Port fill to find hidden power

In this, episode 32 of PowerTec 10, DV explains how to get a much more 'power friendly' intake port by filling the 'lazy' parts of the intake port and cutting the 'exessivly busy' areas. Follow DV's guide lines shown here and the results will be more flow, port velocity, port energy, and port energy density. Just so you know, this all adds up to more power and torque - as well as a wider rpm range!

[@v8packard]

I probably shouldn't mention this, as we have really only started working on this head and are far from a conclusion. But.. A friend of mine has a Z06 Corvette with a 5.7 LS6. He is an engineer with a severe case of tinkeritis. He bought another LS6 engine that was near new, supposedly built by one of the biggest in the business but damaged. Sure enough it was starting to spin a rod bearing. The engine is full of high end parts, including CNC ported heads with a famous name on the ends. I remarked I thought that intake port was gigantic for a 5.7. He fashioned up a simple flow bench, as per your porting book, and started testing. Using a velocity probe, he determined there was a large, dead area at the port floor. He starts filling, and finds flow doesn't go down. But port velocity shoots up, by quite a bit. He keeps filling, thinking he will stop when flow drops. Then a hell of a thing happened, flow and velocity both increased! So far he has filled that port quite a bit, at least as much as you did on this big block. I wonder where things will go on this 5.7. Thanks for the video.

[@alejandrocasas1455]

Thinkeritis 😂 I suffer the same condition... 🥴

[@seacube3]

I did something like this in the mid 80’s on my blueprinted Pinto 2.0. Who knew I would be watching David taking the same path.

[@keithtobin5369]

Thanks. DV. I never stop learning from you

[@harryhicas]

You're a wealth of knowledge Mr Vizard and by far the best youtube channel.🏆 I personally appreciate all your years of dedication in this field and even more that you're sharing much of this knowledge with complete strangers on the internet. Thank you sir 👏

[@tomnekuda3818]

Dave, I've read about and put into practice head filling on Ford 460 ports for more torque and horsepower. The 460 ports are huge with a lot of "dead" area (especially in the exhaust side) but both the intake and exhausts are huge.......you can swing a cat down them. By using a punch to rough up the port wall and applying Devcon F it is possible to fill the dead area and lead the flow to the top of the port. It is truly surprising how much port velocity I picked up by using this technique. I used an old vacuum and various items around my shop to accomplish what I was after for a poor boy's flow bench. When I was done the port was narrowed in the dead area. Ford had twisted the port into almost a U-turn to fit the 429 in the Mustang and avoid running into the shock towers. I was using the 460 for towing campers and such. By combining the port filling with higher compression pistons, a recurved distributor, altered timing, and water/alcohol injection,, I was surprised how much bottom end I picked up without losing top-end. As a bonus the engine picked up a more efficient burn and much better gas mileage. When combined with free-flowing headers, an X-pipe connecting the two exhaust pipes and Magnaflow mufflers the increase in mpg was astounding. The camper I was pulling was a heavily-built and insulated (made in Canada ) rig and I was easily making better power/mpg than guys with lighter campers and unmodified engines. There is no doubt that your experiments reveal these "truths" and definitely take your concepts from the realm of theory to application. People would do well to listen to your results and take the time to put them into practice. Tom

[@mcjams66]

Curious as to how and where you anchored the epoxy on the exhaust side or if you did.

[@billymanilli]

@@mcjams66 Me too!

[@tahustvedt]

I use a bowl for mixing epoxy filler but I turn the bowl around and use the bottom of the bowl. I cover it with wide masking tape first. Then you can just pull off the tape after you're done and the bowl is ready to mix another batch.

[@stevesolo16]

i would have liked to see the finished port design. BTW i just purchased Brodix 390 X , they are the new as cast version of the sr20. Quality heads have become so expensive. It is nice to see a U.S. company doing something about the runaway cost. Cheers!

[@rexwarrensr.9832]

Always love your style and patience and understanding is second to none

[@terryheimerl8674]

Thank you David, I remember your instructions for the Cleveland motor, from "Performance With Economy", where you milled 1" (?) off the side of the head to raise the exhaust port. I know Chevs are bread winners but an update of the Cleveland heads would be great. What do you think of the CHI heads? Thank you. Terry from Australia.

