I have ported and polished heads myself on three separate vehicles and I have had mixed results. I have grown up in an automotive/mechanic family and been around cars since I was very young. The first car I ever did was a 2.8V6 for a friend that had an X-11 citation. It was a H.O. V6 (for its time, and old when I did it) from the mid 80's. All I did was widening, smoothing, and polishing. Since it was never dyno'd and it was with an atx, all I can say is that the power was smoother over all. Then next engine that I ported was the 2.7L inline six cylinder from a 1982 BMW 528e.
That engine still impresses me. It was tuned multiport fuel injected for its time and had semi-tuned cast iron exhast manifolds. I widened, reshaped and polished the exhaust ports only on this head. The intake was already large and very smooth for a stock casting. The low end torque jumped so much that I was completely amazed! The car that took off like a 4 cyl. until it readched 3000rpm now took off faster than my SVT! It still has the stock exhaust which other than the manifolds basically sucks. Of course it did not improve the top end above 3000rmp (which was already good but nothing like the svt), and it made the overall torque curve very flat. Made the car much more driveable and enjoyable. The last engine I did was 1 yr. ago and it was the ford 351W in a 91 bronco. Nice results, and an overall increase in power.
As far as the SVT. I would leave the intake side of the heads alone if you have an E1 SVT since they are supposed to already be done. But from my experience with the exhast port widening and porting on the last 2 vehicles is... Go for it... I plan to do mine sometime this year. As far as reshaping, don't do it unless you are experienced, but widening and polishing is easy enough for anyone who has done an engine rebuild and some other kinds of creative fabrication.
warmonger
