Author Topic: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?  (Read 806 times)

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Offline bleach8484

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Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« on: April 25, 2017, 01:11:52 pm »
Just to start, I'm in the process of rebuilding a 74' cb550 I purchased in pieces. I'm not trying to port this head, just merely polis up the rough castings and smooth it out a bit. To start with I purchased a Mr. Gasket porting kit which was too big to even go into the runners, next was a series of 1/4" and 1/2" flap wheels that seem to handle 90% of the work just fine. For the really tight spaces I bought a set of 1/8" sanding drums in various grits.... but they are complete junk from china and last about 6-8 seconds.

What do you guys use out there?
1974 CB550 Resto mod in progress - May be finished before 2018
2013 Triumph Thruxton Mildly modded

Offline Dunk

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2017, 02:34:10 pm »
Carbide burrs (cone and rounded tip drum), stones (cone and drum), sandpaper drums.

Offline bleach8484

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2017, 02:56:15 pm »
I started with a carbide, but thought it be much too aggressive. Maybe I'll go back and look into the different shapes.
1974 CB550 Resto mod in progress - May be finished before 2018
2013 Triumph Thruxton Mildly modded

Offline Dunk

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2017, 04:00:33 pm »
To be clear, only use carbide if you are porting. It cuts through aluminum very quickly, so you're only using the burrs to get the approximate shape which you then sneak up on with the stones and clean up to a nice finish with the sandpaper cartridge rolls. A perfectly smooth finish is not required, or necessarily desirable on the intake ports. The smoother the better on the exhaust. It's important that the ports be as close to identical as possible in size and shape. If you're new to porting heads in general and SOHC4 heads specifically don't go crazy, follow Hondaman's advice for mild improvements and cleanup. Going too far from as cast it's easy to mess things up without a flowbench.

Offline bleach8484

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2017, 07:16:15 pm »
I'm not porting at all. Just trying to clean up the rough castings. I'm not changing the overall shape in any way
1974 CB550 Resto mod in progress - May be finished before 2018
2013 Triumph Thruxton Mildly modded

Offline Lostboy Steve

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2017, 07:20:13 pm »
I'm not porting at all. Just trying to clean up the rough castings. I'm not changing the overall shape in any way

Fine sandpaper dowels, but you only want the exhaust side smooth. The intake tract should still have a slight roughness about it.


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1968 Honda Z50
1977 Honda CB550K
2018 Indian Scout

Offline BomberMann650

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Re: Head polishing bits.... which do you prefer?
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2017, 11:43:25 pm »
The $9 harbor freight mini dremel came with a couple polishing stones that worked well for me.  Motor is weak enough it would be hard to mess up a good head.