[CuriousJ0N]

With all the talk of headers being done, does anybody know about how much it would cost to have a port and polish done on the stock setup? What differences would there be between this and just adding aftermarket headers?

 

[Breathegood]

Bump cause I'd like to know as well. I've got a family friend that does P&P work professionally, even designed his own software. I've been tempted to go yank a throttle body off a junker and have him make it flow better, but don't have any idea if it's worth the cost or trouble. As far as heads goes....I'm inclined to think that for the money you could spend to have them ported and polished, you could prolly run a blower with fuel mods, underdrive, and water injection.

 

[Gadget]

If you are talking about porting the heads, there can be a very broad range depending on what you have done. First you have to make damn sure that the person doing the work really knows what he is doing. There are a lot of HACKS out there, trust me.

Anyway, $800-1500 should be about right.

 

[Breathegood]

Would this be worthwhile for a naturally aspirated truck? I would think that for a supercharged application, you would see a big difference in performance, but for $800-1500, I'd expect near supercharger gains on a N/A truck.

 

[BLOWNYOTA]

Im not a professional machinest by any means but i grew up around it. A close family/ bussiness friend of my father has done heads for steve kinser and other world of outlaw cars, and i have done most of my school projects about motors. The thing that you will learn quickly if you get into serious machine work is the cost. This is due mostly the the cost of the labor. The good guys won't be cheap. i doubt that if you spend $2500 on porting you will see the same HP gains of a $2500 blower especially with no cams. But you will definetly notice an increase up top and in throttle response, espcially with a good 3-angle valve job. I plan on Having my friend do my heads within the next 4-6 months, so when its done i will be sure to post. But if you get them done be sure to post and tell me how it went.

 

[Breathegood]

I'm not really that interested in having the heads done, at least when there are so many "bolt-on" mods that offer more ponies/dollar, but I have seriously been considering having the throttle body done. At least I was until I looked up prices on a throttle body from a few salvage yards (can't have the truck down longer than it takes to swap part for part). $350 for a TB off a salvaged truck!!! I thought "that can't be right", so I called a dealer....$860!!!! I've got a friend that will do the work at little or no cost to me, but I'm not forkin out that kind of $$$ for a used part until after I've got a supercharger with fuel mods and tunning.

 

[rojodiablo]

With a good port job, and some time on a flow bench, you would be shocked to see what you would get. More so than just power, but smoother delivery, and much quicker throttle response. I'm guessing a good shop in Socal would run 2,000 for the port job, and the new goodies, larger intake valves, etc. But, that doesn't include the r&r of the heads. Add 700 more for that. We got 40 hp from my chevy b/b with porting, 2mm over intakes, and Thorley headers. Plus, as if it needed it, a ton more torque. The cam gave another 20hp. ...My guess would be an honest 25hp witha v6 taco, using new intake valves, and careful fuel map tuning. And, stone reliable.

 

[saki302]

The power gained would likely all be high end power, where the SC has lots of gains all te way down to near idle!

I did heads/intake/headers/MAF/etc. when I had my '94 5.0L Mustang. The low end and midrange stayed nearly the same, but once you hit about 3000-3500rpms, the power kept climbing instead of dropping off. It had an estimated 300-320 crank HP with that setup.
To bring down the power, you'd need cams. That's a lot of money for 25hp or so
I suppose if you have lots of cash to toss at it, and already have everything else, this would be the next logical step.

-Dave

 

[GreenTaco4x4]

You could use an adjustable timing gear to help bring the power down.

 

[tbplus10]

If your truck is normally aspirated dont be surprised if you dont get a lot of improvement over stock in the normal or useable RPM range with port and polish. I had a set of heads done by a very reputable shop 4 years ago and had nothing but problems. The improvements were all in the high RPM range(4500+), no noticeable difference in the lower RPM range, Dyno'd horsepower gains were only 17hp over stock, and I had a CEL going off that would light up almost every code in the book. after fighting issues for 6 months I finally bought a new set of heads.
IMO if you decide to port and polish I'd only do it to a S/C or Turbocharged engine running a wide band O2 sensor.
My brother has the heads on his S/C Tacoma and feels the seat of the pants performance is increased, but hasnt had the truck dyno'd since changing heads. He has a wideband sensor and 7th injector and has'nt been getting lights like I did.

Tim

 

[Breathegood]

Now that's a useful reply. Thank you. I had this or that done to my Mustang or Chevy doesn't really mean that much to me. You say the CEL was triggering all kinds of codes....what do you THINK was the issue? Timing, fuel delivery, knock? I would think that P&P'd heads would create similar problems to a supercharger without proper fuel management. Did you try any of the piggyback computers with your setup, or were you otherwise stock?

 

[tbplus10]

I never did try computer changes because I'd just moved from Virginia to Italy and the logistics of getting parts was near impossible, thats why I eventually replaced the heads with a factory set.
I think you could work those issues out on a normally aspirated truck by using a modified ECU, wide band sensor, and a custom fuel delivery system, but I dont think the money spent and hassle would be worth it for the power gained. On a S/C or Turbocharged truck your already into $$ and the HP gains seem to be alot larger as I saw on my brothers truck, you also have enhanced fuel delivery if you've used a URD or 7th injector kit. Speed costs, how much you wanna pay?
One thing I did notice on my brothers truck is a distinct lack of low end torque, I have an opinion on how that happened, but with out a Dyno run it's only an opinion.

Tim

 

[Tweeter]

I'm getting my heads ported at my friend's shop by a guy who does it for a living, for about $600 just because I'm friends with them. Usually its about $900. I'll let you guys know how it feels when its done.

 

[Breathegood]

I'm getting my heads ported at my friend's shop by a guy who does it for a living, for about $600 just because I'm friends with them. Usually its about $900. I'll let you guys know how it feels when its done.

That seems like a pretty good price for a V6, but I'm still skeptical about the $$/pony ratio. I think that the ideal would be to have the heads done on a supercharged truck. Are you going to send your thottle body and intake manifold off to Downey to have them done too. http://www.downeyoff-road.com/EngineComponents/index.htm
I took a dremmel to my throttle body and blended the step, widened the opening and polished it up good. I didn't actually widen the area where the throttle plate closes since I didn't have a way making it exacly even all the way around or a larger plate, but what I did do made the truck run a little differently. I don't know about HP gains but it smoothed out the intake noise (the AirAid MIT is a little obnoxious), and seemed to give me a snapier, smoother throttle response.
Looking forward to seeing what kind of results you get from having the heads done.

 

[rojodiablo]

I'm getting my heads ported at my friend's shop by a guy who does it for a living, for about $600 just because I'm friends with them. Usually its about $900. I'll let you guys know how it feels when its done.

To extract the power from it, you'll need a cam to move that extra air. But anything is a good start;I'm jealous.