[@psychoholicslag4801]

I thoughr i was the only one crazy enough to use jb weld on ports. Just pulled the carb off a manifold thats been in use on the street for a year and a half and it still looks good. It is ceramic heat barrier coated and that may help. Ford Clevelands are prime candidates for this port filling, even the 2V heads need it to make 275 CFM on the intake.

[@jimc3688]

MarineTex might work well also.

[@JackHenderson-x3b]

At one point in the video the question is asked "is all this toil and turmoil worth it?". I'd say emphatically, yes! Lee Shepherd. Bob Glidden. Dick Maskin, et al. All the great ones did it! At least they did before you could buy a blank slate. Jack Henderson

[@josephgiannini6174]

way to go dave its all about the velocity and shaping one of the last great masters here yal so pay attention

[@Riverdeepnwide]

David your teaching is priceless and even your viewers comments are interesting and instructional. Thanks to you all.

[@fredrikdudat9810]

I have filled the ports on a few motorcross bikes. Especially the KTMs i have worked on had ridiculous big intakes. Power increase and rideability was great.

[@mayhemmotorsports7002]

Charles servedio is trying to get ahold of you DV. Thanks for more great information.

[@thastinger345]

Splash zone A&B is easier to work with as it is designed to work underwater. Just wet your hands and you can form it like you want in the port with minimal grinding needed.

[@briantracy1324]

I'd love to see 351c heads analyzed.. even the 2v castings are huge on the intakes with bad exhausts..

[@randywl8925]

In one of your books, I believe performance with economy there was a machinist scale drawing from a company that did head porting. I believe the company was in California and I recall they called it the Street econo head or something like that. I believe they reconfigured the intake port into what is called and isosceles trapezoid. An inverted triangle of sorts. For the Chevy head, they widened the top or roof of the head port and left the bottom alone. This taper at the top was to get air more airflow on the roof of the port. You also mentioned in that book that it isn't worth using the larger 2.02 valve unless you're revving above 6,000 RPM consistently. You recommended though, it doesn't hurt to install a 1.6 exhaust valves as they act somewhat a header does. In all of the heads you have ported I wonder if you ever tried that modification, widening the top only, of a standard small block Chevy head. Typically one side of the intake runner on a stock Chevy head tips slightly in. I made these modifications to a brand new set of World Products SR heads. Not high compression, just the stock 76cc heads. After doing the modification I noticed an definite seat of the pants difference and I also loveed the new sound of the engine. The larger exhaust valve change the tone and I loved it. Anyway I was just curious if you've ever made this modification and tested it.

[@michaelhargarten5118]

Good tutorial on port filling.

[@ElvinLeadfoot]

King David:) The Ford 4.6 2V heads - PI Trapezoid Styled I definitely want a set of 2V Trick Flow Heads

[@TheAnonymous1one]

This video is GOLD

[@johnflett2531]

Yes! More of that please! The wealth of useful information from this channel is fantastic and I can't get enough of it!

[@johnflett2531]

Thanks for the info! I just ordered my Goodson intake port reshaping kit!

[@smudger6461]

I love this practical side if these uploads thank you for your time..

[@chrischarles9218]

I saw some Cleveland heads and intake that were on Bob Gliddens early 70s Pinto that were done that way.

[@drewcrabtree9607]

Please make a video of a high performance 400 small block Chevy!

[@smithjohn3080]

I am very interested in this topic as another tool in the box for optimization and bought my first dynamometer in 2003 aged 21... With this said. In looking over your analysis of the flow characteristics of this port vs the brodix cnc comparison head I noticed that your velocity was roughly 7% higher than comp'd head... However the comp'd head out flowed the tested raised port effort in cfm by 10% With the overall delta of +3% going to the out of the box brodix compared head. And i know 3% is negligible but thats the gains were after here with this type of work 😂😂 squeezing out the extra % and choosing the best most efficient option. Love the work you do and appreciate the info btw. 👍 and am interested to hear what you have to say regarding this

[@bryancondrey6457]

Do any of you remember in the late '70s when Edelbrock introduced their SP2P manifolds and Offenhauser introduced their Dual Port manifolds? My reading lead me to think both manufacturers were looking at maintaining higher velocities up to the stock heads. I actually ran a SP2P on a Ford 400 in a second gen Bronco and noticed a great increase in low speed throttle response and it served well since I never ran the engine over four thousand rpm. The narrow ports did increase the air velocity but there was a trade-off because as soon as the mixture crossed into the port, the (2BBL Cleveland) head opening was so much larger than the runner. I'm sure that gave mixed results and odd AFR at different speeds. I'm sure carrying this idea into the heads would yield similar results. I'm not sure if the rules change when comparing a wet manifold over a dry manifold.

