Home ported heads or bigger valves

[2FAST4U]

I'm freshening up a 60K mile stock long block for my T. I will run stock pistons and basically just rering it (either Speedpro plasma or Total Seal) and put in fresh bearings. This should be a mid 11 sec car.

Now for the question on the heads. I would like to do something to the heads. Since I'm on a budget, I'm not looking for an all out port job. Should I have a fresh valve job done on these heads and then do a little home porting in the bowl and low-flow areas around the valves or would it be better to have the larger Manley valves installed and not worry about porting anything? Any suggestions and ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[GNVAIR]

Keep the stock valves if you dont have a lot of money to spend. You will gain the most by concentrating your porting in the bowls as there is a ton of material to be removed. Finish by smoothing and blending the runners.
I have always done my basic porting/material removal from the bowls. I then have the valve job done and then do my final bowl blend.
The Buick V6 heads have to the worst castings I have ever seen. You can easily put 20+ hours into a pair to get them right.

 

[2FAST4U]

Yeah I was sorta leaning toward keeping the stock valves and not getting into a valve shrouding issue. I'm just debating the cost of having a light port job like this done by someone else or doing it myself. Any cost estimates on something like this?

 

[ijames]

A local shop (Burtonsville Machine, Burtonsville, MD) with a great reputation gets about $200-300 to bowl port a set of TR heads. They get about 75+% of the flow improvement of a full port job for less than half the price.

 

[UNGN]

Fresh valve job and home port is the way to go. Keep the Stock valves if you are on a budget. Machining and valves will set you back about $300 for larger valves to net about a 3% improvement in flow. If you are maxing out a pair of heads, larger valves make it possible. If you want more performance on a budget, stick with the stockers.

The local going rate for a good valve job is $150/pair. This will get you roughly 7% more flow by itself (if a deep throat cut is done) and is a great basis to start a home port job (short side radii and bowl blend) to get even more flow.

 

[2FAST4U]

The $200-300 price for the bowl port doesn't sound too bad. I will probably follow UNGN's advice and have a valve job done and then port the heads myself.

 

[postal]

Home porting can be very effective if you dont get carried away. Port shape is what you want to concentrate on. There is plenty of good reading to be found on head porting. Do some researching and you should be fine. Just remember to remove the material slowly. If your going to use a die grinder and a carbide burr to ruff them in then be carefull. Get a junk head from some thing and pracitce even if it isnt a buick head. Just try to get a feel for using the cutter inside the port of a cast iron head. A dremel with flex shaft and sanding drums is nice set up for removing material VERY slowly. Sanding drums are way to slow to try to port the heads only using them.

HTH: Jason

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

If your going to home port do it first then the valve job so they can grind out the cutter marks across the seats

very possible you'll hit them with a cutter ..but try not to

 

[2FAST4U]

I've got the air grinder and the carbide bits. I've done a few instakes and plenums before, but never a set of heads. The best thing that I did on the die grinder is put a pressure regulator on the die grinder itself. This way I can get more control with the grinder instead of the touchy "all or nothing" lever.

I figured that I would port the bowls with the valves still in the heads. Then have the valve job done with the deep cut and then belnd everything together.