Cylinder Head Porting Tools 2

Cylinder head porting requires more specific tools and now we will continue to review them so people can learn what tools we use.

What we need after the cutting section are some grinding stones and polish assortment kits. These come in different shapes and like the cutters we use various shapes to help us shape and contour the ports better and here are what they look like.

5 Pc Mounted Grinding Stones 1/8


And a great professional abrasive assortment for cylinder head porting I use is here.
DPK-100 Porting and Polishing Deluxe Kit

Now its the time to start reviewing the special tools we use to make winning heads. Of all the tools that we use the most import one for cylinder head porting is the Flowbench. The flowbech is used so we can measure the actual amount of airflow that is flowing inside the ports and without it you can not know if a certain modification done on the port will result in an improvement or not and finally into actual power increase.

Flowbenches can be bought in various sizes and also if one wishes and wants to save some money can even build one himself. There are alot of DIY flowbenches out there and if one wishes to go that way please let me know. For myself I use a Superflow flowbench which is a great piece of equipment and is calibrated and I can check and compare my results with others too.

A flow bench can flow in either direction, that is intake and exhaust and with other special attachments, operators can determine the flow direction traveling into the cylinder so they can optimise the air/fuel mixture.

www.superflow.com

I would also like to point out on some great books on this subject and a definite buy for the serious enthusiat wishing to have more knowledge and start porting his own heads.

Four-Stroke Performance Tuning 3rd ed: A practical guide

How to Build, Modify & Power Tune Cylinder Heads

How to Build and Modify Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Cylinder Heads (Motorbooks Workshop)

Ford Sohc pinto & sierra cosworth dohc engines high - performance manual

Cylinder Head Porting Tools 1

Cylinder head porting requires certain tools that without them the ends result can or will be compromised and so now we will discuss what professional tuners use to modify the cylinder heads.

The first tool that is used for porting by hand is a straight high speed die grinder, and these come in two types, electric and pneumatic type.

Electric type:

Pros......powerful, variable speed (not all) and unstallable

Cons.......heavy, bulky to manoeuvre in tight areas

Milwaukee 5192 4.5 Amp High-Speed Die Grinder

Pneumatic type:

Pros....... light thus less tiring and easy to manoeuvre

Cons......power depends on compressor size/volume and can stall easily

Ingersoll Rand 3108 Super-Duty 1/4-Inch Pneumatic Die Grinder

Of great use is a flexible coupler that can be used on both grinders but usually on the electric type so it will alleviate from the weight of the tool and be less tiring to do the job.

https://www.allprotools.com/Accessories-p-38-c-273-sort-title-sdir-0.html

Now we delve into the cutting, grinding and polishing tools that we use.

Porters need to choose from different shapes and sizes of cutters for the required cut that is needed and also since there are two types of materials for cylinder heads that are Cast steel and cast aluminium that the appropriate cutter is used. Normally the best are Tungsten Carbide burr cutters and although they are more expensive they are very durable and make a better job.

Neiko Tools USA 8 piece Double Cut Carbide Rotary Burr Set

The shapes that we usually use are the straight, round, rounded cone and rounded straight. The difference between the cutters from material to be used on is the amount of flutes they have and normally for aluminium the less flutes the better so it will not clog up and in my experience i tend not to use the same cutter on different materials as it will shorten the life of the tool.

Next time we will continue to talk on the tools we use for cylinder head porting as there are some interesting tools coming up........

Cylinder Head Porting

Cylinder head porting is the most rewarding process that a professional tuner or DIY individual (if individual have enough knowledge and appropriate tools) can do to an engine to increase the power output/potential of any 2 or 4 stroke or even rotary engine on this planet and there is more to be gained by correctly porting the cylinder heads than by any other single modification you can do to the engine.

Why port the cylinder head?

Cylinder head porting is performed on engines being built for racing purposes or even done to an average Joe car were he demands more power from his vehicle. Porting is the process of increasing the airflow or smoothing the intake path that the air has to travel to fill the cylinder more efficiently and thus the more airflow the engine can inhale in any given time the more power the engine can produce and then also to expel the exhaust out more efficiently from the chambers thus minimising the power to take out the exhaust gases.

Cylinder heads as manufactured are normally not biased toward power potential but more on economy and emissions and even standard high performance cars that look to have power to the normal individual will benefit from extra porting the intake, chamber and exhaust ports and even if more economy is what the individual wants porting can help in that area too.

Next time we will talk on the tools used for cylinder head porting so to help DIY porters out there.