[@stevehammel2939]

Looks like an excellent short track head

[@dadalebreton184]

So +/- 25% of filling is the key? I should have my intake ports grinding and filling match the cylinder head if i add 1+1? I always tought the flow should make a "warerslide like" effect to help velocity instead of pinball machine. I still need to learn a lot. Like a ol lot. Hehe. Thanks Mr. Vizard for sharing these masters knowledges with us. It's such inspirations.

[@lautburns4829]

Thanks again David. I always enjoy your presentation.

[@RealDougFields]

i have made several road racing motorcycles much faster by "shaping down" the intake port size. This can totally work on some applications.

[@davelewis2174]

Learning someting new everyday Thanks

[@JavierLopez-if7hb]

Just watched Charles Servedio video, he is trying to get a hold of you. He has a idea he wants to run by you. I am just a fan of both of your channels. One question I want to ask, are you still offering your IOP program to your fans to buy. I am very interested, Thank you for your time. Keep up the great work. I own and love 4 of your books.

[@theoldbigmoose]

Thank you again David! Pure gold!

[@ajw6715]

I would like to hear your thoughts about the 1970 Boss 429 heads. The ports are to big I know.

[@v8packard]

You might try a few drops of methyl ethyl ketone on the epoxy as you mix. MEK is a great solvent for reducing epoxy. A little bit goes a long way. It makes the epoxy much easier to work with before it sets. The MEK does slow the full cure, and it does take a tiny bit of strength away, but in practice I find this to be negligible.

[@innleadair]

I used to build 2.0L Pinto engines in the UK. Had good success with port filling them. Tried many different fillers to try and find one which would remain hard at engine temps and not begin to peel at the edges and fall out (fall in unfortunately) Devcon was the best at the time, sure 25 years have improved things? Better materials these days?

[@smithjohn3080]

Also would like to know what you think about raising the port entry roof after filling the floor to eliminate the "dead" space but still have large overall port volume

[@officeassistant1292]

David can you talk about dynamic compression.....

[@m.s.patrick2863]

um I think you guys need a few more boxes of valves in the background geez, interesting vid as always!! thx

[@mikemccann6556]

Back in 1979 my soon to be father in law had a Pinto. It constantly wiped one of the cams completely off. It was smooth like it was done on a lathe. I was new at working on engine internals, but I was working with a mechanic that had years of experience. We never did figure out why it was doing it. After I put in the 3rd cam he sold the car. Another thing strange about this car it had a huge oil pan that took 7 quarts to fill it.

[@modelnutty6503]

typical for earlier Pinto to start going flat 50-60k miles if you didn't keep up on them. for a daily, harder cam, lighter valve springs, straight 30w oil and half baby it. still not as plagued as a dang Chevy Vega engine (what were they thinking?!) when a little Pinto engine is fresh+built they can make very nice power!

[@jackwillson8099]

I had very good luck with Moroso epoxy

[@georgedreisch2662]

Have had good luck promoting adhesion by sandblasting with especially rude media like coarse Black Beauty. Repeated cleanings with acetone. Dampening fingers with acetone works well for sculpting the epoxy. Have found the biggest gains from port filling, to be related to drivability. That said, a driver feeling improved drivability, will make decreases in lap times beyond what can be attributed to the increased drivability, this applying especially to tighter courses.

[@StefanRügamer]

Does the goodson epoxy also works on cast iron heads (particular in my case I use heads with OE screwed in studs and want to close that big casting hole in my runner ) ?

[@dannoyes4493]

Thank you for this.

