Works edition Honda “hand polished head”??

Mike_Lawlor
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Mike_Lawlor
Edited Date/Time 8/22/2019 4:49pm
So I crashed over the weekend and tore up my throttle cables on my 19 WE. So I took it apart to put new cables on it and for shits and giggles I popped off the throttle body to check out what the “hand polished head” looks like. Well idk about u guys but this looks like a stock head to me. There’s still casting marks on the side that even I could take out in 5 min. Idk just seems like a sales gimmick to me. If anyone has pics of a stock 19 head for comparison I’d love to see them.



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JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 8/20/2019 2:28pm
8/20/2019 2:28pm
They probably take measurements from a 'hand ported' head, then use that as the casting base for the WE?
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ktm300hater
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ktm300hater 8/20/2019 2:41pm
8/20/2019 2:41pm
You don't polish the intake side. You polish the exhaust side.
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Mr. Afterbar
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Mr. Afterbar 8/20/2019 2:48pm
8/20/2019 2:48pm
The intake is left slightly rough to mix the air and fuel better. Exhaust side is polished to flow better.
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Dirty Points 8/20/2019 2:50pm
8/20/2019 2:50pm
Mr. Afterbar wrote:
The intake is left slightly rough to mix the air and fuel better. Exhaust side is polished to flow better.
That is my understanding: even atomization (hopefully aided by port turbulence) on intake side. Maximum flow on exhaust side.
peelout
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peelout 8/20/2019 2:57pm
8/20/2019 2:57pm
how often would you say you wash the ol' girl?
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Mike_Lawlor
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Mike_Lawlor 8/20/2019 2:58pm
8/20/2019 2:58pm
ktm300hater wrote:
You don't polish the intake side. You polish the exhaust side.
Well that certainly is not done on this thing.
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Mike_Lawlor
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Mike_Lawlor 8/20/2019 3:01pm
8/20/2019 3:01pm
peelout wrote:
how often would you say you wash the ol' girl?
After every ride but it’s the first time I’ve taken it apart this far.

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kiwifan
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kiwifan 8/20/2019 3:12pm
8/20/2019 3:12pm
I never took it as hand polished myself, so never bothered me
CarlinoJoeVideo
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CarlinoJoeVideo 8/20/2019 3:54pm
8/20/2019 3:54pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
They probably take measurements from a 'hand ported' head, then use that as the casting base for the WE?
That was going to be my explanation...
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zehn
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zehn 8/20/2019 4:22pm
8/20/2019 4:22pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
They probably take measurements from a 'hand ported' head, then use that as the casting base for the WE?
That would require a complete new head casting just for the WE. Kinda seems unlikely to me
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dmm698
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dmm698 8/20/2019 4:25pm
8/20/2019 4:25pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
They probably take measurements from a 'hand ported' head, then use that as the casting base for the WE?
CarlinoJoeVideo wrote:
That was going to be my explanation...
The casting mold would probably be way to expensive to have a specific mold JUST for a WE low volume bike.
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JBernard_401
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JBernard_401 8/20/2019 4:59pm
8/20/2019 4:59pm
I agree there. Mold cost are no joke.
But 1 mold investment vs labor $, employee $, QC $, ect on if its really manually 'hand ported'. Tough one to which is cheaper.
Johnny Depp
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Johnny Depp 8/20/2019 5:00pm
8/20/2019 5:00pm
Marketing Dept. strikes again. Still, being able to look straight into that downdraft intake and see the back side of the valves goes a long way to explaining the HP those things produce. The only problem was making it fit in the chassis.
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kb228
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kb228 8/20/2019 5:10pm
8/20/2019 5:10pm
I hope this is a big misunderstanding but those photos make me pretty disappointed in honda.
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Racer111
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Racer111 8/20/2019 5:23pm
8/20/2019 5:23pm
peelout wrote:
how often would you say you wash the ol' girl?
Mike_Lawlor wrote:
After every ride but it’s the first time I’ve taken it apart this far. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2019/08/20/367438/s1200_F98AB144_D57D_445A_8686_1BBF67DCED6C.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2019/08/20/367439/s1200_69BFD7BD_BCE9_4943_BA44_71BF7D8FD7A3.jpg[/img]
After every ride but it’s the first time I’ve taken it apart this far.

