BOATING vs PORTING

One of the performance conditions with boats is that there is usually a lag or bogg from idle rpm up to the point where your cam kicks in and the airflow becomes efficient. That can be sometimes 2000 to 3500 rpm. There are two methods of reducing this lag that I use. One is porting and polishing, along with a special valve grind, and the other is either an aluminum flywheel or replacing the old stick shift heavy flywheel with a flexplate from an automatic. Sometimes you need to make a spacer to go with the plate. I remember a 18 ft. jet boat with a 455 Olds. that we put a flexplate on and the special valve grind. It removed all lag off idle. That boat really jumped when you smacked the throttle. We never got around to the porting on that boat. Too bad, I would have really enjoyed seeing the gains there. Anyway, for those of you with boats who want that off idle snap, and are tired of the lag/bogg and want to plane-up quicker, I highly recommend these two upgrades. Dr. Denny

PORT MATCHING aka DO NO HARM

Now that we have that gasket matching issue out of the way let's finish the rest of it. It would be real nice if ports and their manifolds that pair up to them were the same size and shape, but that doesn't happen often enough. So we need to deal with what we have. Let's say the exhaust manifold has a smaller opening than the exit out of the head. In that case we need to open the manifold to match the head. But what if the manifold opening is larger, then what? Do we open the head up to match the exhaust manifold? No. If you do open the head to match you will create a "slow" spot in the air flow. Terrible! If the air flows through the runner and hits a wall, such as a protruding gasket or a manifold the air "trips" and "stumbles" causing turbulence, and impedes air travel. But if the flowing air falls over the edge and into the manifold there's little harm done. The point here is the "Doctors Oath" of "do no harm". It's not an ideal situation but it is better to leave it alone that to make things worse. The same logic applies to the intake airflow, it can fall into the intake runner of the head from the intake manifold, but you don't want it to stumble into the gasket or the lip of the intake runner. The idea here is to minimize the bad, maximize the good, and "Do no harm". So bigger is not always better. Grinding away where ever you get the notion can cause the air flow to slow and thus losing the pulsing, charging, ram air effect, and extraction benefits we need. Port matching is done after the head is ported. - Dr. Denny

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM

GASKET MATCHING VS PORT MATCHING

This is a commonly misunderstood subject. Many people think and believe the proper method of port work is to use whatever gasket comes in the box as a template to determine what size the ports or runners should be. It's not that easy or simple. I have seen many sets of heads destroyed by using this method. They look impressive to the untrained eye. You might even show some improved performance over stock, but overall you've created some airflow issues that can't be fixed. To assume that the gasket is an intelligent being would also be to assume that the gasket maker knows what size your ports should be. That is to assume also that the gasket maker knows your cubic inches, cam size, carb cfm., gear ratio, valve size, and RPM operating range, and more. Here's the story on gaskets. If gaskets protrude into the runner then shave or cut the excess off so that it doesn't obstruct air flow. That's it! Don't use gaskets as templates. My next post will be discussing the rest of port matching that wasn't handled here. - The Head Doctor

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM

BIGGER is BETTER.....RIGHT?

Here's the important question regarding cylinder heads and porting. Is bigger really better? The same could be asked about tires, carburetors, brakes, and bumpers, even sandwiches for that matter. This will be a short post now that I brought up sandwiches.

With heads here is the key: Everything in moderation. Bigger valves and ports breathe bigger air at bigger RPM. The question, however, is what does your engine need for the way it will be used? Make sense? The Ford 351 Cleveland 4-barrel engine had huge intake valves and runners. You could park a bus in those runners and still have a passing lane. And how did they perform? Terrible! They made very little power until 3500RPM. So they were sluggish at low RPM. The cure was to use the 2-barrel heads. The local dirt oval track racers that use 351C's never use the big heads. With valves, if you go too large, they will be shrouded up against the wall of the combustion chamber. Air will not flow in any volume in that area. With ports or runners some would-be porters just "hog" everything out as far as possible. Many times this will slow the air flow... not what we're after. We want velocity. Anything that slows the air flow is something we want to remove, not create. My next post I'll say some things about gasket matching and port matching. I can't wait. - Dr.Denny

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM

HEAD PORTERS or WANNA-BEES

Not everyone who calls himself a "head porter" is in fact a head porter. Point-in-fact. For twenty-five years I tried to port heads. Did my efforts make a difference? Yes. Did I call myself a head porter? No. My only experience was trial and a lot of error. I knew I didn't know very much. I had many questions and almost no answers. I payed the big bucks and got my questions answered in school. I got trained by the best. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't cheap, but it was certainly well worth it. Nothing is as good as training and experience. Oh, and don't forget the right tools. The proper tools are expensive, and need sharpening and maintenance, and replacing. A pro head porter has the right tools, and knows how to use them. A pro can complete a set of heads in days not months. When you see a set of pro heads you know it. And once you see the real deal you'll know from then on the difference between pro and amateur work. On my next post I'll talk a little about whether bigger is better. Thanks, Dr.Denny

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM

TORQUE MOVES YOUR VEHICLE

It is true! Torque is what actually forces you down the road. When you step on the pedal, and your vehicle moves, what you are feeling is torque. What you need is lots of torque whenever you feel like it. That includes towing, racing, cruising, or just goofing around in traffic like we all do. The question is how to get more. There are many answers. Here are some: More cubic inches, longer stroke, higher compression, turbos, superchargers, blowers, headers, bigger valves, high rise intakes. Here are some other factors in getting that lovin' feeling from your gas pedal pushing: Lighten-up you car. Use aluminum or fiberglas body parts like doors, fenders, hood, trunk and bumpers. If you lighten up you car then less torque will be required to move that weight. This is an old trick. Another trick is to put an engine out of a big lead sled like a Lincoln or Cadillac into a smaller lighter car. It's that power to weight ratio we are trying to improve. So, less weight and more torque. Also remove any restrictions inside the engine that requires torque. Examples are; use roller rocker arms, light weight connecting rods, light weight flywheels and torque converters, aluminum engine parts, light weight and efficient exhaust systems, balance the rotating assembly, and port and polish the cylinder heads.

