452 head porting?

[Squeezy]

After getting all the snapped off exhaust manifold studs out, I held up my gaskets for my Doug’s 452 headers to the heads and am wondering how much meat to take off if I decide to try my hand at some porting?
76 low compression motor, also noticed the lip that most likely will need die grinder attention to make the headers fit right.

Not looking to dump a bunch of money in the heads as I hope to go aluminum rpms, but is porting gonna do me any good?

I shoulda took a pic before I covered with tape to clean everything up.

 

[68-500]

What ever you decide to do don’t take material off the floor of the exhaust port

 

[Rebelrouser]

The biggest flow gains are in the valve seat area 1/2 inch above the seat and in the chamber. Port matching the intake and exhaust help a little not a lot. The easiest improvement is to remove and smooth where the factory machined the seat and the ridge of iron below that. I have a flow bench and used to do iron Mopar heads, next biggest improvements are the short side radius, problem is you can screw a head really quick, .010 off in the wrong place can make them flow worse than stock. Direct connection used to make porting templates you could cut out of cardboard that actually worked pretty good.

 

[PRHeads]

Using a stock valley pan gasket as a template for how big to make the port openings is fine for the intake side.

Pretty much any “header” gasket on the exhaust side is too big.
The exhaust gaskets that are used with stock manifolds are as big as the openings need to be for all but the highest effort builds.

 

[Cranky]

Do you have an old head that you can practice on? It's not as easy as it looks for a beginner....

 

[ElricVaughner]

After getting all the snapped off exhaust manifold studs out, I held up my gaskets for my Doug’s 452 headers to the heads and am wondering how much meat to take off if I decide to try my hand at some porting?
76 low compression motor, also noticed the lip that most likely will need die grinder attention to make the headers fit right.

Not looking to dump a bunch of money in the heads as I hope to go aluminum rpms, but is porting gonna do me any good?

I shoulda took a pic before I covered with tape to clean everything up.

View attachment 1981645https://www.boostwin1.top/ru/casino/

If you’re going aluminum later, I’d just clean up the header mismatch and that lip so everything seals right. Beyond a light bowl/seat blend, porting probably isn’t worth the risk or time on a low-compression motor.

 

[coloradodave]

There's a lot of good information here. Also, I am very impressed when a professional (PRHeads) in the field is willing to help out someone wanting to try it themselves. Good on y'all...

 

[Canadian1968]

As already said ,gasket match the intake. Then I would just work on smoothing everything out, don't worry about removing a ton of material. If this is just going to be temporary set of heads then just do a " clean up" job and get a feel for the process..

 

[lewtot184]

i'm maybe the last of the "iron" doesn't give me heartburn crowd. i run iron on one car, aluminum on the other; both do what i want. i've done pocket port stuff many times on iron and i think it helps. i like the ferrea 5000 series valves for stock replacement and would highly recommend them over any OEM valve. i'd do new guides, a clean up cut on the deck surface, trim down the intake guide boss to accept an umbrella seal like older OEM. of course you will need to pay close attention to retainer to seal clearance.

 

[khryslerkid]

also noticed the lip that most likely will need die grinder attention to make the headers fit right.

Some have used a double gasket. Don't know if I like the idea. Quick fix is to grind/taper the header flange before installation. I like the Doug's headers.

 

[furious70]

Maybe does against convention but copper rtv helps me keep my turbo manifolds sealed up on my 383. I've used on headers as well. Of course try to get them as flush and even as possible.

 

[Squeezy]

A lot of great info here! Thanks everyone!
Per ‘y’all’s recommendations I will just clean up the intakes a bit using the valley pan as a guide, and clean up that ridge so my headers fit.
I’m hoping to have this engine ready to run before the end of February, so I can start on the engine bay and k frame.
So I will prolly keep it simple here as when I do swap heads and cam in the distant future, I don’t want to jack these up too bad that I HAVE to do all that sooner than expected.
As always, this place is a wealth of knowledge and input. They don’t make em like ‘yall anymore!