I’m anal about keeping my bikes clean as well.

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cwtoyota
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cwtoyota 8/20/2019 6:49pm
8/20/2019 6:49pm
JBernard_401 wrote:
They probably take measurements from a 'hand ported' head, then use that as the casting base for the WE?
zehn wrote:
That would require a complete new head casting just for the WE. Kinda seems unlikely to me
It's pure "marketing wank". That's an as-cast cylinder head with minimal machining at the valve seat as stated by someone above with the MXA link. Sometimes a valve job does improve flow, sometimes it doesn't... Depends on how optimized it was in stock trim.

The graphics, suspension and higher resale value might be worth the extra cost, depending on how you look at it.

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JohnnyD13
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JohnnyD13 8/20/2019 7:20pm
8/20/2019 7:20pm
I don’t think you would want a hand ported head mass produced. It could actually be lower horsepower if the guy was having a bad day.
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gsxr6
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gsxr6 8/20/2019 7:43pm
8/20/2019 7:43pm
The works edition is stated to have less hp than the stocker...
kiwifan
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kiwifan 8/20/2019 8:29pm
8/20/2019 8:29pm
kb228 wrote:
I hope this is a big misunderstanding but those photos make me pretty disappointed in honda.
lol
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kiwifan
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kiwifan 8/20/2019 8:36pm
8/20/2019 8:36pm
To be fair on Honda's site it says "Hand Ported" not polished, only a few mags say polished (for some reason, MXA and Dirt Bike being a couple I quickly looked at), so those who are disappointed that they are not polished should now not be.

As for "Hand Ported" it can be argued forever and a day what that entails, it could be reshaping ports or milling of the valve pockets, etc. Either way it is different than stock.
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Hcallz5
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Hcallz5 8/20/2019 9:15pm
8/20/2019 9:15pm
Anything to sell some bikes amirite.
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kiwifan
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kiwifan 8/20/2019 9:25pm
8/20/2019 9:25pm
Hcallz5 wrote:
Anything to sell some bikes amirite.
Perhaps, mind you they have no problem selling them
JM485
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JM485 8/20/2019 9:52pm
8/20/2019 9:52pm
kiwifan wrote:
To be fair on Honda's site it says "Hand Ported" not polished, only a few mags say polished (for some reason, MXA and Dirt Bike being...
To be fair on Honda's site it says "Hand Ported" not polished, only a few mags say polished (for some reason, MXA and Dirt Bike being a couple I quickly looked at), so those who are disappointed that they are not polished should now not be.

As for "Hand Ported" it can be argued forever and a day what that entails, it could be reshaping ports or milling of the valve pockets, etc. Either way it is different than stock.
You can make every excuse you want for them but if that was my bike I just dropped 10k on I'd be pissed as hell. When I bought a GYTR head for my yamaha I expected a CNC ported head, and that's exactly what I got. There was no play on words bullshit, they know exactly what people expect when they hear "ported head" and that's not what's in those pictures, at the very least there should be no casting flaws present. If they're really trying to pan off a little bit of machining near the valve guides as a "hand ported head" that's just asinine, if anyone got a head like that back from an engine tuner they be pissed and rightfully so.
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zehn
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zehn 8/20/2019 10:00pm
8/20/2019 10:00pm
kiwifan wrote:
To be fair on Honda's site it says "Hand Ported" not polished, only a few mags say polished (for some reason, MXA and Dirt Bike being...
To be fair on Honda's site it says "Hand Ported" not polished, only a few mags say polished (for some reason, MXA and Dirt Bike being a couple I quickly looked at), so those who are disappointed that they are not polished should now not be.

As for "Hand Ported" it can be argued forever and a day what that entails, it could be reshaping ports or milling of the valve pockets, etc. Either way it is different than stock.
Spoken like a WE owner
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