angle gauges. The caliper is used to measure the port height, the divider is used to measure the chordal width of the port, and the angle gauges are used to measure the roof and side angles of the ports. Calipers and dividers are available from places like Sears or industrial supply stores. Angle gauges are fashioned from cardboard and specific to individual cylinders.
The most common grinding tools are electric powered. They consist of a motor, speed control, flexible drive shaft, tool handle, and tool bits. The power of these motors ranges from 1/5th to 1/4th HP with a maximum rpm of 15,000. Popular manufacturers include Foredom, Dremel, and Dumor. Each company sells a full compliment of accessories for all sorts of hobbyist activities. The most popular source for cylinder porting tools and accessories is CC Specialty in Tennessee (1-800-762-6995).
The tool handles and bits are the secret to porting. There are two types of tool handles; straight and right angle. The straight tool handles are used for machining the port ducts. The right angle tool handles are used to gain access to the port windows from the cylinder bore. Over the years I've tested hundreds of different tool bits and arrived at some simple materials and patterns for finishing the different surfaces of a cylinder. The materials of a cylinder range from aluminum as the base casting material, to a cast iron or steel liner, or nickel composite plated cylinder bores. Here are the basic tool bits used for porting; tungsten carbide works best for aluminum, steel, and cast iron, stones are best for grinding through nickel composite. The tungsten carbide tool bits are available in hundreds of different patterns and shapes. The diamond pattern is the best performing and the shape of the bit should match the corresponding shape of the port. Stones, or mounted points as they are termed in industrial supply catalogs, are available in different shapes and grits. The grits are graded by the color of the stones. Gray being the most course and red being the most fine. The finer the grit the faster it wears but the smoother the finish.
Making Ports Bigger
Generally speaking, if you're trying to raise the peak rpm of the powerband with an aftermarket exhaust system of clutching on a snowmobile, the ports will probably need to be machined in this manner; widen the transfer ports for more time-area and raise the exhaust port for more duration. Most OEM cylinders have exhaust ports that are cast to the maximum safe limit of chordal width. Often times widening the exhaust port will cause accelerated piston and ring wear. In some cases the port will be widened so far that it breaks through into the water jacket. The internal casting on some cylinders is so thin that it prevents tuners from widening the exhaust port. Transfer ports should be widened with respect to the piston ring centering pins. The ports should have a safe margin of 2mm for the centering pin. The height of the transfer ports is based on the time-area of the exhaust port above the transfer port opening height. That is called Blow-down. The exhaust port has to evacuate the cylinder bore of burnt gasses before the transfers open, otherwise backflow will occur into the crankcase. That can cause a variety of dangerous problems like blown crank seals, chipped or burnt reeds, or in extreme circumstances a fire that can extend out of the carb. The angles of the transfers are important too. Generally speaking when the side angles direct the gasses to the intake side of the cylinder, or the roof angles are a steep angle 15-25 degrees), the porting will be better for trail-riding. When the side angles direct the gasses to the center of the cylinder and the roof angles are nearly flat (0-5 degrees), the porting will be better suited to drag or lake racing.
Making Ports Smaller
Ports are purposely made smaller for several reasons. One or more of the ports could have been designed too big, or a well-meaning tuner may have been overzealous, or a customer may have asked for more that he could handle. There are performance ga