DIY head porting with a dremel?

[maardak@yahoo.ca (Mardak)]

--- "T. Reed" <treed2@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Okay, well this is gonna sound stupid coming from an inexperienced
> youngin' like me.. but..
> 
> With everybody running to pay a shop hundreds of dollars to get their
> head
> ported, is there any reason I can't just do this myself?


Nope, all you need is time, patience, and some research...


> 
> I mean.. looking at before and after pictures of 16v intake and
> exhaust
> ports on people's web pages, it looks like somebody just took a
> dremel
> with a grinding bit and opened up the ports a little without making
> the
> outside surface any bigger. I consider the dremel tool to be the
> handyman's 3rd most important secret weapon (after vice grips and
> duct
> tape) and I feel quite confident with a dremel in hand. I don't see
> any
> reason why I couldn't just duplicate the re-shaping of the ports as
> shown
> in the photos myself. Or is there something more to this that I'm
> missing?



Porting and polishing with a dremel tool will take FOREVER...  Trust me
on this one - I've logged thousands of hours on a dremel tool, and it's
just too light for this type of work.  I'm not saying it isn't
possible, just not the right tool for the job...

I P&Ped a head a couple of months ago, and here's what I did.  I bought
a very cheap electric die grinder off of Ebay ($18!).  It's not
variable speed, so I used a foot pedal that I used with my dremel tool
- worked beautifully - I highly recommend it.  Both your hands are
free, and you don't have to have the thing buzzing in your hand at high
rpms all the time...

I also bought the Standard Abrasives P&P Kit.  It's pretty complete,
but you don't really use everything in the box.  But for the first
time, it's good idea...  It comes with a pretty good guide - but really
geared for the domestic type applications though.  You'll still find
some great info in it though - the guide is also up on their website
IIRC...


> 
> Why do people send this work away to be done by professionals? Is it
> the
> risk of taking off too much material and ruining an expensive 16v
> head?


That could happen...  But the goal is not always to remove a bunch of
material - alot of the process is smoothing the air path...


> Fear of screwing it up and actually reducing the engine's power? Or
> is it
> just a sense of "if you're going to do something, do it right"?
> 
> Maybe I'm being stupid here and grinding material away like that only
> helps if you put bigger valves in too..


Research research...  There's alot of differing opinions out there, but
gather all the info you can, and choose which you find the most
logical.


> 
> Being a cheap bastard, and being that I'm going to be pulling my head
> real soon now anyway to put in a 2 liter block.. I just have to ask
> because if $20 worth of dremel bits will buy me some more ponies, I'm
> game.


The 'bang for your buck' is hard to beat if you do it yourself...  Go
for it, just don't underestimate the time it will take to do it, and
the patience and concentration required.  It took me almost 20 hours to
do my 8v!  (but I'm a picky sob...)

Good luck!

Mark.
80 S - it's running!
81 S - serving as parts pig for the moment...

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