What are the gains from porting a stock head?

what other mods to you have?

by time you get it all done right to make it relatively worth your money (not even takin into acct what the previous poster said)....you've spent most of the cost to grab a ford head new w/uprated valvetrain. and the only down time you have is the install, not waitin on a machine shop or buyin yet another stock head from salvage or another 'tuner', whos' condition is unknown.

-ult

My mods are cheap intake, SVT throttlebody, SVT manifold, FR stage 2 cams, OBX 4-2-1 header, 2-1/4" flex and exhaust.

I am talkin about the do-it-yourself route. I was thinking about port matching my intake and header with the head and a mild port job on the head itself. What kind of gains have others experience by doing this?

My reasoning, is I don't have $850 for a FR head. But, I can get a salvage head for $125-150 and have the tools for it minus a flow bench. I have read a some info on the subject, and it sounds like something within my range of skill. So that probably makes me pretty dangerous.

Ult says "get it all done right to make it relatively worth your money". Which leads to my question, Is doing it half right, worth $200?

My guess is maybe 5hp. I matched the ports and smoothed out machining steps below the valve seats on mine because I was transplanting a Zetec into a Lotus Europa. While you are at it consider shaving .040" off the head. Raises c.r. to 10.5-1 and you'll have to use premium gas, but you'll gain an additional 10hp for $60. I plan on eventually getting a FR head ($895), but you also need to figure in an additional $200+ for buckets because it's unlikely the ones you have will work on another head.

you dont get set back 200 for buckets. their not that expensive and u will likely use a fair # of em

-ult

you dont get set back 200 for buckets. their not that expensive and u will likely use a fair # of em

-ult

Click to expand...

$15 a piece isn't that much, but setting clearances on a different head with totally different seats is not the same as just changing cams on the same head. It's highly unlikely most of the buckets can be used on a different head. How many multivalve cylinder heads have you worked on?

15/pc. i paid around 5. and the way ford sets up their heads, many buckets can carry over...even w/400+ lift cams. only their initial heads had issues where clearances could not be closed enuff to spec w/the largest bucket. thus the need for grinding of valve seats to bring them in spec. that was addressed w/the other valvetrain updates in the past yr.

i wont get into a 'rhymes w/dock' contest on engine knowledge.

-ult

From experiance i know that it is not totally worth the time or money. Ult is correct that I and everyone else should go for the FR head!

-BFF