DIY head porting with a dremel?

[rabbit16v@attbi.com (Dave Ewing)]

Another thing I forgot to add (I know, how could I have missed something
rambling on the way I do!!!) is that you will need to decide what you want
from the P/P.  If the car isn't going to be driven much (like mine) then you
can go for the whole enchilada.  This means cutting the valve stems,
deshrouding the valves, angle grinding the valves, polishing the combustion
chamber, milling the head 40 thousandths (!!!), and porting and polishing,
(which in my opinion, on a 16v head, is to smooth, smooth, smooth--make the
path of the air have the least amount of restrictions possible).  Now in
some applications, velocity will also be something to consider!!  With the
2.0L heads, they have smaller ports but flow better than the 1.8L heads
overall!  But when you're trying to make a street monster (which is what I
did) then you'll want as much air as possible.  You'll also want to take
into consideration what type of cams you plan on using!!  HTH!

Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Ewing" <rabbit16v@attbi.com>
To: "Scirocco List" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 9:46 PM
Subject: Re: DIY head porting with a dremel?


> I did my first one with a dremmel and it increased the flow somewhat but I
> have learned since then that a die grinder is the only way to go!!  You
will
> spend LITERALLY DAYS on that thing with a dremmel!!  A die grinder will
make
> it so that you can do it in an afternoon!!  The bits for the die grinder
can
> cost around $100  because you'll need something to take the aluminum away
> quickly then sanding and smoothing bits to sculpt and clean and polish.
> This is the way I did my last head and it turned out NICE!!  What might be
a
> good idea, though, is to find a core head and experiment first!  Even when
I
> did MY first head, I had experience doing others so I didn't just jump
right
> in!
>
> In my opinion, unless your reaching for every last little hp, you can
> effectively to it yourself.  The reason why most people you hear have it
> done professionally (technically, I am a professional) is that they want
it
> flow benched AND they want someone to blame if it doesn't work!!  Plus,
most
> who have any or all their work done by someone else either have no time
and
> gobs of money or no desire to get their hands dirty (or afraid to!!).  It
is
> not wise to always listen to someone else and not to follow your gut!!  If
> it is something you really think you can do than go for it!!  I am a huge
do
> it myselfer and I like to live by two sayings (one I made up myself!!)
>
> If man made it, I can fix it!! (notice, God made women, not man!!)
> If it doesn't kill you, it can only make you stronger!
>
> Dave
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "T. Reed" <treed2@u.washington.edu>
> To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 9:12 PM
> Subject: DIY head porting with a dremel?
>
>
> > 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?
> >
> > 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?
> >
> > 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?
> > 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..
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > -Toby
> >
> >
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