About that last one, an awful lot of power is used to move air through the head. Streamlining the air flow in the head is something that can't afford to be overlooked. I've ridden in cars with professionally ported heads and thought they had a turbo. I was stunned to find out there was no turbo or blower. I've ridden in small block Chevy trucks with ported heads and found out there wasn't a Big Block under the hood like I thought. Porting and polishing adds a lot of torque to your ride.

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM

Need Torque? Need Horsepower? Port and Polish!

Let's talk about four stroke gasoline engines. This will be basic talk and basic facts. The entire airflow system of an engine, (carburetor, manifold, heads, and headers) is critical to engine performance. An internal combustion engine is basically a breathing machine. A gas four stroke engine is an air pump. It inhales oxygen and fuel, ignites it, and exhales carbon monoxide. It uses gas to keep itself going. Air in and air out. Mix a little gas with the air and it will keep going. The efficiency of an engine to perform those three tasks determines its horsepower and torque output.

As a result the engine makes heat and it makes the crankshaft go around and around. More air and gas makes more heat and more around and around (RPM). It uses air and gas and it creates heat and RPM. The heat, or at least most of it, we get rid of with the cooling system. The RPM is what we are after. No RPM results in no torque and no horsepower. Torque and horsepower is really our goal. We would like to have more torque and horsepower with less heat and less gas consumption and maybe even less RPM.

Cylinder heads, where all three of these functions take place, are the critical element in this system. It is there where all of the air and fuel flow is directed. The more efficient heads are at directing that flow, the better the overall performance output. That’s where porting and polishing come into play. So where is the key to engine performance? It’s in the cylinder heads!
With that in mind let's fast forward to a test question. How much HP does your car engine make? Let me clarify a little. Let's say you have a stock 350 Chevy with a Q-Jet. The book tells us that the engine makes, let's say, 220 HP. So what is your answer? If your answer is 220 HP you didn't understand the question. There's a difference between what your engine makes and what its net usable HP is at the rear wheels. Confused yet? Engines have parasitic losses. If you are in business this would be called the "cost of doing business". It takes power (remember air and gas) to rotate all that spinning stuff inside your engine. And don't forget it takes power to get the air in and then out again and more power to run a water pump and fan to keep your engine from melting into a glob of metal.

With so many ways to use power and air and gas it is actually possible to have such an inefficient engine that the net output is near nothing (think Federal Government). So, your little engine really makes more power than you know but some of it is used up in the process of making power. So your 350 Chevy has a net result of 220 HP. It makes and is capable of making so much more (think NASCAR, 850 HP). The more restrictions you remove inside your engine the more that 220 HP will increase.

Now let's talk about where power is made. We will call this our "power made-power lost distinction". You have probably heard that "power is made in the head". Isn't it then true that power is lost in the head? How is it lost? What can be done about it? Now we're getting somewhere. Here's something to twist your brain sideways. Camshafts, that is bigger ones, and blowers, turbos, and superchargers, are trying to minimize the poor airflow characteristics living in your cylinder head. Call it damage control, waste management, loss mitigation, etc. Face it; you are sick in the head. Like any good shrink worth his fifty minutes will tell you, it's good to acknowledge it and then deal with it (think Dr. Denny).

There are impediments to better air flow in your cylinder head. Imagine the inside of an old water pipe that is narrowed down with hard water deposits and rust and dirt. Now imagine Roto-rooter to the rescue. Or imagine drinking a milkshake through a bent or clogged straw. You get the point. If you can streamline the head, air will flow much more easily, robbing less power from your engine, and allowing the 220 HP number to be closer to 300+HP.

Porting and polishing removes detonation-causing hot spots and casting flashes, and increases the air and fuel flow characteristics in all areas of the head, including the intake and exhaust ports, valve pockets, and combustion chambers and all radii. More air flow equals more fuel which equals more horsepower and torque. This clearly increases performance, including fuel economy. Porting and polishing the cylinder heads can unlock more horsepower from your engine than you probably thought possible.

Porting and polishing the heads provides the finely detailed attention required to bring your engine to a higher level of efficiency. More than any other single factor, the porting process is responsible for the high power output of an engine. Nothing can take the place of properly ported heads. Moving air and fuel through the heads is a major problem for engines running at speed and head porting helps to alleviate this. The net result is more torque, more horsepower, and more fuel economy, all at less RPM. And there is more good news. While cams, blowers, and turbos wear out, porting and polishing your cylinder head never wears out (think, all of the good and none of the bad!). Now that we have brought this up again, remember that big cams and turbos and blowers all have a lag time. Properly ported heads do not suffer that same malfunction! So let’s get porting and polishing so you can enjoy more torque and more horsepower! Dr. Denny out.

Dr. Denny does custom head porting & polishing. For more information go to DR.DENNY.COM