cylinder head polishing

[6.0DJ]

Anyone out there ever polished thier own cylinder heads?

"I have done gas cylinder heads in the past and was wondering if anyone out there has done thier diesel heads in the garage."

Thanks

[smokersteve]

Elite diesel engineering does porting.

[windrunner408]

I think he is talking about just polishing as opposed to actually opening the ports up a whole lot. I know I sure wouldn't be trying any actual porting myself. That's for sure.

[Gearhead2012]

These heads have fairly long intake runners, and they're slightly "s" shaped, making it slightly harder to go in and polish than say an older gas motor (302, 460)...I'm sure it would help some, but probably not enough to really notice, or be worth it. I've done a few 7.3's...just cleaned em up, we don't have a flow bench or anything at work. I'm sure it could be done, but I wonder if it'd be worth it...I'd kinda like to see some before and after dyno's with say the ported elite heads. Some say polishing the exhaust on diesels is way more important than the intake, as in theory it would help spool the turbo faster. I think with as much that's easily gained by electronically tuning these motors, the benefit probably wouldn't be worth the same $$$...not cheap to polish 32 runners...plus the manifold if you got into that while it was off. I guess for a really top end build, carillo rods, forged - destroked pistons to lower compression ratio, bigger injectors, bigger turbo it could lead to some gains. better buy bulk sets of those flapper rolls. I might experiment with mine if they're off...could potentially lower egt's a hair...

[PGreenSVT]

Since the heads are a real limiting factor on the 6.0, anything you do to increase the flow will help them. To really make a difference you need to open then up and go with 1mm larger valves. That will really improve the air flow and make a real difference with a ported intake and a bigger turbo/injectors. I wouldn't bother with a near stock truck.

[Gearhead2012]

I agree, for 99% of the trucks out there, this wouldnt be worth while in the least. I'd like to see flow numbers on these, and on say the elite diesel heads, go see what they gained.

[strokin6L]

back in '06 when i did studs, injectors, o-ringed heads, fuel system and egr delete....i polished the intake and exhaust ports on my heads along with the exhaust manifolds. Was it worth it...IDK, but i figured it couldn't hurt.

[Gearhead2012]

Well, a few folks have asked me if this is something I'd entertain. I'm currently working on something for a member on here now. After cutting way into the heads to find out where the water jacket is exactly, there is significant room for improvement. I don't have a flow bench, so i dont want to go too far, and risk creating dead pockets, or extra turbulance, or too much velocity change, but there is a few areas that really really can pick up some benefit. I didn't think it'd be enough to make it worth while...polishing alone might help some in soot build up, but this has turned into way more than a polishing job. I'm pretty optimistic about this, the member on here will be writing a full build thread, along with dyno numbers. When they're all done ill post up some pics in this thread, or a new one. I was able to use 6.4 valves in the exhaust which are about 1.5mm bigger (.090). And open up the bowl area (area where the seat area meets the port) up about .120", which is huge. The intakes also opened up quite nicely as well...I'm tempted to have them flowed at a buddy's shop with a bench. I really feel the exhaust work will significantly help evacuate the gases, which in turn obviously will aid in turbo spool up, thats the plan anyway. More to come.

[windrunner408]

I'm interested for sure. Sounds good man.

[g2shuck]

please do the flow testing and post some pics