Porting & Polishing Cylinder Heads??

#1
Hey guys, I just a got a Dremel 200 series rotary tool for Christmas and seeing as a I just tore down a Honda 5.5 that I had laying around, i was wondering if any of you guys on the forum had ported and polished any of your cylinder heads by hand.

I did a bit of research and you can for example get an abrasive carbide porting bit for the Dremel, but I was just curious to know if anybody else had tried it out for themselves.

Tips? Comments? Suggestions? All welcome..
 

scootercat

Active Member
#2
If...You don't care to experiment,I say...:grind:....Try port matching the intake to the gasket joint,then if its a stock engine with the stock muff,port the muff to the shape of the ex. gasket....just knock of any sharp edges in both ports and make the ex.port shine but not the intake,just clean it up....that should get You started!....Have fun,wear Your goggles :cool2:and face condom....Scootercat....
 
#3
Haha face condom :laugh: Alright thanks. But why polish exhaust valve if its gonna get dirtier than the intake. Wouldn't you port and shine the intake valve? Thanks for the advice though
 

scootercat

Active Member
#4
Your welcome!....The reason that the intake is not polished is it has a effect on the air/fuel charge,causing a wetting from gas separating out of the intake charge...it should be a satin finish...the exaust is dry and hot and will flow best from a slick port.I hope You have fun and safty first! :thumbsup: ....Scootercat....
 
#5
Read this very carefuly:

Clean up the sharp edge around the shoprt radious.
It like a cliff and you want it to be rounded. Go ahead and cut in there with a carbide rightto the steel seat. This does not mean flatten this means ROUND.

Clean up around the guides make the trasnition smooth and leave a little ramp around the guide as you enter the bowl. Smooth the sides up from the runner into the bowl.

Removes as little material as possible.

Surface finnish of the port rough, like with some 100 grit sand paper by hand 90 deg to the flow.

DO NOT make the runner any larger unless you have a valve and cam to suport extra flow.

Throw out the black Phenolic spacer and get some 1/2 inch Phenolic and contour this to match the port. Better yet throw out the carb with the Phenolic and get a decent intake, carb and air filter.

Same goes for the exhaust.
Generaly speaking the exhaust valve is a bit large in relationship tot he intake on these engines so not much to be gained from anything you do here. Just smooth out around the guide and fix that short radious.

Make decent header and have it exit the port at the same angle as the runner not the flange.

Look inside the combustion chamber clean up around the valves like this ont he 14cc head.

Look very carefuly at what I did on this head.
clone stuff :: 100_9698.jpg picture by Dougwp - Photobucket
This is very simple and hardly any material was removed at all.

Keep it simple and mild and the head will still work well at low RPM like a stock head and will flow a little better with the heklp of a good carb intake and header at the top of the RPM range.

Get stupid with it and the engine will be a dog at low RPM.
 

65ShelbyClone

Well-Known Member
#6
Get stupid with it and the engine will be a dog at low RPM.
Really botch it and power under the curve will actually be lower than before. :laugh:

Since the porting tool is a very high speed Dremel that will be used on aluminum, (lowest setting on the 200 is 15,000rpm) I would suggest getting your feet wet first with cartridge rolls instead of carbide burrs. They won't remove material as quickly and it will easier to sneak up on the port profile you're after.

As for the profile itself, I would worry less about the bowl(around the guide) and more about the short side radius. Most of these light-duty utility engines don't have a radius at all, but instead a sharp corner. Turn that corner on the intake side into as broad and sweeping of a radius as possible while removing as little material as you can manage. The largest gains are to be had in the intake port, so don't spend a lot of time on the exhaust, if any.

I would suggest practicing on a few junk engines first. Blown-up lawnmowers are a good source as long as they don't have a Honda GCV engine; those have an integral head and block and you won't be able to reach the port from the chamber side.
 
#7
Thanks again for all the advice, this really helps. Yeh, I had to shave the exhaust opening to fit the gasket, because it was evident that there was a buildup of carbon on the edge where the gases weren't escaping quick enough.

But what I want to know is how you get that perfectly smooth in that little area. I thought of using those Dremel Cartridge rolls, but the ones i have are to big to fit in that little space.

So instead I rigged up some lightly abrasive steel wool and rapped it around a file and hooked that to my electric drill, and that smoothened out the rough surfaces pretty well.

And I am getting a new MIkuni carb and UNI air filter for it. Thanks again :thumbsup:
 

65ShelbyClone

Well-Known Member
#8
Sorry, the proper name for is sanding drum, although cartridge rolls will work too. The size that works for me on small engines is 1/2" diameter drum with a 1/8" shank. My air grinder has collets for both 1/8" and 1/4" bits.

Here's what I use most of the time:

 
#10
Thats a pretty nice kit. I don't know if I'll be able to buy that kit locally so do you have a website where I can get that?? Otherwise I'll get some Dremel bits very similar to it .. thanks :thumbsup:
 
#12
The best and most cost effective cutters I found are the Enkay brand at Princess Auto.

I pay 2 or 3 dollars for each and they cut aluminum or steel with ease.

Last good too

See carbide Buhrs.

No. 367-5c does 90% of my work followed by 4c and 2c.

http://www.enkayproducts.com/07 catalog/rotary_07.pdf

beyond that get a polishing kit and some drums and that is realy all you will ever need. for these heads.

Head work is all cutters and drum sanders.
Stones are useless unless your working on iron so don't waste your money on a kit thats heavy on stones.
 
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