Ok so I'm apologizing in advance if this is in the wrong thread. So would it be a good idea to port my head and exhaust manifold? Only asking cause I'm not sure about turbo'd cars.

 

There are places that offer exhaust manifold porting as a service (Grimmspeed comes to mind. It's less effective than a good header, but more stealthy and less prone to leaking

You are better off getting a ECM tune and Upipe/Downpipe first

Porting heads is a good thing, but you have to remove and completely disassemble them first. I would not recommend porting heads yourself.

 

+1 good info. To add to what Lowend said, porting while it works well on its own you will achieve more gains when tied to other mods like upgraded cams and valve train (since you will be that far into the head it would be wise to do all valve train mods at that time). Then get a tune. Hell even if all you did was port work, get a tune to get the most out of your work.

 

If it is your first turbo car, a custom tune even bone stock IMHO is the best bang for the buck, not only in power/tq but overall drivability and smooth power delivery.

 

when i had my sti i bought port and polished headers near the end of the ownership. I didn't tune it since i didn't want to though, but i did feel a small difference

 

If you take a look at the exhaust manifold, the amount of piping that would be ported is very small. The choke point really becomes the x-pipe, so you should get an aftermarket x-pipe as well, which adds additional cost.

However, the gains are very small. You have to ask yourself if it's really worth the expense. As stated earlier, it gives small gains, the only real advantage is our manifold is much more resistant to cracking than headers.

 

I have port polished and coated manifold with an Injen cross pipe. I'm very please with the returns.

Quite honestly it depends on your current mods as well as your final goals. There are things that you can do that will have a larger effect for not much more expense. Like an accessport, catless up pipe, high flow down pipe, etc.

 

Porting and boost creep can go hand in hand (not always), then requiring a custom tune.

 

Not worth it IMO. Unless you're planning a big build, don't bother. Money spent elsewhere will yield better results.