Porting and Polishing the Cylinder Head
#21
10-16-2012, 11:24 AM
#23
10-16-2012, 05:55 PM
Figure I'll tell people about my experiences with porting cylinder heads.
From 14 years old when I got my first car, 75 OPEL Manta, I've been rebuilding engines. at 16 years old, I ported my first cylinder head. The one on the Opel. I learned from this 70 yr old man named Ray in a small shack next to some railroad tracks. I found his number in the phone book and he said yes, he can port my heads for what money I got. I had $200 and no clue how much it cost. On the phone, he said I better have all week after school free.
So, I bring the head up to his small shop and he shows me where the parts washer is and tells me to clean. I cleaned that head all day. Got into all the little crevices and everything else. It was spotless. Now, I've been concentrating on cleaning this cylinder head for about 4 hours. Then he calls for me, "Hey boy! Come here to the back room."
I get to the back room, which was really just a brick wall that went almost the whole length of the garage, and I saw the most amazing sight a 16 yr old horsepower freak could see. This old guy had in this rusty old metal shack, every kind of machining tool for a vehicle their is. And in the center of the ring of machine tools, an old mustang fastback funny car. The motor was out and neatly disassembled in front of the car. Then he said, "Boy, for that $200 of yours, I won't do any work on that cylinder head of yours. Instead, I'm going to teach you everything you will need to know on getting what you want out of an engine. Before the end of the week, you will have your chance to do your engine too."
I had no idea when I was their that this old man had decided to teach an interested teenager how to lighten, port, polish, bore, balance, and blueprint a motor in less than a week. Not to mention I would be coming over after school every day. When I got their the second day, he had everything set up for me. Most of the work had already been done, but he made sure to have one piece left to finish to show me. He had the block up on the boring machine, the crank on the balancer (which is a pivoting chuck on one end and a leather belt holding down the other end in a v-grooved stand). A piston with the rod, bearings and rings installed were on a scale, one head was sitting on a special stand on a bench. That day he showed me how to bore and hone out a block (BTW, I could almost fit my head into these cylinders. They were 6" diameter.), grind and fit piston rings, true-up the crank journal, lighten and balance a crank shaft, and balance the pistons.
On the third day, he showed me how to port cylinder heads. His didn't need porting, so he showed me with mine. He showed me on just one intake port, then told me to do the rest. That took my whole day. What took him 30 minutes to do one, took me 6 hours to do the other 3. The 4th day came around and on that day, he showed me how to gague and check every last part of the engine upon reassembly making sure every last gap is identical and every last part fits right. And that last day, he showed me how to do the exhaust ports and polish them to a mirror finish, I had gotten better. It took me a lot less time. He showed me how to change out valve guides and re-seat the valves. Also showed me how to resurface the head and mating surfaces before I went home.
The next year, I decided to go back to see him about using his shop to do the bottom end of my motor. I got their to find the building empty. No one their, no cars, no machines, no parts. Just shadows on the wall where old racing photos and posters used to hang. Stains and marks on the floor from the machines that have been their for all those years. That's all that was left of this old man's shop. Where he went, what happened, I don't know. I'm just glad I got the knowledge and had the privilege of having that opportunity. I'm now a Master Industrial Electrician and Machinist.
From 14 years old when I got my first car, 75 OPEL Manta, I've been rebuilding engines. at 16 years old, I ported my first cylinder head. The one on the Opel. I learned from this 70 yr old man named Ray in a small shack next to some railroad tracks. I found his number in the phone book and he said yes, he can port my heads for what money I got. I had $200 and no clue how much it cost. On the phone, he said I better have all week after school free.
So, I bring the head up to his small shop and he shows me where the parts washer is and tells me to clean. I cleaned that head all day. Got into all the little crevices and everything else. It was spotless. Now, I've been concentrating on cleaning this cylinder head for about 4 hours. Then he calls for me, "Hey boy! Come here to the back room."
I get to the back room, which was really just a brick wall that went almost the whole length of the garage, and I saw the most amazing sight a 16 yr old horsepower freak could see. This old guy had in this rusty old metal shack, every kind of machining tool for a vehicle their is. And in the center of the ring of machine tools, an old mustang fastback funny car. The motor was out and neatly disassembled in front of the car. Then he said, "Boy, for that $200 of yours, I won't do any work on that cylinder head of yours. Instead, I'm going to teach you everything you will need to know on getting what you want out of an engine. Before the end of the week, you will have your chance to do your engine too."
I had no idea when I was their that this old man had decided to teach an interested teenager how to lighten, port, polish, bore, balance, and blueprint a motor in less than a week. Not to mention I would be coming over after school every day. When I got their the second day, he had everything set up for me. Most of the work had already been done, but he made sure to have one piece left to finish to show me. He had the block up on the boring machine, the crank on the balancer (which is a pivoting chuck on one end and a leather belt holding down the other end in a v-grooved stand). A piston with the rod, bearings and rings installed were on a scale, one head was sitting on a special stand on a bench. That day he showed me how to bore and hone out a block (BTW, I could almost fit my head into these cylinders. They were 6" diameter.), grind and fit piston rings, true-up the crank journal, lighten and balance a crank shaft, and balance the pistons.
On the third day, he showed me how to port cylinder heads. His didn't need porting, so he showed me with mine. He showed me on just one intake port, then told me to do the rest. That took my whole day. What took him 30 minutes to do one, took me 6 hours to do the other 3. The 4th day came around and on that day, he showed me how to gague and check every last part of the engine upon reassembly making sure every last gap is identical and every last part fits right. And that last day, he showed me how to do the exhaust ports and polish them to a mirror finish, I had gotten better. It took me a lot less time. He showed me how to change out valve guides and re-seat the valves. Also showed me how to resurface the head and mating surfaces before I went home.
The next year, I decided to go back to see him about using his shop to do the bottom end of my motor. I got their to find the building empty. No one their, no cars, no machines, no parts. Just shadows on the wall where old racing photos and posters used to hang. Stains and marks on the floor from the machines that have been their for all those years. That's all that was left of this old man's shop. Where he went, what happened, I don't know. I'm just glad I got the knowledge and had the privilege of having that opportunity. I'm now a Master Industrial Electrician and Machinist.
#24
10-17-2012, 11:05 AM
#25
10-17-2012, 05:48 PM
#26
10-17-2012, 06:16 PM