I would like to see some before and after pictures on pocket porting heads. I have some extra time on my hands and since I am inexperienced I'll even just use steel wool and do it by hand if I have too! I've done alittle bit of pocket porting on a junk set of stock heads just to experiment but probaly went over board. It can be any kind of heads but if someone either has small block heads like X,J or W2's that would be even better yet since that's what I run!

LOL... your never gonna do it with steel wool... your
gonna need a die grinder... I have both electric and
air... I dont think I have any pics of my econo W-2s
but I'll look

go to a machine shop and see if they will give you some old unused heads and use them to practice with

LOL thanks Mr P Body I have a little electric die grinder!

I'd like to see some pics as well. I plan on getting the porting template kit and doing some big block heads.

I agree your going to be there forever with a dremel.
I have a nice craftsman electric die grinder(1hp if memory serves me). I'll post a picture of it when I get a chance.

I looked through all my pics... I dont have any of
port work... I guess I forget to take pics(if it wasnt
for my wife I dont know if I would have many pics)

you need on of these

You will need a grinder with a 1/4" shank, a Dremel with a 1/8" shank isn't going to do squat.
Do your port work before you have the valve job finished.
One of the most important thing for a beginner is being able to control the grinder and burr. I have sold heads to a few guys now that tried porting their heads themselves and made a complete mess. It's very easy to ruin a perfectly good head if you're not careful.
As everyone has said, try on a junk W2 before you start. Pictures only show so much, they don't give a true insight into the actual shape

I started with a dremell, I think it was a good idea for a beginner as you don't remove material as fast (too fast if your not careful). Now I mostly use carbide bits in my 1/4 inch air grinder. It has a max speed adjuster as well as variable speed depending on how hard you squeeze it. I do still use a Dremmel for polishing the ex port.

Go to Harbor Freight and for $15 - $20 get a cheapo air powered die grinder. I'm sure any local flea market will have one too. Or for a couple more bucks get an electric one from Harbor Freight. And then get some carbide cutting bits. Then get a porting template kit.

If you are going to run an air grinder...make sure you have a good compressor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/42-Electric-Flex...=item2a27f0774d I use the Dremel version of one of these. Gives great speed control and a great feel and control. I use an air powered one for the rough "hogging"first. When it comes to the pocket porting less is more would be good advice for a beginner.

When I used the porting template kit, I used a "thimble sized" carbide cutter to make a cut for each template as it should be clocked. Thimble sized, meaning it's about the size of your pinky and shaped about the same. Another cutter a little smaller gets down between the guide and port wall to run that trough.

After the templates are sunk, I break out the biggest/roundest stone that will fit into the bowl. The law of averages, as I say, will take out metal from the bowl as you keep moving it around to get down to where the template cuts were made.

Some blending of the bowl to the port entry (I just roll the short turn and minimize material removal) and an intake gasket match/blend later.........

Probably not the best approach but it gained me 3 mph through the traps and had more low end grunt too!

A bigger and heavier electric diegrinder eats up a lot of the bad vibrations to.