You can do it without taking them apart, but obviously it’s safer if you do take them apart. If you don’t, use a shop vac to vacuum everything out when finished. You need a good set of burrs. Eastwood sales a nice set. I used them for mine and my exhaust manifolds.

A set of head stands also make the job easier.

 

I would not even consider doing it with the valves in. Consider:

1.) it is much easier to insure all shavings are out when done if valves removed
2.) you risk nicking a valve stem if you do it with the valves in
3.) you can blend much further back in over and a round the valve guides if the valves are out. (more of a pocket port than gasket match)

Not having a die grinder at the time, I did mine with a Dremel tool. With a die grinder as, Patrick, said a good set of burrs should do it. They make some with long stems for porting.

 

Is the engine in the car? Silly question, but if not, yeah, you could do it on an engine stand, one closed cyl. at a time...I know its been done before, Not tHe best method, but doable..I used a kit from summit for porting and it worked out fine.I also used that same article, my heads were off the engine though.

 

I worked in a machine shop as a 2nd job for years. Owner did mostly race engines and was very good at it as he was very busy..
He told me that you will get the most gain with porting under the valve. As long as the Exhaust port is smaller than the header there’s no restriction, and same goes for the intake port to the intake head port..That’s where the most restriction is on any production head under the valve. He also told me to never touch the floor of any ford head other than with a paper roll to smooth. There already to low..

 

As long as the Exhaust port is smaller than the header there’s no restriction, and same goes for the intake port to the intake head port.. He also told me to never touch the floor of any ford head other than with a paper roll to smooth. There already to low..

Yeah...... NO on the first comment. Particularly on the exhaust side. That's never a good thing.
The "floor" of the port comment is 100% accurate though.
We had a guy with about 50 years of experience doing head porting at JBA. Between him and a superflo bench we pretty much ruled the head modification business in San Diego.
Just in case you think I'm full of **** we used to physically raise the ports sometimes. There was an asinine amount of power gotten via that approach.
This was long before anyone thought to do that. We did it on the Robert Yates engines we built for them.

 

Valves out,....why take any chances?

 

Thanks guys. The heads are off the car. So best to take them apart. Then I can smooth up in the bowl too I guess.

 

If you only have one bit, a round nose burr is the way to go. I have also done it with stones, surprisingly quick, faster than with a dull burr.

It is best to take them apart. I have done a few assembled, once even on an assembled engine on a stand. It's critical to pack the port with paper towels, etcetera. If you do this, make sure you face the port downward, and suck the debris out with a shop-vac, pulling the paper towels as well. Doing it this way has never been a problem, but obviously not the first choice.

I recently posted a thread on doing this, and those heads were in good condition. When the parts were removed, they were laid out carefully to ensure they were put back exactly as before (except new seals, of course).

It is now installed and running. Here is the reassembled engine, the red 66 is where it went:

 

I'm actually having the heads redone at a machine shop. So the guy said he'd take them all apart, I could take home and "port" them, then take back and he'd put it all back together.

He said it's not worth the money to pay him to "port" them. So I'd want to do it myself.

 

just be careful when you do this, the carbide will take material out fast

 

Yep. Porting, and port-matching are two different things. Port-matching merely removes excess material around the opening, lumps in the opening that result from casting flaws, and of course removes the projections added for the Thermactor system, but does not open the ports beyond the original design. This minimizes risk of ruining the head. Porting, on the other hand, seeks to enlarge the head beyond the designed size. The most extreme example I can think of is the Crane Fireball head, which was made using Service Replacement 289HP heads, and when the supply was exhausted, J code Service Replacement heads. The exhaust opening in those was amazing. These heads require special Fireball headers. The heads turn up on eBay regularly, usually being offered as 289HP heads. Tough to use unless you can find something that replicates the matching Fireball headers. I'm not aware of any.

 

There was a discussion about these heads on Speedtalk last week. The dark days of Ford performance when these or 351 windsor heads were your only options.

To the original poster I would suggest discussing compression with your engine builder, especially if they are not original 289 heads. You will get the most bang for your buck if your compression ratio is optimum for your cam and engine.

 

I use the conical or sometimes called the pine cone carbide bits with a medium tooth count and the rocks and also a sandpaper roll kit I get from Eastwood.

