077: Art or Science? Head Porting Explained. [

How useful are flow bench numbers? Should we be mirror-finish polishing our ports? What about adding dimples like a golf ball? On this episode of the podcast, David Localio of ‪@headgames‬ Motorworks joins us to dive deep into one of the most misunderstood areas of the performance automotive world - cylinder heads.
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David Localio of ‪@headgames‬ is best known for building and developing some of the fastest import cylinder heads anywhere in the world. He’s able to do this thanks to two decades worth of experience in the game, as well as a healthy passion for making anything on four wheels go faster.
We first learn about David’s early years, in which he saved up his paper run money to buy his first muscle car at 12 years old (then subsequently got that car taken off him after driving it around the neighbourhood one too many times), then jumping into the street racing world before eventually finding his true passion through both an education and hands-on experience at some renowned engine building shops.
After soaking up all that knowledge, David then started New Jersey-based Headgames Motorworks, where he continues to hone his craft, all while building heads for some of the best-known and decorated import cars in the world.
Head porting is an area that seems to suffer - or benefit, depending on how you look at it - from a crossover between science and art, so much of this conversation is spent getting into the finer details of many aspects of head work, from port and polishing, to valve grinding, cam selection, and much more.
David has some very interesting non-conventional views on what works well and what doesn’t when it comes to headwork, and while any ordinary person might have those controversial opinions dismissed by the masses, this is a guy with the results, the records, and the trophies to back it all up. This is one episode of Tuned In NOT to be missed.
Follow Headgames Motorworks here:
IG: @headgamesmotorworks
FB: Headgames Motorworks
YT: Headgames Motorworks
WWW: headgamesmotorworks.com
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TAGS:
#headgamesmotorworks #cylinderhead #valvegrind #importracing #sportcompact #highperformanceacademy #learntotune #enginebuilding101 #dontletthesmokeout #motorsport

[@efernandez8499]

Probably the most in depth type of technical podcast anybody can listen to. I listen to you guys during my lunch breaks and even before bedtime. Keep it up.

[@incolink]

Clearly a clever and passionate bloke appears to be grateful of his terrific experience and is being generous with it

[@headgames]

💞

[@CJ5EVOLUTION]

Interesting interview, now I understand more what David was trying to point me out and guide my thoughts when I had my Cyl head build by him.

[@1337Hans]

I cannot think of anyone with a better ability to clearly\simply restate someone's point than Andre does in these interviews. Amazing stuff...

[@headgames]

agreed!

[@adamfindlay3290]

Dave Localio and Darin Morgan are the 2 people I most want to have Andre do a postcast with. One down one to go!

[@headgames]

I did a podcast where we interviewed Darin, power and speed podcast is where you can listen to it on KZbin

[@savagefabrication795]

@@headgames it was a extremely insightful interview.

[@Vehicular.Shenanigans]

@@headgames sweet I’ll go listen to that on my drive to work tomorrow.

[@KINZERS13GTR]

Been dying for this conversation. I told Dave myself he needed to have talks with you on the podcast. 🙌 Dave took care of me when I needed a head job on my BMW N55. I still have yet to turn the key on the build, but I'm so close, and dying to see where it sits performance wise, when I'm finished. He's a truly stand up guy, explained to me the benefits of the pocket port, and how my head was already good to flow efficiently up to 600 and underneath that there was nothing he could or would do, that would effectively improve the driveability and performance in that range. So I decided to shoot higher lol 👍👍 They do great work and are good people over there at Headgames.

