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.