I was wondering what exactly does backcutting valves do to the flow and power? And could a mechanic do it, and could i do it myself?

 

I'm not too famaliar with backcutting but from what people I have asked have said it probably wont make a big difference unless you have alot of other engine mods. I'm talking like forced induction, bigger cam etc. Just my 2 cents though.

Alright heres my edit, just to build a little on what I said. Backcutting is removing the sharp edge from the valves. So basically you round the edges on the face and the back of the valve itself. It kinda sounds like its down the same path as porting and polishing would be. Probably if you used it with a 3-angle valve job, unshrouded your valves, ported and polished, you would have a noticeable difference. It seems like one of those things that you would do if you were going to all that trouble, but I don't know how much benefit you would feel with just back-cutting alone. So theres my 5 cents worth now.