[@TheRobphobos]

Really enjoying this episode too, has had me frantically looking back at all of the work I had done on my heads and realising some 'mistakes' 🥴

[@goyocarreras]

I don't understand any English, I have it with KZbin subtitles, but seeing that the podcast was with Dave I couldn't resist the temptation of reading it. He is a great head porting professional. Thank you very much Hp Academy for bringing Dave, and congratulations for the good content on this channel. Greetings from Spain Best regards Goyo

[@hpa101]

Sorry we only have the auto captions for you here, hope they still helped enough that you enjoyed this episode with Dave 😎 - Taz

[@ttamn92]

I really wish headgames would have been around when my shop was open.... when I started we were one of the first shops that specialized in Subaru's and we were looking at what they were doing in the UK Japan or in Australia so back then it was a lot of trial and error and finding out what really worked in the real world and what was just talk .... I realize that now it seems that every shop works with Subarus but back in 2000 2001 we didnt even have the wrx over here so was a very different world and I only happen to learn and grow to fall in love with Subarus by taking a job as a young tech working at a Subaru dealership and being sent to training courses and the more I learned the more I admired..... but I was able to develop a very strong and dependable bottom end but I had to depend on outside shops when it came to cylinder head work and yes we made gains in power but never really what I felt was maximizing the head....idk

[@_YUKL_]

So great to know that I can save hundreds on "upgrades" that are useless to my power goals. Thanks for the expert knowledge!

[@nathanvanlieshout7834]

Great stuff. I could have listened to another 1.5hrs

[@Everything8Valve]

Love the longer podcast. Great technical info in this one

[@hpa101]

Glad you enjoyed it 😎

[@headgames]

Glad you enjoyed it! I told Andre we could have gone longer!

[@Everything8Valve]

@@headgames I'll be waiting for the next podcast you guys do, Cheers!

[@gordowg1wg145]

Very informative podcast from someone who really knows his business.

[@0643052]

thanks HPA for that interview thanks to David for sharing his time and knowledge. 👌 👌 👌

[@headgames]

thanks for taking a listen!

[@ttamn92]

In my experience it seems like there are 2 main groups of thought when it comes to things like porting and air flow as it relates to power made by an engine..the air mass/volume camp and the air speed camp and I was in the air mass/volume camp until I worked at a vehicle OEM and got to work with one of the smartest people ive ever met in my life and all he did was port design and parts that need to have air flow (from the airbox all the way to the cylinder head ports) I learned more in a few months working on the flow bench with him and watching the things he was doing and I'm not afraid to ask questions and he was nice enough to answer them ...eventually lol but long story short I'll take fast moving air in a smaller port over a massive port that might have a good peak number but the air is incredibly lazy.....

[@headgames]

Agreed!

[@noskills9577]

I’m an armchair engine builder at best.. I do enjoy cylinder head tech and porting information though, a fantastic podcast for me 👍🏻

[@brianbob7514]

This was a great interview, thanks again :) valve size info was extremely interesting

[@headgames]

glad you enjoyed it!

[@stevesauerland223]

Love the podcasts, hands down my favorite to listen too.

[@hpa101]

Glad you like them and cheers for the high praise Steve! - Taz.

[@mikejovi980]

Love this, have been banging on about air velocity over flow for so long. Don't have nearly the experience but see the results for so much less money on the same Dyno but on the same platform.

[@customzdream]

Great insight into a man on top of his game.

[@Vehicular.Shenanigans]

Have him back on plz this was so good

[@headgames]

agreed!

[@hpa101]

What questions would you ask given the chance? - Taz

[@Vehicular.Shenanigans]

@@hpa101 I would want them to keep going down the rabbit holes they were going down. I really enjoy hearing all the intricacies and details that only masters in their field uncover. Almost a shame the podcasts are “only” an hour and a half or so. I would gladly listen to all these guests talk for 3+ hours. You guys rock. Cheers and happy days lol

[@cristianr3712]

@Andre @HP Academy Please an interview with someone who knows about STA for heads, STA is the measure Prof Gordon Blair of the University of Belfast came up with to properly calculate and simulate heads, I see most head porters don't even know about it, so would be interesting to see what some think of it, and if they really understand it and have tried it.

[@gordowg1wg145]

Could you provide a link, or two, please? Even reasonably priced home computers can do a fir job of simulating the airflow, which is useful, but the more tools one has to approximate "real life" conditions, the better.