[@kennethcohagen3539]

How do you know where to fill a port? How do you know how high to raise the port? I became aware of Port Filling in the late 70’s. It was ecassart on Fords Cleveland heads. What other engines would greatly improve from filling?

[@____MC____]

Should try using a broche or chisel to dig up burrs to stick too. You might not need holes

[@richardscott8186]

I think I will have to try this on some Coyote heads along with the Polyquad. Now only to find some used

[@Frank-sf1wh]

This makes a lot of sense to me, but what about the intake manifold? If you left it alone, it seems to me that there would be rough flow.

[@michaelwooda9444]

David vizard do you have any experience and video on AMC V8 cylinder heads? With dog leg exhaust ports?

[@williambasinger5859]

I’m wondering if you ever used a product called belzone for this port filling. I used this product for years on caterpillar engines to resurface the fire deck.

[@jamesfalterman5098]

Great product, we use it a lot in the chemical and gas refinery's. Not cheap but would be about the best thing to use for port filling because it resist most chemicals and the adhesion strength is off the charts. We actually fill worn pump cases, machine and put back in service. Most people have never heard of Belzona but if you can find it, its probably one of the best epoxy's to use for port filling besides actual welding!!

[@davidrosales3663]

All you motorhead's out there you got to have his books!!!!!!!!!!

[@ThomasStallings-l8q]

I wonder, if 78 318 la 2 barrel heads would be worth porting and increase valves size?

[@dalemccleery8355]

Great video , but I have questions about intake matching. Will I mead to port fillet my intake to match the head? And gasket material.

[@richardvanmarter8780]

So what do you do with the intake to match the port?🙂

[@goofball4718]

Instead of using filler on the floor could you just use a smaller port shape on the intake?

[@jefferybernard4800]

David Ford had a 302 tunnel Port head it was round on the intake but a crappy rectangular on the exhaust what can be done with that exhaust to really help it make it a very good head

[@MATSS18]

Is this mainly done to keep the cross sectional area to a certain ratio of the intake valve or are there more factors playing? It seems like both the SR20 and the head mentioned here have a mean cross sectional area of 0,85 times the inlet valve area. Or do you want to apply this whenever the roof can be raised? Thanks for the information as always. Would love to see more info in Pinto’s. Looking forward to some content on how to promote tumble in 4Vs/hemi’s.

[@michaelblacktree]

The idea is to even out the airspeed throughout the port. The stock port has areas with very low airspeed and areas with very high airspeed. Those differences in airspeed promote turbulence, which is bad for airflow. So he filled in an area that has low airspeed, and opened up an area that has really high airspeed.

[@ikecostner1]

@@michaelblacktreetoo smooth and you have poor air fuel mixture, some turbulence is wanted isn’t it?

[@michaelblacktree]

I wasn't talking about surface finish.

[@donbrutcher4501]

How would power and driveability compare between the 'filled' head and a SR-20 head for an approximately 630 cu in street driven engine? What are the intake manifold mod's necessary to accommodate the filled head?

[@bcbloc02]

I too wondered what he did to make the intake work well if it just hit a ledge transition it seems like it would hurt it alot.

[@rayowens4355]

What are your thoughts on filling the large area under the rocker arm boss on a 5.9 magnum head for street/tow/daily driver use? Floor of the port approaching the bowl.

[@markbogle8062]

I have a question for you if you have a port that is the the right size for you engine and you change the port like you did and not fill it what would happen ?

[@theredwedge9446]

Just, wow.

[@flinch622]

Safe to say this work demands access to a flowbench. Tips on mapping port velocity?

[@neilhansen5663]

Certainly wakes up 4V cleveland heads

[@shanetrotter2301]

How well would the epoxy work on cast iron heads?

[@gregorymarch91]

Wil this work as well on cast iron? Great job, appreciate the effort.

[@DavidVizard]

Yes!

[@theblackhand6485]

I may have missed it but so far nothing about why ports must be trapisiodal instead of rectangle shaped. And also: will the exhaust manifold still fit due to the raised ports? ...or will there be a custom made manifold being made?

[@kensmechanicalaffair]

I'm lost.

[@ElvinLeadfoot]

Tricked ported and built by Elvin & King David:)

[@____MC____]

Jessus, dude. Hes not gunna sign your tits.

