I am getting ready to port my stock 455 Buick heads. Does anyone know of any cautions or pitfalls I should be aware of before I put the die grinder to work?
The folks that port heads professionally will grind on the head/check it on a flow bench, grind some more/check it again, fill the port/check it again....until they get the best flow numbers they can. If you don't have a flow bench, a whole bunch of heads to play with, and the patience to do the research, probably the best thing you can do (other than hire one of the guys I just talked about) is to match the ports up to the gaskets. Then blend and smooth the ridges and sharp parting lines in the bowl area. Leave the rest of it alone. Be careful that you don't slip and screw up a valve seat while you're playing around in there. (G) Larry T
Dont waste time asking here. Go to www.v8buick.com Those guys eat, drink, and sleep this stuff. They can offer help far and above the handfull of buick folks here on the HAMB.
Take his advice, they specialize.......now if you've done it for years and have a flowbench.... or even porting pucks to fit inside your port runners....I'd say uh-huh..........grind in the wrong place......is worse then not porting at all......
That's true. A ported head that LOOKS like it flows well may flow worse than stock. Just look at 250 Chevy heads--they found that it flows better when material is added to the floor of the port.
If this is for a street driven vehicle, then why bother?? You have 500 ft-lbs of torque in a stock package, how much more can your chassis absorb? .
dont port em. match the intake manifold and head to gasket and just clean up ports casting junk without opening up. radius machining junk undrer valve seats and then have someone do 5 angle valve job on your new stainless valves. hard seats if you can afford but they have induction hardened seats allready. eastwood ahs a nice entry level port setup w/ instructions for nove. get it.... or send to joe mondello..good luck
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