[@cristianr3712]

@@gordowg1wg145 Home computers using 1D simulation... Yes, 3D... Don't think so. Just search for the Prof G Blair of the University of Belfast, has a book about simulating 2 and 4 Stroke engines, also some good articles about several topics, among those... STA, I focus more on 2Strokes, porting and tuning a 2Stroke without STA after using it is like trying to do it blindfolded in a dark room you've never been before. The STA shows a clear picture of exactly what you have, what to expect and what you need to achieve what you want, either 2 or 4Strokes.

[@azargelin]

Great interview definitely alot of info

[@headgames]

thanks for listening!

[@user-mu3nv7xx2l]

Thank you for your great interview! Can you show what kind of tool you use to check the actual air flow after porting is done to check improvements? Also want to check about average valve grinding and 3 angle cutting, someone have a measured difference between this two methods? Combustion chamber sealing, air velocity, how great is the improvement?

[@headgames]

check out our KZbin on some of those subjects

[@SaucerClone]

One question I would’ve loved to have been asked is whether or not things like a pocket port are worth while if you’re still running the stock valves. Maybe someone could she’d some light on this topic? Also, considering what he said about valve guides only having a 5 CFM effect, I wonder if things like casting flash have any effect as all on flow 🤷‍♂️

[@garlandjones7709]

Casting flash can and will affect flow. It's small, but there. LS1 cathedral Port heads came from one of two different casting plants. They had different casting numbers for the same engines, but were identical ports and chambers in size and shape. The only difference between the two plants were the method of material used to make the ports into the casting. It resulted in a different surface finish that was an average of 7cfm different from one to the other. Neither of these were rough finishes either compared to many other oem heads.

[@derricksteffen3722]

Great content. Second request to interview Howard from ARFabrication.

[@headgames]

you 1hr 40 min is far to short for a Howard conversation

[@derricksteffen3722]

@@headgames we need an entire hp academy feat howard Anderson series

[@GTRliffe]

after every porty job...using an icepick, lightly stab at the wall- if you don't puncture through , no amount of boost will!

[@georgedreisch2662]

Something I haven’t heard discussed, is at what point does increasing valve size result in diminished / negative returns for increased shrouding.

[@headgames]

we discussed that in this interview

[@incolink]

Ohhh i got a real kick out hearing the herofanboi head 2J is a PITA

[@Cobalt512]

105:00 I'm guessing this mentality started with the old machinist joke "It's shiny, it's gotta be right!". Where if you actually measured the part, it'd be scrap. Some guy back in the day figured he could make money off the technical ignorance of the public.

[@brianbob7514]

First

[@houseofgain]

How funny, "head porting expert".... never tried flowing a tear-drop or tapered shape valve guide, I'm no rocket scientist, but wouldn't you test the results of that design at least once.

[@headgames]

when you have zero interest in the concept why would you do it. This isn't a donut someone needs to try, that is a very involved test. Doesn't make someone less of an expert.

[@houseofgain]

@@headgames no disrespect here, but having interest in a concept vs. testing the concept and finding gains from it are two different things, surely finding gains from a previously untested design is worth the test? The design of a tear-drop or tapered guide vs. a round guide is basic fluid dynamics. I'm sure your customers will thank you if you found improvements.

[@Boostiverse]

I’m amazed he doesn’t really know about air pockets and how turbulent flow can positively effect air velocity, guess you don’t have to know the science behind something to be good at it

[@fraserwright9482]

Yes, but with turbulent flow you get a coaxial flow within a vortex in a shaped tube. You would then have a hotter outer inlet flow going into the engine and a cold central jet which will be running inside the middle of the vortex back up the manifold. This is how a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube works by separating the denser air phenomenologically. It would also separate the dense heavy fuel from the air giving you a vapour trail of fuel and a dry/hot volume to pre ignite.

[@headgames]

I’m amazed that you got that out of the conversation