[96greenGT]

I recently aquired a 2000 long block SOHC that will replace my 96 engine. I have the engine completly torn down, the block is at the machine shop getting dipped, bored and checked for trueness and cracks. The heads will be next, but my question is this.... can the heads be ported myself with any true gains or should I rely on the shop themself? I have seen many articles on the net about this kind of work and it looks fairly simple to do, even mild work, nothing major. Like grinding down the big hump below the intake valve. Any one ever done this themselves with good results. Anyone know of any links of "How too's" ?
Thanks for any responses in advance!

[mdvaldosta]

It's not too difficult, though it's time consuming. A die grinder, grinding stones, wd40, cartridge rolls, flap wheel, work bench, goggles is all you ppretty much need. Use your old intake / exhaust gaskets as a template and use a marker to outline where you want to gasket match.

Use the stones to remove large amounts of material and blend as far into the ports as you can (preferably to the valve guides). Leave everything a tad smaller than you want it to be, as you'll need room to smooth everything out. Use cartridge rolls to clean up the rough stone work and get a smooth finish. Leave the intake side alone after that and use a flap wheel to get a polished finish on the exhaust side.

Next carefully blend the bowl area into the ports and smooth the short side radius and roof. You don't need to remove much material, just casting flash. Be careful not to damage the valve seats while working the bowl area, that would suck. They make inserts that protect the valve seats while doing this, though I couldn't find any and haven't needed them (though it would a good idea if you can get em).

Finally, grind down the ridge over the intake valve - this will unshroud it and increase flow. It's a good idea to stick the valves back in for this so you don't nick the seats. Clean that up with cartridge rolls and do the same for the rest of the chamber. Then, polish the entire chamber to a mirror finish. Don't try to remove material here, as it will lower your compression ratio.

The goal here is not to reshape anything, just port matching and cleaning everything up. Worth probably 15 - 20 horsepower with typical bolt-on's. Here's a good write-up that I found helpful the first time I ported heads. It's not rocket science unless you're in NASCAR.

[96greenGT]

thanks alot for the detailed guide, i'll bust out the dremel and get started!!

[niubodybuilder05]

So say i have a stock 2003 gt, and i wanted to get my heads ported, how much would it cost a shop to do it? and it would add maybe 20 hp for it?

[mdvaldosta]

CNC ported heads usually run around $1300 if you provide the heads... CNC jobs are usually worth 25-30 hp. Try VT, Patriot Performance, Steen, etc.

[01silversnake]

what, when you buy those heads do they already come polished or something?

[Fryrice]

Theres a reason all those performance shops have those big expensive tools .Leave that stuff to a pro. If its done wrong you can actually loose power ,and your really screwed . Ive seen experienced engine builders mess up ,and end up with less power than they started with.

No offense, but wasnt that "write-up" done by a company looking to sell something ? I would think they they have a interest in making it look easy .

[96greenGT]

I have done some price shopping and one machine shop quoted me $2k right off the bat. There are a few shops here who specialize in Mod motors and some you cannot trust due to their reputation. I've also seen a few places on the net who sell stage 1 and stage 2 heads ready to go, with your trade in core and the price still beats what that one machine shop quoted me. Why are these cams so darn expensive????

If the cams on a newer engine (like the windsors) have pressed on gears and after market cams come just a cam, that means you have to buy a cam gear as well? Looks like this engine build for me will be worth more then any other engine I have built before....

[inthered03]

I have seen the drimel technique done successfully one time. It was by an old school motorhead that had been building engines since the 60's when there was no high tech machine to do it, and it was on a big block chevy head. It is not a simple task to do. You can read all the tech pages you want. Unless you have been taught by someone who really knows what they are doing, I wouldn't suggest widdling on your very expensive heads.

[Drgnracin72]

and cam gear setup is only like $75. modular motors are not the cheapest engines to build, but they are of fun

[96greenGT]

so where are these cams for $75 at? the cheapest i have found so far (new) are 5 bills for the set?

just to be clear, i am talking the complete camshaft with cam gear......

[mdvaldosta]

He's talking about the cam gears. The gears you can get from Ford.

[Drgnracin72]

i was tlaking about the cam gears someone said something about some having pressed on and some that dont have cam gears on the cams, so you go and buy the cam gears from ford for about $75

[96greenGT]

well i found some used cams (stage 2 comp camps) that have no miles on them from a friend who was building one but fell short on money. so i picked them up for 300 bucks. i plan on putting a performance intake, long tube headers, plenum, throttle body with spacer, possibly an adjustable cam gear set.... but my question is, what will an adjustable timing pointer do for me? does it plug in with the stock crank sensor and allow an adjustment?