[GoreMaker]

I love Darrin at Nitemare Performance and I wish I could keep all my money with him, especially since he's just one state over. But 5 to 6 months' lead time is just too long for me to wait.

Who else ports cast-iron D-port heads? Preferably in the Northeast area of the US, though I'll pay to ship farther if I have to. I'll wait on Darrin if I have to, but I'd prefer to have ported heads in hand within the next couple months if possible.

[zippy]

5-6 mos is quick. A Guru like Dave at SD is 10 months or longer!!!! Actually, he doesnt like porting Iron anymore because its more cost effective for the buyer, to run out of the boc Alum heads which flow the same as fully worked Iron heads. I had my 70 HO #64 heads done by him years ago, and I wish now that I had just went Edelbrock. Love my heads, but now my engine combo wants Alum. Woulda saved me thousands back then.

[GoreMaker]

I'm not looking to make mad power, mostly I want to keep it original and get more out of it. This is just a 557 block, it can't handle gobs of power anyways.

[zippy]

557 with Iron heads? I'm impresssed. What's your compression ratio?

[GoreMaker]

I'm referring to casting number. It's the weak 400 block that was used from 1975 through the end of production (with the exception of '78 and later W72 400s).

[zippy]

Ohh my bad. OL, shoulda clued in but I'm chest deep in measuring valves and springs right now. If your handy with tools, a gasket match does wonders and is pretty much free. You doing the labour. If your woried about the block not handling the power because of the weak casting, is it really wise to spend lots of money in pro porting just to possibly make to much? What's your goals of engine? A gasket match of intake and heads, and blend in to the pushrod pinch is easy. I've done a few. Standard abrasives has a great little porting kit, and cheap too. This will smooth flow, but not gain a ton of power. But your budget and goals are the ultamite deciding factor

[Scott Roberts]

Originally Posted by GoreMaker

I love Darrin at Nitemare Performance and I wish I could keep all my money with him, especially since he's just one state over. But 5 to 6 months' lead time is just too long for me to wait.

Who else ports cast-iron D-port heads? Preferably in the Northeast area of the US, though I'll pay to ship farther if I have to. I'll wait on Darrin if I have to, but I'd prefer to have ported heads in hand within the next couple months if possible.

Any competent shop can port your heads.. Pontiacs aren't unique. Find a local shop that's competent and ur good. Ports are ports.. doesn't matter what color you paint the heads..

[25stevem]

Whatever shop or person you take your heads to ,

1) make sure they have a flow bench.
Many shops that do porting work do not have such. Yet they will wax eloquently about how well heads that they have put a grinder to perform!

2) make sure they have at least 7 years of porting experience with the flow bench and that they have also ported all types and brands of heads. Also they should have a swirl meter to augment there flow bench.

3) they have well kept records and be able to provide you with flow sheets that can show you the porting results that you can expect from heads of your brand.

Just like the phrase Parts is parts, but those parts can be installed wrong, so can porting work be done wrong and provide only a high lift flow gain and a reduction in the amount of average port velocity needed in the rpm range that you are building your motor to run in.

[67Fbird]

that 1 word creates alot of problems

"COMPETENT"
1 shops IDEA of competent can be a big difference than anothers. Probably not too many folk who actually DO Pontiac stuff as YES there is a bit of difference in working a PONTIAC vs (insert ANY NAME here).....unless you are dealing with a serious performance shop.

[GoreMaker]

Yeah... competence is the issue. I don't have a lot of shops to choose from around here. There's a fair bit I want done beyond just porting, stuff I can't do myself. Bronze valve guides (or liners), milling, valve job, truing the valve cover sealing surface, etc. There's exactly two shops in my immediate area who can do this stuff, and at least one of them has failed me epically in the past. This is for a car that means a lot to me and I want it appearing mostly original while maximizing its potential.

[74Grandville]

not sure what you have decided for cam. your previous posts talk about a w72 replacement. Porting your heads may not be worth the ROI. I have found flow does increase some from .300 lift and below, but most of the gains are above .300 lift. Porting will also help the potential of power at a higher RPM.

I built a w72 type 400 and was impressed with the power, but i also have a good exhaust system. you may be happy leaving the heads as cast.

[25stevem]

This simple ball park way of looking at things for a street / street strip motor works out well.

Your stock heads in good shape and with a proper cam will make 400 hp or a tad more.
This is with a stock intake air flow level of 205 to 208 cfm@ 28” on average.

If you wanted to make 480 to 500 hp ( and depending on your compression ) you need 20% more flow intake flow in the lift range of your cam.
Your then looking at a need for porting work to get you 240 cfm.

Also keep in mind another simple fact that for every 100 hp your looking to make you then need .100” lift at the valve.

Going a added .050” lift more if your springs and PTVC will allow will be icing on the cake!

[Matt Meaney]

http://carlquistengines.com/

bill is pontaic savvy.

[GoreMaker]

I mean absolutely no offense to everyone offering advice, I know you all mean well, but I'm not seeking recommendations on whether or not to have my heads ported. I'd be happy to start a new thread for that discussion, though it's already been discussed to death in the past in countless other threads. I don't want to waste my time justifying my choices to everyone who has a different opinion. I've been building engines of all kinds (including Pontiacs) for decades. This is just the latest build, it's a special one, and I'm treating myself to some indulgence, ROI be damned. What I asked for are recommendations for places that work on iron D-port heads, preferably people who know Pontiac heads well. Those seem to be a dying breed these days and that's a shame.

Thank you for the Carlquist recommendation! Connecticut is very close, I'll check into them. Though I have a feeling they'll be just as busy as Nitemare Performance. So far I'm leaning towards having my current heads freshened up until Darrin can get me the set I want.

[65madgoat]

I personally would recommend against porting the iron heads, save them for the future -- if there even is any future value in OEM parts in a decade.

Your best bet is getting a set of Kauffman D port aluminum heads in my honest opinion. May not be what you want to hear, but stock parts don't do much and you'd get way better performance out of the aluminum heads.

[Dragncar]

Have you thought of getting Jim Hands book and doing it yourself ? Has some good info there on a basic port job.

[GoreMaker]

I've had that since it was first published, it's very well-loved! However I can't mill heads, so I think I'd rather let a machine shop do all the work, including porting. I'm also missing digits on my right (dominant) hand and have very poor dexterity, haven't got used to it yet. I don't trust myself for that kind of precision work at this time.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Tom Slawco near Maple Grove Raceway PA, did a set of 48s like 30 years ago and they were strong. https://www.slawkoracingheads.com

[rwfisher]

DCI motor sports in Oh. They definitely know Pontiac heads…. Turn around times are as expected in these days and price will be higher than any local folks but you’ll get exactly what your looking for…

[Don 79 TA]

what about reaching out to Richie Hoffman?
KRE?
Paul Spotts?
I don't know if any of them do this type of work or not