This is the infamous 4 cylinder Ford E6 manifold. It's main identifying charachteristic is the letter/number combo 'E6' as the first 2 digits in the Ford part number. It has a much more efficient design than the earlier E3 manifold. The runners and log have larger dimensions and the flow design has been revamped. The trick is finding one that isn't cracked! An inherent Ford design flaw.

Before beginning, you'll need to put together some basic porting tools, the most expensive of which is the die grinder. I've heard guys talk about using a dremel tool. Don't even think about it! You'll be grinding for a month! You can buy cheap 1/4" die grinders on Ebay that'll probably be good for one porting. I use a Makita 1/4" model# GE0600. It ain't cheap but it's top of the line. I've had it for years and it's ported several heads and mannys. If you're a car guy, you'll be suprised how many times you'll use it! There's some controversy on air vs. electric grinders. However, I've found my Makita electric to be perfect for the home porter.

Not mandatory but very helpful is a device to control the speed of your die grinder. This unit from Harbor Freight is cheap but works well. Here's the link..............Harbor Freight Router Speed Control

You'll need carbide bits. Get the ones with 6" shanks. I picked these up on Ebay for $27.

Pick up a bag of 80 grit cartridge rolls and mandrel from Joe Mondello..............Joe Mondello's website

A good scibe and a spray can of toolmakers ink and you're good to go!

Let's get started! Begin by cleaning the manifold. Bead blasting is always a good choice. I've got a cheap blaster that does an adequate job. Another Harbor Freight special..........Harbor Freight Bead Blaster.

The first area I attack is the turbo flange. Once clean, spray some toolmakers ink on the flange surface, slip on a used metal turbo gasket and scribe around the inside of the gasket. Remove the gasket and you get an idea of how much metal needs to be removed.

The second pic shows some metal removed towards the outer edge. Get the opening the size and shape you want it, then move to the inside. Make sure you have plenty of light, work slow and take your time. You can always remove metal, it's a little more difficult to add metal! The old adage 'measure twice, cut once' definitely applies here!

Here's the finished opening. Note the bump inside on the back. That's the divider. Stay away from that!! It serves to channel the gasses from runners #3 & #4 into the flange opening. Most of the inside work is done to the sides and some to the floor and ceiling.

Here's some pics of the excessive amount of cast material that needs to be removed from the inside of the turbo flange. The goal is to open this area up to provide smoother and faster expulsion of the exhaust gasses. The speed and volume of the exiting gasses have a direct relationship to the spool time of the turbo, not to mention, letting the engine breath properly, which will make a huge difference in performance throughout the entire power curve.

Here's a couple of shots of the finished flange. It's hard to tell from the pics but a lot of metal has been removed. The casting originally went straight in and made 90* turns to the left and right. All that metal has been removed and it's more like a 20* angle from flange opening to the #3 and #4 runners! After your done grinding, use the 80 grit cartridge roll to sand it fairly smooth. The trick is, not to grind too much. You don't want the walls to get too thin. Remember, the heavy turbo still hangs off the end of that flange! Use common sense and note where indentations are on the outside of the manifold. Those relate to thinner areas that you could inadvertantly grind through. Be careful!

Don't forget, to take full advantage of the porting, you also need to open up the turbo, itself! This is a stock IHI turbo. I simply shaped it to coincide with the newly ported manifold flange by using the previously mentioned metal turbo gasket. Now both flanges match, exactly! IMPORTANT TIP! Make sure you seal off the inside of the turbo well! I stuffed a rag in there, then sealed it off with duct tape. You definitely don't want to get any metal shavings inside the turbo!!

Once done with the turbo mounting flange, flip the manny over. Spray the runner surfaces with the toolmakers ink. Get ahold of a cheap manifold to head gasket and set it on the manny. Put all the bolts through their holes, then scribe around the inside of the gasket, just like you did the flange. Remove the gasket. Now you have your runner pattern set up.

Open up the runner face to where you want it to be, then blend it back into the ceiling. There's a bump on the lefthand side, in the back of each runner near the top. That's extra material for the bolt mounting boss. The tendancy is to grind that down flush and blend it in. DON'T DO THAT!! You need to retain that strength. I like to 'flatten' the bump just slightly to promote smoother airflow. The first pic above is the contrast between runner #1 opened up and runner #2 in stock form. The second pic is runners 1 & 2 opened up in contrast to 3 & 4.

The pic on the left shows the amount of material that needs to be removed from the floor of the runner. Look it over carefully. There's a lot of material on the inside AND the outside, so you can really go to town here! The pic on the right is finish ported. You can look right down the runner and out the flange! That's a fairly straight shot to the turbo!

Here you can see the big square boss below the runner face. That's all cast iron all the way up to the floor of the runner. It's easy to get carried away here but you have to be careful. Note the indentations (arrows). There's not a lot of metal in these areas. It's really easy to go through the wall here, especially when you have all that floor material to grind away. You need to do your serious grinding in this one 3/4" area and try to blend it into the sides. Also note the gently flattened bump (red arrow) previously referred too.

Not the greastest pic but here's the finished runner head side. I put in a total of 3-1/2 hours porting time. I did an hour and a half one day, an hour the next, etc. Don't forget to clean up the grinding marks with the 80 grit cartridge rolls. Try to get the shape of the flanges as round as possible but they don't have to be perfect. When you're done, run a straightedge across all 4 runner flanges to check for trueness. If they're way off you might want to have a machine shop mill a couple of thousandths off to true it up. A lot of guys run this manifold with no gasket at all. I'm a believer of quality gaskets between every metal to metal mating surface. SCE makes a quality copper exhaust gasket. SCE #4023............. SCE website

That's it! Bolt it up and get ready for a noticeable power difference! The next step would be full 3" exhaust. But, that's a whole 'nother story! Good luck!!