B230FT head: ports smooth from factory?

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B230FT head: ports smooth from factory?[ALL/1998] posted by Michael McBroom on
Saturday, 19 July 1997, at 5:16 p.m.

I blew the head gasket in my '87 745T a couple of weeks ago and finally pulled the head off yesterday. I had been kicking around the idea that, as long as I had the head off, I would check into having it ported and polished to improve breathing efficiency. Well, I've only had this car for a few months, and don't have any knowledge of previous service history, and now, after looking at the ports on this head, I'm wondering if somebody has beat me to it. On the intake side, the ports have been machined smooth about 1cm or so in, I guess so that they'll be round (futher inside, the runners are slightly flat on the bottom), but beyond this point the runners are surprisingly smooth -- both intake and exhaust. I've never seen a "stock" head with runners this smooth before, which is why I wonder if it's been ported at some time in the past.

I did notice, however, that where the runners turn the corner to drop down to the valve openings, there is a pronounced ridge right there. I would think that if the head had been ported, these ridges would have been removed.

So, for those of you who've pulled B230FT heads before, is what I'm seeing typical?

Re: B230FT head: ports smooth from factory?[ALL/1998] posted by Jimmy on
Monday, 21 July 1997, at 5:01 p.m.

B230 cyl heads have always had smooth ports with a flared cut at manifold
face that seems to be a port-matching operation. I'm sure a race engine
preparer would not find them perfect, but for factory stock they are real clean.

Re: B230FT head: ports smooth from factory?[ALL/1998] posted by Stefan on
Saturday, 2 August 1997, at 3:04 p.m.

Sounds like its completly original !
Do not touch the ports , there is nothing to gain !
Only some small mods in the comboustion chambers

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