Port and polish heads
 

So i am talking to the guy that,s helping me with my 440 of my 68 Coronet and he said he will Port and polish the heads for about $150-200.00 and it would save me on buying new heads...I don,t have the $$$ to get aluminum heads and was gonna have to wait 2-3 months to have the $$ He said other than the WT of the Aluminum heads if done right I should get the same power of my heads after they are ported and polished.....Now is this true or should I wait till I have the $$...Now keep in mind this is just a street rod weekend driver..

You don't really need to port and polish on a street motor. Just a good 3 angel valve job and clean up.Have the valves back cut.. There is more of a difference between aluminum heads and cast iron other than weight

a good set of 452 heads and good valve job is all you need.add a good cam,intake ,carb to the mix and your set.dont forget a good flowing exaust system.

ray -

Porting and polishing couldn't hurt, how much it will help on a street motor is debatable. The aluminum heads will always out perform the stock cast heads, due to the more efficient heat transfer if nothing else.

The real question is what you want of out of the car. For a race car, or if you want the shinny aluminum for car shows, you can't beat them. For a good strong streeter - maybe not so much. I'm still using cast heads that were ported, polished and valved a few decades ago.

Archer

if your mate knows his way around the insides of heads go for it . a good bowl job will pick up low down torque anyway . ( as long as knows what he's doing ) i ported motor bikes for years & we found on the dyno for our race team that we were gaining real good amounts of power & torque from the idle & the whole way untill the torque dropped off & hp kept going . just remember the standard heads are mass cast as fast as they can . there not hand crafted at all . the runner/bowl junction, guide boss , valve & seat are all restrictions the more time spent there the better your engine will go by leaps & bounds . have a look on you tube at how to port cyl heads , there heaps of info . i like the headbites guy's posts & his chemical coating of the water jackets REAL good info for people using old cast heads . port the bowls 1st then do your valve job .................
btw only polish the valves & exhaust leave the burr finish on the inlet & manifold & port the header flange so it's a bit larger than the port . & DO NOT TOUCH THE BOTTOM OR FLOOR OF YOUR PORTS . & if you ever need the valve guides k-lined or bushed get them bushed for the smaller dia valve stem & use the 440 source stealth heads valves . that way you have more flow in the bowl area as well as a stronger lighter & bigger valve .

IMO,
street deals on pump gas up to 450 hp, good standard 3 angle rebuild W/75* Throats..backcuts on the stock valves(2.08" & 1.74"), and as long as the Valves are not sunk real bad..a simple cleanup and blend the pocket ridge above the Valve..yeah..where the 75* throat ends..blend it into the Port Wall.

porting a set of 360 heads sure waked up my 318..