talking about the "wacko kid who sands anything made of metal at all hours of the night & day". I had become the Black Sheep of my family. All this from wanting an attractive under-hood setup for the next time I visit the local Friday Night Hangout.
But, it was ALL SO WORTH IT. From that point on, ANYTIME I popped my hood (...too add oil, too add coolant, or to tighten up a sparkplug that was constantly prone to backing itself out and being blown out of the cylinder head...) random people & passerbys would catch just a GLIMPSE of all that mirrored-finish Aluminum catching the sun's rays, and they would FLOCK to me all at once, asking the usual questions like, "MAN! Whatcha got in this thing!" or "wow--is this stock?". I relished in all the attention. I won't lie. It would seriously draw attention at any auto parts store I went to.
And this wasn't a good looking car, either. I mean, the aesthetics of it weren't good looking: The OEM red paint was just atrocious. The shit was horrible: faded spots everywhere, clear coat starting to peal, you name it. The BODY, however, was straight-- not a dent on it... Which was just unbelievable considering some of the crap I did in it when I was young.
So, I'm with you on the whole "polishing metal takes along time" thing.
I'm also with you on the whole "polishing metal is long, arduous, back-breaking work BUT-- It's totally absolutely worth it in the end".
VERY INFORMATIVE! AND ENTERTAINING 🤓😂YOU'RE THE BEST! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!👍🏻
Whenever I see this thumbnail on youtube all I can think of is "Bite my shiny metal ass!"
Did these methods on my 535cc single cylinder motorcycle. Thanks for the video. Definitely boosted performance by night & day ❤️
Nice video, I've ported heads myself and your words are true, you must have lots of patience, I like the explanation of the different theories of what works and where to concentrate the work on. Only thing I may have done differently is to remove the valve guides to allow greater access and cut off the part that sticks out into the port, at least on the intake side. I like the dowel pin trick, I know what you mean about the chuck gouging the aluminum. Try some noise cancelling or blocking earbuds and an MP3 player to preserve your sanity and hearing. Porting and polishing has a lot to do with "feel". You have to feel the contours of the ports as you remove metal. Make sure you know where your water jackets and bolt holes are. He definitely made that crappy casting look it's best.
Excellent video!
Thank you so much for the vid. I'm going to the junk yard and buying a couple of shit heads just to practice.
jolmeaki lol "shitheads"
+jolmeaki good idea!
Hey, good idea.
The most power to be had from porting a sb chevy head is the roof of the exhaust port. This came from a Hot Rod article in 1966. With the headers removed, engine in car, you stick your finger in the top of the exhaust port. There is a big sharp lump there that has to come out. 1 1/2 hour job tops with the head already removed. Good for 35 horsepower.
good thoughts about the surface finish in the intake ports..... but your missing a key physics function of air moving through a tube/port/runner its called "boundary layer" they tested it on mythbusters (very crudely) with a car surface for top speed. similar principles are applicable to port work. the rougher surface breaks up the boundary layer increasing port flow.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_layer
`polishing can be detrimental ALSO Jafro needs to understand the difference between DETONATION and preignition which rarely occurs on automobile engines
yes there is a difference, I can assure you both can and do happen on automobile engines, not as much as 20 years ago but they still do.....especially with poor fuel or lack of servicing.
There's something about the self accomplishment and pride you feel when completing Keyes's projects such as this. There's not to me things out there that you can compare it to. Although my comments 5 years Or so After the upload of this video just thought you might come across that then put a smile on your face, great job. ''Hast makes waste''
This wealth of knowledge was so informative and a joy to watch. The right decision for you to film and narrate this.
When you start studying how an engine effectively works and dive in this head porting world you wrongly start to believe in lots of myths and misunderstood information that normaly have been empiricly tested but never proved... Example ,I can compare it with the academic welding scenario. There is lots of information present in the literature which are wrongly assumed as true just because it was evidencied by someone who mentions traditional knowlogements as true facts, (sometimes they're not real or sustainable). Yep this maybe can be a way in science, but you never know the true facts by this way. I liked your work and effort trying to bring us a solid statement about this subject.