Quote:


i get 45/hr for porting.

for a set of SR's, thats $800.

i figure on about 13.5hrs for the porting portion of this job, which is basically a mild full port job.

and if i read that right....at $80-100/hr you'd get $1360-1700 for fully hand porting those heads.

i haven't done too many of the 440-1's, but it takes me about 22hrs to do them



Fast,

Jeff makes some good points, .. first and most important is the hourly labor rate. $75 to $100 an hour for our expertise is the proper rate. The VALUE of the work you do is much greater then $45 and hour.

I don't know your shop, but once you get into a commercial space, .. or start buying machines equipment, paying advertising, salaries, etc. you HAVE to get $75 an hour or more just to cover overhead. The cost of doing business is important to know for ANY business.

At the rate, .. it's normal for my shop to get, .. say a set of Chebby 15º comp heads, .. $2,300 - $2,500 in porting, ..
Pro stock style heads, .. not uncommon for the total bill, .. castings, valves, etc. to be well over $10K, ..
4 cylinder "kent" 2 valve road race head, .. $2,900 complete, ..

To fully port a bracket race set of heads, .. not "all I can do" pro level stuff, .. but a good basic port job. Bowls, short side, .. correct volume, raise roof, narrow guide boss, chambers, etc.
yes it's often $1,400 to $1,800 depending on the head.
Around 17 to 20 hours of labor.

Now, .. go to Mike Chapman's web site and look at prices for Pro level work, .. his 15º chevy heads are $2200 for the CnC porting only.

High level, good work is expensive because it very time consuming to do.

This leads me to Jeff's comment of $800 stage 2 porting, ..
I don't think that's expensive IF, .. again, IF the level of work done is worth it. At $75 an hour, .. it's takes a little over 10 hours of work to get to that. Not hard to do if porting big block heads, ..

My stage 2 if you want to call it that, ... is bowls, guide bosses, short turn, gasket match, all the good basic work, ..takes about 8-10 hours on a set of big block heads ( aluminum) and it's $800. But, .. this is probably closer to a "stage 3" of most other shops.

I do, .. a basic valve bowl reshape & blend, .. my "stage 1"
( 5 hours of labor)
Then a Full port as listed above, .. my "stage 2"
( 8-11 hours of labor)
Then full race stuff is quoted, .. ..
and EVERYTHING we port if flowed, .

Oh, Jeff, .. do you do outside contract work for CnC ???? I've been looking around
for a CnC shop I can live with, .. Ford 4.6 PI heads, .. SB Chevys, . etc. ???

Curtis