If you get into the actual ports on the exhaust side, be careful how much if any that you hit the sides of the port walls starting about an inch or so below the valve seat. You can fairly easily go too far and once it has thinned too much it will crack when run. Yes I did this on one head and learned this lesson the hard way.

You can leap to doing it all at one time or do this stuff in phases. I've done 3 sets of heads and the last set and the ones I'm still runningnot stock heads) got the whole treatment including angle milling and de-shrouding around the valves in the combustion chambers.

One thing in particular that I learned about grinding on heads is that you can virtually grind till dooms day and still not feel like you're done. Ultimately you have to stick a fork in it at some point and declare them done at the level you wanted to get to.

 

With aluminum, when your close to done, I like to real subtle like, run through all surfaces with a 60 grit cartridge roll.

 

For hogging and rough removal I liked an air die grinder with a ball carbide bit. When it got down to the finer grinding and polishing I felt I had better control with a Dremel type tool.

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-2305-Rotary-Tool-Shaft/dp/B003BYRFH8/ref=sr_1_5?crid=171ZAXAY6UO56&dchild=1&keywords=dremel+tool&qid=1587594707&sprefix=drem%2Caps%2C236&sr=8-5

Inexpensive carbide bits.

Amazon.com: Tungsten Carbide burrs Cutter Rotary Burrs Double Cut Set 6mm Cutting（10 Pcs）: Home Improvement

Buy Tungsten Carbide burrs Cutter Rotary Burrs Double Cut Set 6mm Cutting（10 Pcs）: Cutting Burrs - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

Thanks for all the info guys. My car is just a Sunday driver that is spruced up a little. Headers, exhaust, intake, mild cam. I'm getting the heads redone so I figured now is a good time for "exhaust port" matching. By no means do I want to go to wild and take any risks. I think I'll just follow the exact instructions in the attached pdf. So the thermactor bumps should be ground off all together? What is the purpose of them? The way I look at it any "clean up" of the casting I do will help. Even if I don't get right down to 1/32" from the header opening. Even if I ended up doing only 50% of the port match it's still an improvement. Attached is what my head looks like.

 

So the thermactor bumps should be ground off all together? What is the purpose of them? The way I look at it any "clean up" of the casting I do will help.

If you do not have an operational Thermactor system, the bumps do nothing at all except obstruct exhaust flow and decrease both performance and fuel economy.

 

It's been years since I ported a set of heads and when I did my first set I removed the freeze plugs so I could get an idea how much material was there to work with. I used the header gasket as a reference and I did not remove anything from the floor of the exhaust port.

 

I'm getting ready to do the port matching. Hopefully this weekend. I have the new heads completely stripped down. I'll unbolt my headers from my current heads and pull that gasket out to use as a template. I'm also ordering the Remflex 3003 exhaust gaskets.

That's the only thing I'm a little unsure of at the moment is what exactly to use as a template for the porting. I know the head port needs to be slightly smaller then the header flange port. I just need to figure out that template. I think I can only use the gasket as a template if it matches the header port 100%.

 

The only reason for the Thermactor bumps was simply for the machining process of drilling the holes. Ever try to drill at a angle? Doesn't work very well. The bump was so the drill bit was perpendicular and wouldn't walk or snap a drill bit.

I've never ported heads but my thoughts would be to smooth rough edges and burrs. I would think it's more effective to try and keep the cross section of the port as consistent, keeping any bends or turns gradual with trying to straighten the path where possible. You're trying to make a port work efficiently. Exhaust gases are hotter and higher pressure then the intake but the volume of gases are the same. With the exhaust gases being hotter and higher pressure, they don't need as large of a port compared to the intake. High pressure means high flow and low pressure means low flow for a given size

 

Actually a couple basic errors in your theories Tom, my boy. The exhaust gases ARE hotter and, therefore, since gases expand, the volume coming out is much greater than the volume of air and fuel going in. The MASS may be the same but.... Second issue... at least according to Signore Bernoulli... as pressure increases, flow decreases. Reducing the pressure, by removing the restrictions, increases the flow.

 

Thanks guys. I have three different sized air die grinders and an electric dremel with many different sized bits. I'll follow the posted instructions and hopefully have it done this weekend. Then I can take the heads back to the machine shop and have them put back together.

