finger ports question

[TTriton]

Theve been mentioned many times and talk about. But i don't recall anyone mentioning how they are added to a block. Who does it. And How much it costs.

[Ray Neudecker]

there are different methods used depending on the shop or builder. Since I like to do work behind the sleeves, I pull them, mill the fingerport slots into the sleeves, put them back and hand grind the block to match. Some shops use a mill to do them in the block. There is a wide range of prices.

[DRAGIN FLY]

www.montyracing.com

[BenKeith]

When checking on getting mine done, DON'T HOLD ME TO THESE but I think Racer said he gets about a $100 per hole and Monty's racing gets about $80 per hole, plus the cost of shipping the block which will probably run $150+ round trip. I don't know if this includes drilling the piston too or not (two holes have to be drilled in each piston}. There are several others that do them but both of these are supposed to be very good. Racer is in CA, Monty's is in FL.

I'm told, if done wright, it's well worth the money, if not, it's money thrown away.

I haven't done mine yet, I've done a lot of grinding on it and before I invest that into this block I'm gonna take Racer's advice, put it together and run it first.

[Johan]

I belive I have a good pattern for the finger ports. But how deep in to the block should they be milled? (Whith or whith out the sleeve included?)

The engine is a Johnson 300 GT 4 litre.
// Johan

[DRAGIN FLY]

TTrition also ask Monty if he has a fingerport block last time I was there he had a bare block that was a closed deck fingerport it needed one sleeve. Might save some cash that way.

[BenKeith]

Ray Neudecker,

When you take the sleeves out and put them back in, is this on an engine you plan to bore afterwards, or do you just install new sleeves.
Can you take them out and reinstall the same one and not worry about the cylinder/block distorting.

When you bake the block, do you do it with the crankcase bolted to it? It doesn't distort the main bearing alaignment? Do you deck the block afterwards?

I guess basically what I'm asking is, can you pull them out, put them back in and put it back together and run it?

[Ray Neudecker]

I always bore after the sleeves are put back in. I also deck the block. I only use new sleeves when necessary and they have to be bored anyway. I do not bolt the crank in while cooking. Not necessary.

[BenKeith]

Ray, Thanks

I guess some of that sounded kinda stupid. I was just wondering if the block was bolted together, not with the crank installed in it. Just concerned about how much distortion occurs by the block being heated, pulling the sleeves out and cooled with them out and then heated again to put the sleeves back in and cooled again with them back in. I was concerned that the old sleeves might crack when restressed by the block, since they are much thinner than new sleeves, having already been bored to piston size.

I have debated pulling mine out if/when I pull it back down to finger port it, etc. but I did an old four cylinder crossflow once and it was junk afterwards. Case halves didn't fit right and crank had a bind, so I've been gunshy about doing another. One guy told me it was because I baked it to intall the new sleeves, says I should have just pressed them in. I didn't reuse the old ones.

[Instigator]

Racer did mine a couple of months ago for $100. per hole.
I just saw the inside of a friends block that Racer had done earlier.
This was the same as mine, and old 2.7 bridgeport OMC.
Stock porting other than fingers.
It pulled a 29" wheel 74-7500 on a Mirage.
No way it would have done that w/o them!
P.S. the pistons are easy to drill.

[Instigator]

be carefull if you cut your own.
you are limited in depth by the block you are using.
some of them have casting boss's on the outside of the blocks to allow the addition of these ports.
have seen those w/o pop through the side of the block.
looked through my notes and could'nt find specific years for this.
The older blocks like my '87 can still be done, just not as deep.
mine are approx. .500" wide and .250" deep.

[racer]

Finger ports,

100.oo per cyl, includes piston if shipped with block, machine on a mill with special made angle attachment for consistency.

[Ray Neudecker]

The 90-91 blocks have the cast bosses allowing the deeper fingerports. I have one of these already fingerported and bored 30 over. including 6 new pistons already ported that i will sell for $1800.

[Markus]

Johan, you can add epoxy or weld on the outside of the block if you need more material to work in.

[Ray Neudecker]

I have good luck with using Devcon over a thin piece of aluminum where the block is too thin or cut through. I haven't found any thing else that will keep it from blowing out the patch without the rest of the patch.

[dan agnew]

lee did you get my e-mail about our swapping a 12 inch champ
exhaust housing for your 20 inch offshore? call me 803-364-9351
mike is serious about a swap.

Thanks

Danny