Head porting question?
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2007
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Head porting question?
Hi all, I'm working on my 103 build, and now considering cleaning up the heads. I am puting together a flat top 103 with the SE 255 cams, yes I'm wanting torque down low, and I wasn't planning on doing any headwork but after looking at the stock heads I understand better why everyone pushes headwork on these bikes. I would like to know if a simple clean up of the ports and combustion chambers would gain anything? I know a port job from some of the highly respected shops on here would make a great improvement but If smoothing things out would help some I'd rather do that right now since I can get it done here and now. I have a guy that always done my head porting for my national cross country quads and he is meticulous when it comes to porting, he knows the tricks to making more power without sacrificing torque but he's never done a set of twin cam heads. He has looked at my heads and says there's alot of room for improvement in them but I'm a little nevous since he hasn't done any of them before. He said if I wanted to stay safe then he could just do a mild port job, clean up the area around the valve seats, match the intake ports to the throttle body, polish the combustion chambers, and smooth out the exhaust ports really good. Does this sound OK, is there anything that could really get screwed up doing this? You would have to see the quality of work this guy does to understand why I am considering this, his work has put alot of 1st place finishes on my trophy shelf for me so I hate not to give him a chance at this. Please tell me of any major points I might not be aware of, thanks.
Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,640
Likes: 817
I just built my '99 bagger up to 95ci, and had the heads ported and polished by a local motorcycle engine builder. We discussed what I wanted to accomplish from the build & the main thing we agreed on was better low end torque. He did 5 angle valve job and the P&P, a high lift spring kit, and associated teardropping & shortening of the valve guides.
Per his recommendation (and with concurring input from others I asked), the basic setup was not to enlarge the ports a great deal, and stick with the stock size valves. The way it was stated was that small ports with high flow would make for better low end, especially coupled with the cam & compression ratio I was building.
It sure couldn't hurt to smooth them out, and if he's familiar with P&P in general, you will probably benefit.
I've put about 400 miles on the bike since the rebuild, and I'm pretty happy with it. I still have to get it dyno'd, but the map that FuelMoto preloaded into the PCIII I installed is running pretty well so far.
Per his recommendation (and with concurring input from others I asked), the basic setup was not to enlarge the ports a great deal, and stick with the stock size valves. The way it was stated was that small ports with high flow would make for better low end, especially coupled with the cam & compression ratio I was building.
It sure couldn't hurt to smooth them out, and if he's familiar with P&P in general, you will probably benefit.
I've put about 400 miles on the bike since the rebuild, and I'm pretty happy with it. I still have to get it dyno'd, but the map that FuelMoto preloaded into the PCIII I installed is running pretty well so far.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,750
Likes: 2
From: Bucks County PA
Well, I'm not a great wrench, but my Indy is. I do basic maint stuff; but scared of rebuilds thus far. I know I will take it on someday (when I'm retired). At any rate my Indy did all the work, but insisted on sending the heads to Dan Baisely in Washington State I believe. He did an incredible job and it was worth the wait. Check it out and perhaps give him a call. I like a guy who says, I'm good at this and because I 've had the opportunity to do many of the heads, I've stayed with an expert.
Novice
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
Hi all, I'm working on my 103 build, and now considering cleaning up the heads. I am puting together a flat top 103 with the SE 255 cams, yes I'm wanting torque down low, and I wasn't planning on doing any headwork but after looking at the stock heads I understand better why everyone pushes headwork on these bikes. I would like to know if a simple clean up of the ports and combustion chambers would gain anything? I know a port job from some of the highly respected shops on here would make a great improvement but If smoothing things out would help some I'd rather do that right now since I can get it done here and now. I have a guy that always done my head porting for my national cross country quads and he is meticulous when it comes to porting, he knows the tricks to making more power without sacrificing torque but he's never done a set of twin cam heads. He has looked at my heads and says there's alot of room for improvement in them but I'm a little nevous since he hasn't done any of them before. He said if I wanted to stay safe then he could just do a mild port job, clean up the area around the valve seats, match the intake ports to the throttle body, polish the combustion chambers, and smooth out the exhaust ports really good. Does this sound OK, is there anything that could really get screwed up doing this? You would have to see the quality of work this guy does to understand why I am considering this, his work has put alot of 1st place finishes on my trophy shelf for me so I hate not to give him a chance at this. Please tell me of any major points I might not be aware of, thanks.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 5,462
Likes: 619
Well, I'm not a great wrench, but my Indy is. I do basic maint stuff; but scared of rebuilds thus far. I know I will take it on someday (when I'm retired). At any rate my Indy did all the work, but insisted on sending the heads to Dan Baisely in Washington State I believe. He did an incredible job and it was worth the wait. Check it out and perhaps give him a call. I like a guy who says, I'm good at this and because I 've had the opportunity to do many of the heads, I've stayed with an expert.
http://www.baisley.com/
Zach
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