Speedmaster Small block porting tips and results Part 1

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I believe what you say about a better valve job and down the road that will probably be my next step.. isn't it you that looking for the apples to apples from 318 going from one set of heads to another? Well personally I would like to do that too.. maybe next year I'll get a better valve job and then the year after that maybe a little grinding and I am paying attention to what's going on but the only people who are really understanding what's going on are the people who know all the terminology and already have all the equipment.. for the rest of us it's just fascinating reading...
 
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I keep watching what you saying right now I know he went to church watching his football game and maybe headed to work out... after that maybe he'll slip up and give away a good secret or two... like explaining some of the terminology and showing exactly where and how with pictures and arrows or a video or something...
 
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j par said:
I believe what you say about a better valve job and down the road that will probably be my next step.. isn't it you that looking for the apples to apples from 318 going from one set of heads to another? Well personally I would like to do that too.. maybe next year I'll get a better valve job and then the year after that maybe a little grinding and I am paying attention to what's going on but the only people who are really understanding what's going on are the people who know all the terminology and already have all the equipment.. for the rest of us it's just fascinating reading...
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If you had a flow bench and knew how to use it, you could do all that and more and not drag out simple testing for years and years and never actually know if you made the correct change.
 
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PRH said:
I don’t know, it sure sounded like the ranting started way back on page 1 post #21, then post about how it was only for 1% of the people, then how he never wanted to do any of it again because it’s so messy, and it only works if you have a flow bench, etc.

Seems like if that’s how you feel, then you shouldn’t be wasting your time reading and commenting on this thread.
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have you noticed it's you and cudafever who have flow benches who really understand what he's talking about? I've pm'ed with people behind the scenes here and the same thing they don't understand three-quarters of what's being talked about.. but like I said for about the hundredth time now it's fascinating reading...
 
yellow rose said:
If you had a flow bench and knew how to use it, you could do all that and more and not drag out simple testing for years and years and never actually know if you made the correct change.
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I 100% agree so you think I should buy a flow bench for the two sets of heads that I have?... My machine shop charges $98 an hour.. how many hours does it take to flow a couple ports on each one of my heads?? If I could afford the time and money for a flow bench good Lord where the hell would I put it?...
 
@PRH, Do you use the Serti for your seats? Have you found they make a difference?
 
“Serdi” is a brand name of engine rebuilding equipment.
They make a variety of stuff, but their name is usually associated with guide and seat machines, which can be used to machine valve seats.
I don’t have a Serdi brand, but I use another brand of machine for that job that’s also popular in the performance industry....... a Sunnen VGS-20.
 
j par said:
I 100% agree so you think I should buy a flow bench for the two sets of heads that I have?... My machine shop charges $98 an hour.. how many hours does it take to flow a couple ports on each one of my heads?? If I could afford the time and money for a flow bench good Lord where the hell would I put it?...
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No, I'm not telling you to buy a flow bench. I'm telling you to LISTEN to those who have them and are willing to tell you what you should be doing.

PBR is giving out information for free. I said for a long time I wasn't going to do that, and for the most part I don't.

If you aren't sure what the common wall is, what the SSR is, or the difference between the bowl and the throat...that stuff can be easily found. Most of this stuff was published long before you or I were even born. So it's out there.
 
I started porting heads before I worked at a shop, or had a flow bench...... based on what I was reading in magazines at the time.

I was always pretty good at avoiding mishaps when putting stuff together, but really didn’t “know” anything about what it took to make power or go fast.
For the most part I copied what others with more experience were doing.
I felt my car ran pretty good for what it was....... especially when I look back at how little I really knew about what I was doing.

PBR has a few years on me, was in an area where there was way more car stuff going on, and probably got an earlier start on it than I did.
I think some of his stuff from the 80’s ran real well considering how much harder information was to come by back then.

In about ‘85, I had my street/strip Satellite running 11.50’s in full street trim, minus an exhaust system.
It also had slicks.
But, no fresh air, no “fuel system”, battery still up front, full interior, heater, wipers.
There weren’t many cars like that running those times at my local track back then.

That motor had some 906’s on it that I reworked using info and looking at pictures from a build in a Car Craft magazine that had come out about a year earlier.

The point being....... someone who has the desire to “improve” their own SM heads should certainly be able to go through a thread like this and gather enough info to do just that.
No machine shop or flow bench required.
 
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Common wall/straight wall
Dogleg/pushrod wall
Same.
Short turn/short side...Floor is all that leads to where that starts.
Farside/bowl ..same.
In case anyone doesn't know.
Thanks PBR for continuing where I would have typed a bunch of fu's by now and ended up thread locked n banned. Cheers to your patience . Lol
 
There was a commercial flowbench on Craigslist a couple months ago. An sf600?? Asking about $5000. Seemed high. Looks like pbr’s diy could have the hardware for about $1500 plus software? If I had room for it I would build one.

I’ve made a lot of one off fixtures or tools to move a project along. Part of the game as far as I’m concerned. Some of them I’ve even been able to make a few bucks from. Love a little side hustle.
 
