Should I port and polish?

[J.J.]

I posted a thread the other day about building my motor and porting and polishing was one of the things on the list; but I am doing some rethinking.

How much of a difference is it really going to make? I am perfectly satisfied with the power of my 400 in its stock form. It fits my riding style perfectly. I only ride trails and ride wheelies to be honest. I just got my Sparks exhaust and it is going on when I do everything at once.

I'm doing the exhaust, stage 2 cam, 416 kit and a filter and jetted. Is it worth the money for the post and polish based on my riding style or would that money be better spent on something like skids or new handlebars and ASV levers? I need honest opinions here because money isnt disposable to me right now and want every penny I spend to be worth it.

[killer400ex]

personally i wish i had gotten mine ported and polished, in my opinion i think that if you go up in bore size your engine needs to be able to breathe better, so like a full exhaust not just a slip on, port and polish, the 450r carb and i think if your porting and polishing that you might as well get the 3 or 5 angle valve job too, and a big cam, depending on your build, and if all you do is wheelies and trail riding you might be looking for more bottom end power and a stage 1 cam might be better in your case, i used to have one and it was deffinetly impressive, even just on a 406 with 11:1 and a full exhaust it ripped like crazy

[Honda#4]

I got mine Ported and I feel that it has a pretty good snap, it definently feels like it flows more with the throttle response I get from it. All in all it benifits greatly with a mid to highly built motor and you wont regret it. I suggest site sponser C&D Racing, Colby really did a good job on mine and so far its been a blast to ride.

[honda400ex2003]

I would definately do it again if i was doing a machine. all it can do is help it out. steve

[uchi]

gotta think of it this way. your motor is a vacuum and its got restrictions. whats the point of increasing the amount of air it can suck in when its gonna be restricted to a certain amount because of the bottlenecks of the head ports. open them up, the motor gets more air, add some more fuel and you have an increase in power

[rippin66]

ported mine with the 416 11-1 piston, full curtis sparks and noticed a night and day difference. didnt even feel like the same bike. I love it ., but if you are happy with the current power skids are pretty dam important. just do not expect a big power gain just by the bore alone. port work will make u say yee haw

[JTrider]

What is the average cost of a port and polish?

[uchi]

it depends where you go. you should be able to do it yourself. there really shouldnt be too much port matching required as its a single piston engine so you shouldnt need a flow bench for it. and as its air cooled you wont run into any water jackets. but if you do get it done get it done by someone whos done them before and knows what theyre doing. generally though you wanna port match to your largest opening. so if your header has for example a 2 inch opening and your head only has a 1 7/8 opening youll want to cut the gasket to match the header and then match the head to that.

really a polish job is just smoothing out the chamber the air goes through. these are cast pieces, rough on the inside, your cleaning it up and letting the air go through a bit smoother and also smoothing out the corners

[RIDEREDson]

average is anywhere from 200 to 1000. Depending how extreme you wanna go.
A mild port job will do just fine.

[SLABORDE]

A motor is like an air pump, the more air it takes in and the more air that exits the better the motor performs