[@annamckinney6622]

Is this the same thing as "Splash Zone"?

[@brianbrigg57]

Does the port filling increase swirl?

[@DavidVizard]

Usually.

[@blindabinda1234]

This a bit different than the alien music intros lol

[@alkennedy1124]

If you will place the camera 🎥 in such a way as to let us see other than you back side of your hand ,,,, that would be amazing nice, ina lot of your vlogs we see you or your hand and not the head ,,,or part you are teaching us, ok good I never knew I could fill a port like this thanks , and we did keys inthe casting of our foundry projects at high school way back in the day, thanks BigAl California

[@MsKatjie]

4v clevland?

[@t.s.racing]

4V is referring to 4 venturi, or a 4 barrel carburetor. Don't feel bad a lot of people mistake the 4V for 4 valve cylinder head, which I think you are questioning. The Cleveland head is definitely a 2 valve head, although the valves are CANTED, meaning the intake and exhaust valve included angles are NOT equal, and canted in relation to the cylinder bore and each other. Think of the big block Chevrolet. I hope this helps 🙏

[@deanstevenson6527]

🥝✔️ Devcon/ JB Weld ❤️😁

[@ikecostner1]

Is there dyno proof of this adding power

[@c0c0asauce]

Every dyno of a ported cylinder head is proof that filling a port can add power. Grinding and filling are both just changing the shape of the port.

[@ikecostner1]

@@bigboreracing356 velocity does play an integral role in horsepower, I would not necessarily say that this idea is completely useless. We would just need some good dyno sessions with a unbiased and neutral dyno cell operator, flow isn’t everything There could be some truth to this

[@c0c0asauce]

@@bigboreracing356 Hold on, you say alleged power increase like you haven't tested it yourself but you say power falls off before 5krpm. How do you know?

[@c0c0asauce]

@@bigboreracing356 So did you actually test these heads or ones similar?

[@c0c0asauce]

@@bigboreracing356 If you say yes then I don't actually need a reason to believe you. I will treat what you say as the truth until I can prove otherwise. I know that makes me a weirdo. I would only ask for details about the motor and if you saw any fuel mileage gains. I have a 454 in my dually work truck and I really only care about power below 5000rpm. I picked my cam, intake manifold, and ported my heads with that in mind. I'm not gonna pull the heads off just to fill the ports but I cut the stock pistons pretty deep for valve reliefs so I might burn through one pretty fast if I lose an injector. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a complete beginner and have no one to teach me anything about engines. I don't have a flow bench or a dyno so all my results are from looking at what changes the engine demands to the ECU tune. If the engine gains volumetric efficiency then I just loosely assume it's making more power. If I was racing I'd be using ET and MPH.

[@donbenson2099]

Hi, I am new to your channel you do seem to know what you are talking about. Questions: What is you opinion of Smokey Yunick? 2: How do you compare to him? Now I will continue watching your videos. Thanks, Don

[@scoutdogfsr]

Looks similar to AMC dog legs ports

[@Scarlet_1971_cuda]

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to drill, grind and fill a set of heads. I just don't have the funds to recover from a mistake.

[@UnityMotorSportsGarage]

It takes some time getting used to doing it... When I first started doing it I was always second guessing myself but you gain confidence as time goes on... My suggestion is find a junk head to practice on before you do it for keeps

[@RobertsChannell]

trapezoidal ;)

[@hotrodray6802]

🔔😎 YeeeeeHaaaaw!!!!!

[@jdpowersport]

i wish there was some more general info and not so much about chevy v8s. im not hating i love a good ole american v8 but cmon can we talk about some overhead cam stuff. Falling asleep every-time i have to start thinking about pushrods

[@pmd7771969]

For the amount of time, effort, money, frustration of all these mods he speaks of, for minimal gain 7nless all done to an engine, nowadays, you can just buy one or two chinese ebay turbos and add 400 to 600 more hp added to what 5he engine already puts out. And at 320 dollars for the turbos that's not bad with much better performance results. Bloodviking

[@eweunkettles8207]

you can actualy see the paint dry

[@comptegoogle511]

Water can be a polymerizing inhibitor for epoxy.

[@williamherring5441]

Thank you DV. v/r wh