 

The "old guy" is chiming in here.
FIRST "Reality check" Neither your "free" home porting OR spending $1,000 with John Bridges will make a C60E head perform as well as an out of the box aftermarket aluminum head!
Second COST. "If" you stick to your home porting only the cost is minimal "If" you move to bigger valves , screw in studs , hardened seats , the cost could exceed that of a set of "complete" aluminum heads that don't need porting.
Third No offense intended BUT "amature" porters "think" they are doing what is right but lack the technical expertise to keep velocity up as airflow increases. This involves knowing where to grind instead of just making ports big and smooth. More often than not there are dramatic flow differences ( port to port) on "do it yourself" heads for similar reasons. I know this by personal experience. According to my flow bench guy , "I" get lazy or in a hurry on occasion , as I have several "good" ports from a flow standpoint and others that didn't get as much "love" ( usually and end cylinder). It is expensive to have him "equalize" the ports.
Just a bit of experience spilling out.
Randy

 

The "old guy" is chiming in here.
FIRST "Reality check" Neither your "free" home porting OR spending $1,000 with John Bridges will make a C60E head perform as well as an out of the box aftermarket aluminum head!
Second COST. "If" you stick to your home porting only the cost is minimal "If" you move to bigger valves , screw in studs , hardened seats , the cost could exceed that of a set of "complete" aluminum heads that don't need porting.
Third No offense intended BUT "amature" porters "think" they are doing what is right but lack the technical expertise to keep velocity up as airflow increases. This involves knowing where to grind instead of just making ports big and smooth. More often than not there are dramatic flow differences ( port to port) on "do it yourself" heads for similar reasons. I know this by personal experience. According to my flow bench guy , "I" get lazy or in a hurry on occasion , as I have several "good" ports from a flow standpoint and others that didn't get as much "love" ( usually and end cylinder). It is expensive to have him "equalize" the ports.
Just a bit of experience spilling out.
Randy

I couldn't agree more! I "home ported" my heads and I fear they don't flow as much as I hoped they would. I'm waiting to weigh the car and get some times to see how good (more likely bad) I did but my next plan is a stroker and twisted wedge 190s.

 

This is not porting. This is port matching. It’s 2 hours of work.

I don’t have $2500+ for Aluminum heads.

A fresh set of cast heads for $1000 and grind the thermactor bumps off and smooth the rough casting for free.

Should be an improvement over my large chamber 1978 302 heads that are all original and very tired.

It’s a Sunday driver car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Two hours out in the garage doing something to my car that may or may not actually improve it but feels like it ought to. My happy place that I can't buy with money.

 

You can buy a PAIR of aluminum heads for $1,000 or less with some shopping on epay. Sure you can buy them for $2,500 or more but you don't need that. The trouble is no matter how much you grind on stock cast iron heads , ANY aluminum head is better "out of the box".

 

I went down this road a few years ago. The 7 cylinder 302 in my 66 had seen better days. I have a rebuilt late 70's 302 still sitting on a pallet under the garage bench. It has those nasty 69cc heads. If possible the exhaust ports look smaller then the typical 289/302 head. I gave some thought to do some rudimentary exhaust port work. Thinking a little bit I realized for me changing my plans completely would be far more cost effective. I didn't need or have to have a new motor. A good used motor would do. So with that I bought a 97 Explorer GT40P for $450. Sold off what I didn't want for $175. Net cost for the whole motor, $275. Used Stealth intake $80, used Mustang 5.0 roller cam $60, used 600 carb $125. I needed a new flywheel and balancer anyway so that was a wash. I did buy a spring kit from Axel's Parts, don't recall the price but I think just under $200.

I don't know exactly how much power it makes but it's a lot more then my old motor. This thing easy pulls to 5500. With a better cam, 6000 rpm would be no problem. According to a guy I talked with who works in a shop told me he has dyno'd a few of the GT40P/ Mustang cam combos, they make 280 FWHP.

 

Well I finished the exhaust port match this morning. Just removing the thermactor bumps was a huge pile of metal shavings. Then I opened them all up and polished them. All in all I removed a lot of material. As long as I don’t loose performance I call it a win.

I took them back to the machine shop and he said I’ll have a noticeable difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Stang, did you take any pictures of what you have done ? LSG

 

Stang, did you take any pictures of what you have done ? LSG

Yeah I have some. Just picked the heads back up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk