I did a search but I could not tell from what I saw. Is it worth getting the engine port and polished? And if so how much power would I expect to get and for how much?

 

It would be very expensive. Probably the lowest HP/$ mod you could do.

The VQ heads already have excellent flow. Unless you plan to build a motor from the bottom up, cant imagine going through the trouble and expense.

 

DaveO did it I beleive and with great results. I believe he did it himself or had one of his car crazy buddies do it. It takes a while but matching and polishing seems like a worthwhile investment in time to me.

 

:/ I am getting mixed answers. Anyone care to shed more light on this, as why this is either a good thing or bad thing? Also, how much would I be expecting to pay for a mod like this?

 

It will probably take 10-12 hours of manual labor to port/polish a set of VQ heads. If you want them flow matched and indexed to the injector assy, then add another 3-4 hours. Most racing cylinder head services are in the $50/hour range. So the price for getting the heads done is going to be close to $700. And that doesnt include removal/installation labor. Remember, the VQ is a 4 valve motor with very good stock flow. To take advantage of ported heads, you will want a bigger set of cams anyway.

Sure, there probably is some power to be had, but best to start with a good set of high-flow cats, a catback, and a plenum spacer/insulator. Head work usually is part of a much larger project where the motor is already out and getting serious work already. Up to you.

 

What else other than the headers and the intake can be polished?

 

What would typically be done is reshaping, or cleaning up the intake ports and a good valve job. Also matching the intake manifold to the ports so there are no rough edges, or steps in size. There is typically not alot to be gained in the exhaust ports, and if you open them up you tend to start losing drive. There is also a process where they can push an abrasive clay through the intake manifold itself to debur and smooth out the runners. I have never seen any benefit from polishing the ports, in fact we have had better luck with a slightly rough surface inside the ports. Good valve angles and seat widths play a pretty major part in improving performance.

The guy who does my work typically ends up charging about $1,500 per head not including parts.

One of the biggest issues is that if someone knows what they are doing they can make great gains. If they just think they know what they are doing - at best you will not lose any power. I have seen some heads that were ported that lost power everywhere.

 

If you want really good NA performance then this is a must to extract the most out of your engine. Porting the heads will really wake up your midlift(area that your valve spends most of its life in, you only reach peak lift once in the cycle) flow numbers which will give you a much fatter curve. They will probably open your intake runner on the head up a bit, unshroud the valves(maybe), clean up the bowl area, and if you want port match the intake manifold runners to the cylinder head intake runners.

I say expect to pay at least $1000 for a good port job, for both heads of course.