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MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Common wall/straight wall
Dogleg/pushrod wall
Same.
Short turn/short side...Floor is all that leads to where that starts.
Farside/bowl ..same.
In case anyone doesn't know.
Thanks PBR for continuing where I would have typed a bunch of fu's by now and ended up thread locked n banned. Cheers to your patience . Lol
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Believe it or not that's starting to get helpful minus the sarcasm..
When I pull my heads apart I'd like to maybe put some color coded marks or little round colored stickers in the intake Port areas.... I'm assuming the inside or far outside port would be different from the two inside ports, but mirror images of each other? Maybe on the two different ports putting a color coded mark at the beginning middle and end of the top bottom and sides and having each little area color coded or marked and then maybe we can be told where we can get away with the most grinding or even better yet we're absolutely not to grind? Kind of porting for dummies if you will...
 
ok between a late night last night, bad right side pain again, and getting up for Church I had a bad case of dragging butt today. I watched the first possession of the Steelers and I could read the writing on the wall so I took a nap, watched the news, and hit the shop. I saw on the flowbench what I expected for the work I did and not reshaping the shortside. Just because a head CAN flow more air doesn’t mean it will. I’ll post the numbers and while I eat if you want to take a guess what happened please post up. Then I will show you why.

.100———-68 cfm
.200———-142
.300———-198
.400———-244
.500———-252
.600———-262
.700———-262
.750———-258
 
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j par said:
Believe it or not that's starting to get helpful minus the sarcasm..
When I pull my heads apart I'd like to maybe put some color coded marks or little round colored stickers in the intake Port areas.... I'm assuming the inside or far outside port would be different from the two inside ports, but mirror images of each other? Maybe on the two different ports putting a color coded mark at the beginning middle and end of the top bottom and sides and having each little area color coded or marked and then maybe we can be told where we can get away with the most grinding or even better yet we're absolutely not to grind? Kind of porting for dummies if you will...
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I'm a bad artist…..

DSCN2632.JPG
 
pittsburghracer said:
ok between a late night last night, bad right side pain again, and getting up for Church I had a bad case of dragging butt today. I watched the first possession of the Steelers and I could read the writing on the wall so I took a nap, watched the news, and hit the shop. I saw on the flowbench what I expected for the work I did and not reshaping the shortside. Just because a head CAN flow more air doesn’t mean it will. I’ll post the numbers and while I eat if you want to take a guess what happened please post up. Then I will show you why.

.100———-68 cfm
.200———-142
.300———-198
.400———-244
.500———-252
.600———-262
.700———-262
.750———-258
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I'm going to guess that the air speed/fps at the water fall is to high and the hightest is on the common wall.
You are going to show the port velocity right?
 
just to help a little
these are PBR out of the box####

I finally bolted one of my heads down on the flowbench today and got some numbers. I bought mine bare so these numbers are with one used Edelbrock exhaust valve and one used 2.02 Edelbrock intake valve with a 30 degree backcut added. Other than that as out of box

.100——55
.200——131
.300——185
.400——-235
.450——-247
.500——-240. Numbers backing up
.600——-246
.700——-256-262 turbulence
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and these are afterwards.


.100———-68 cfm
.200———-142
.300———-198
.400———-244
.500———-252
.600———-262
.700———-262
.750———-258
 
You have the port working and the short turn as is can't handle the extra speed and or flow? If that's what's happening then I think for a lot of us that's where the magic happens. Finding that extra up top without losing the low to mid. As I have discovered that's not something the average Joe pulls off.

My first set was a set of Js that were monsters in the low lift but peaked relative low at 255 at .500. I didn't have the nuts to do anymore to them. Second set (speedmasters) which remains unfinished flow a little over 20 cfm peak but my lows and mids suffered. I got a little wilder with them. I either need to get them in the hands of a pro for some advice or just have a valve job done and see where we are. I know I probably should have had it done first.
 
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You guys nailed it. Like I said airspeed can kill a port and a good ear will hear it before we see it. That dog gone air will shoot the shortside and crash the back of the bowl. This re-enforces that for the average guy buying a set of Speedmaster heads and you want
2644D4FC-6B52-4EB6-9668-160F930BE8BC.jpeg
15-20 horsepower a simple buff and shine to remove bad casting spots and a valve job and you are good to go. I know what needs done and how to do it but I can’t begin to tell you how to do it. Widening the shortside and shaping it is the hardest part of head porting. But it pays big dividends once you learn how. Again I can’t drawl at all but here are the .500 lift and .600 lift shortside speeds. Remember my bench maxes out at 401 FPS. The bottom numbers are going into the turn the top number is a short distance into the turn.
 
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These numbers are at the pinch at .500 lift. Very nice, very controllable but these may jump up once I get the shortside fixed. Then it tubing time. I call it milking a port going back an forth for more gains
 
well my guess was a little off fastes fps was in the middle not the common wall.
still to fast every were.
Aka the smallest csa is at the ssr.
 
Cudafever said:
well my guess was a little off fastes fps was in the middle not the common wall.
still to fast every were.
Aka the smallest csa is at the ssr.
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You were thinking right but remember I didn’t reshape the shortside at all so very far right and very far left was a dead spot till I open the bowl to match
 
I am diggin' this thread. Getting all giddy with every notification lol. Thanks to PBR and all who have made a positive contribution.
 
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