porting stock lower intake

[1990LTD]

People have sliced those intakes in half to allow full porting, and then welded them back together, sometimes with shorter runners up top for whatever reason. Seems like a hell of a lot of work for a stock upper intake to me.

If I could do all of the work myself it would be interesting as a project - much like the lower intake porting I want to do - but I'd never sink any real money into it to have work like that done...I think for the cost of having any fab work like that would equate to what an aftermarket intake would cost.

[87gtVIC]

I seen the sliced plenums. What I dont get is how everything is welded properly. I never cut one open but I can't see the weld penetrating far enough to fully section off each runner...

[johnunit]

As someone who tried it last night, don't bother with a dremel for porting. You will be there a LOOOONGGGGGGG time. Aluminum will be a bit easier, but just grinding down where the welds stuck a bit into the port (and I mean a tenth of an inch max) on my headers took well over 10 minutes a port with a good burr. Dremels just aren't powerful enough and will overheat.

Get a good die grinder and a porting kit, which will have all the burrs and sanding attatchments you need to both remove metal and smooth it all down.

Remember that smooth and uniform is the name of the game. If you're going to get aggressive about widening a certain area of a given port/runner, be prepared to widen out the entire rest of the port about as much. Having spots where the runner gets wider and then thinner is generally not a good thing.

Also, consider practicing port matching. I don't know about the relation between E7 heads and EFI intakes but I found that in my case (carb truck intake, stock E5? heads) gasket matching was a bad idea because my intake runner on the head is significantly smaller than both the truck intake ports and the intake gasket. Matching the intake to the gasket would have only left a larger ridge at the entrance to the heads, and I'm not pulling the heads to match them up. If you really enjoy this stuff and/or do well with it, consider buying a pair of E7 or GT40 heads that are good or repairable and trying out stuff on them. Also practicing port matching them to the ported intake, leaving you a matching set in case you feel like a little power boost for your whip. Generally speaking there are much larger gains to be had porting heads than intakes.

[1990LTD]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/porting-polishing-kit-ford-chevy-dodge-evo-honda-/160552705490?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item2561afddd2

something like that?

[johnunit]

my unproffessional opinion is I'd get one with more metal burrs, but yeah that idea.

[1990LTD]

Gotcha. I'll likely find a set of GT40s to put on there as well and I'll probably try my hand at porting them since I'll already have the gear from the intake job.


E7 lower will bolt to GT heads, yeh?

[87gtVIC]

I used an pneumatic tool and good quality metal burr things to remove some of the excess welds on my header flanges last summer. Went really fast actually and even with safety goggles I got stuff near my eyes. The metal was flying off like crazy...difficult to control but it make quick work of the thick welds and weld splatter.

[zoomie]

As someone who tried it last night, don't bother with a dremel for porting. You will be there a LOOOONGGGGGGG time. Aluminum will be a bit easier, but just grinding down where the welds stuck a bit into the port (and I mean a tenth of an inch max) on my headers took well over 10 minutes a port with a good burr. Dremels just aren't powerful enough and will overheat.

Get a good die grinder and a porting kit, which will have all the burrs and sanding attatchments you need to both remove metal and smooth it all down.

Remember that smooth and uniform is the name of the game. If you're going to get aggressive about widening a certain area of a given port/runner, be prepared to widen out the entire rest of the port about as much. Having spots where the runner gets wider and then thinner is generally not a good thing.

Also, consider practicing port matching. I don't know about the relation between E7 heads and EFI intakes but I found that in my case (carb truck intake, stock E5? heads) gasket matching was a bad idea because my intake runner on the head is significantly smaller than both the truck intake ports and the intake gasket. Matching the intake to the gasket would have only left a larger ridge at the entrance to the heads, and I'm not pulling the heads to match them up. If you really enjoy this stuff and/or do well with it, consider buying a pair of E7 or GT40 heads that are good or repairable and trying out stuff on them. Also practicing port matching them to the ported intake, leaving you a matching set in case you feel like a little power boost for your whip. Generally speaking there are much larger gains to be had porting heads than intakes.

red stones and sanding rolls are a nono on aluminum i tried that too with my old lower intake. works great for iron stuff though.

[zoomie]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/porting-polishing...item2561afddd2


something like that?

those are the rolls youd need here are the burrs.
also check out these article diy porting tech documents here. this will give you an idea what youll need and also be in for when you begin this job. you can get carbide burrs for the dremel tool , however be forwarned they are waaay more expensive than the normal ones for a die grinder. if you want electric they do make an elctric one but those too have a hefty price tag. harbourfreight had one i think for relatively cheap though.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...=0CJYBEPMCMAc#

[gadget73]

Just an FYI, there are different burrs for aluminum and steel/iron. The aluminum ones are usually more coarse since its a softer material. The chips will clog up a burr meant for steel or iron. It won't ruin it, but you'll be stopping often to clear the thing out so it keeps working.

You don't really need carbide for doing aluminum. Its so soft it damn near jumps off the casting but if you want to do steel, carbide is highly desirable so it stays sharp.

[zoomie]

Just an FYI, there are different burrs for aluminum and steel/iron. The aluminum ones are usually more coarse since its a softer material. The chips will clog up a burr meant for steel or iron. It won't ruin it, but you'll be stopping often to clear the thing out so it keeps working.

You don't really need carbide for doing aluminum. Its so soft it damn near jumps off the casting but if you want to do steel, carbide is highly desirable so it stays sharp.

good catch , i forgot to mention the coarse ones this is called a aluminum cut burr. there are many shapes and sizes for these

[1990LTD]

I've got no tools at all to start with; we've figured out some burrs/bits/whatever the correct term is but I don't have any of the required tools.

Electric would be the best because I don't have an air compressor or the space to keep it for the time being. Doesn't matter if it's weaker and takes longer as a result

[mitymerc]

People have sliced those intakes in half to allow full porting, and then welded them back together, sometimes with shorter runners up top for whatever reason. Seems like a hell of a lot of work for a stock upper intake to me.

Back in the late 80's there were no performance intakes. The only options were to cut & modify a truck intake, cut & port a stock intake or have it extrude honed.

I got a Capri into the 12's with stock heads (emission bumps removed), stock cam, cut & ported upper intake, 65mm t-body, gears, shorties & Flowmasters.

I had an extrude honed upper & lower to try, but an idiot w/no license or insurance ran a light & totalled my car. I had to sell a bunch of parts to buy a new car, so I never tried the extruded one. I wish I had kept the SVO spoiler & cut intake though....