Port and Polish??

[Brownpsu78]

I have a 2001 ford explorer. I am looking to make some decent horsepower and more importantly torque gains. I believe it is the 4 liter SOHC, the standard 6 cylinder engine. What kind of gains can I expect to make if I have the heads ported and Polished.Also how much does it generally cost to have a shop do this kind of work?
--Brown

 

[BeauJ]

Don't know how much it would be for a 6 to get p'np but a set of V8 heads to get done will run around 5-600. You'd have to get some headers/cam to really notice the power though. How much are you looking to spend?

 

[Brownpsu78]

If it is worth it I would spend the money. Has anyone here had it done. Anyone know what ballpark figures might be?
--Brown

 

[BeauJ]

If it is worth it I would spend the money. Has anyone here had it done. Anyone know what ballpark figures might be?
--Brown

Dont know of anyone personally but it would be less the the V8 heads to get done. You can do other things and spend an equal amount of money without all the trouble because it will take some time to go a good job doing them. Is your car still under warranty?

 

[Guy Groves]

Porting will make a difference in both HP and Torque. BUT...
For the original 60 degree V6 there is a V6 performance book
(I forget by who, mine is packed away somewhere) that describes how
to port the heads.
Porting a 5.0 is very common. There are lots of shops that can do it manually and also a number of shops that will port the GT heads on a CNC machine. Expect to pay between $250 to $500 for the set.

I don't know anyone who has porting intructuions / data on the V6 SOHC engine. Without having some prior data / instructions your taking a chance.
I don't know anyone who has done a dyno test before and after on porting the V6 heads.

Polishing is not worth the cost unless you are looking for hundredths at the track. You will not notice a difference on the street.

Porting by itself won't do a whole lot, I wouldn't expect more than 5-10 HP. You also need to consider the rest of the system:
1) Larger MAS and throttle body, air cleaner
2) Taller , fenelic (sp), intake manifold gasket for a cooler charge and longer runners (more torque)
3) Different cam / valve setup
4) Headers
5) High flow exhaust (CAT, pipes, muffler)

Items 2 & 3 are harder to do, and may not be available for this engine.
Items 1, 4, and 5 - along with porting could result in something more like 20 or 25 HP gains, possible more.

Finally, you will want a re-programmed chip to go with your mods.

 

[Brownpsu78]

So at the end of the day do you all think it would be worth it. I mean do you think it would be safe reliable horsepower\torque.

 

[Brownpsu78]

Anyone, someone has to have had there explorer ported and polished?
--Brown

 

[Heavymentill]

Over at the ranger site I heard a 8 hp gain with no other changes. Such as cam or headers. I believe it was on an OHV though. Talk to http://supersixmotorsports.com/ they have done SOHC'c before.

 

[Doug904]

Anyone, someone has to have had there explorer ported and polished?
--Brown

Porting a SOHC head can be benefical but getting to it isn't. For the money you can get cat-back exhaust, air intake, and Flash tuner and make 3 times the power at half the cost.

The big deal here is removing the heads. To remove the heads on a SOHC you MUST remove the engine. Why? Because the rear timing chain isn't accesable in the vehicle. This adds about $500 to the job if not more depending on your location. Also, unless you have the above stated mods you're not going to benefit from the added flow of the heads because you'll still be sucking through a stock intake and blowing through a restrive exhaust.

Like before stated do the simple mods and dont get into the engine unless you have to, with these type engine's it's not a simple weekend job.

I provided Super Six with the SOHC heads for them to test with . Tom Y. at Super Six is an excellent person to deal with and the heads themselves will probably be around $900-$1200.

Later Doug.

 

[Brownpsu78]

hmmm... Looks like just porting and polishing is a feasible option then.
Thank you.
--Brown

 

[Brownpsu78]

Ooops... I meant to say IS NOT a feasible option. That sucks.
--Brown

 

[410Fortune]

Gears

 

[Brownpsu78]

Eventually I think I will put 3.73 gears in, but not right now.

 

[410Fortune]

well you will get alot more performance for your $$$ doing gears then you will yanking the engine for internal upgrades.

There are some good simple cheap tricks to do and bolt ons to make more SOHC power, but 4.10 gears will get you off the line twice as fast and up those hills easier....