Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Porting and Hot Tanking

Hello, my name is Lyell. I am new to some of this stuff here. I would like an explanation about what hot-tanking is. My second point is: What is "porting". I read in websites about these guys that have ported their engines. Is this just a complicated way of saying they bored the sleeves, honed or shaved the head of the engine, or is it that they gave the metal a special treatment to make everything run more smoothly because of polishing? I might sound dumb, but I want to know. Please be so kind as to give me some basics of these points. Thank you.

Lyell Kenneth Banman
Hobby - Cayo District, Belize, Central America
2007

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Hot tanking is a warm tank of solvent that the mechanic soaks engine parts in to remove grease, porting is opening(making bigger and smoothing)the ports in the cylinder head(intake and exhaust) by strategically removing material to improve flow characteristics.

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2007

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And neither has much to do with industrial metal finishing I guess :-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2007

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Lyell,

What Sheldon said is hitting the nail right on the head ! My explanation would have not been so good.

Re porting, you smoothly grind out the intake ports to match the cylinder head sizing ... to enhance things further, you could also machine the cylinder head with a 45 degree angle leading into the inlet ports only ... but you'd loose a little compression if you did that so you'd have to take off a few thou off the head to restore or to enhance the compression.

Drive slowly. I now drive, being retired, very slowly BUT in White Rock, all the other drivers are even slower !

Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).
2007

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Freeman, you flatter me, there was a lot more porting and polishing going on back in your day than mine, but I did just put a little chrome steering wheel on my '64 F100, last month was the fenderwell headers and side pipes. My neighbor asked me if I was having a mid-life crisis,(he's a kid, he just turned 30 last summer) I told him not 'till he sees a hood scoop! Oh, Is powder coating good for the environment? There I just qualified this response for a posting :-)

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2007