I got sick and tired of our old porting booth, so I made a new porting area. The old booth was like a closet. Very cramped, limited shelf space, dirty and poorly lit. Rob thought it was fine, but he has been using the same booth for over 15 years and is pretty set in his ways. As an added incentive, at the time I was writing an article on engine porting for MazdaSport Magazine and I wanted a nice environment for the photos.

One of the biggest PITA about porting, IMHO, is frequently having to stop and reposition the work to get a better angle. And still, you are constantly bending your body this way and that to get the perfect angle, which plays Hell on your back. To combat this, I recently purchased an industrial strength Work Positioner, which has a single control that releases a ball-joint. I fabricated a mount for the plates and now I can always get the perfect position in a fraction of the time it used to take. The difference is phenominal! I mounted the work positioner on a drill press base, so I can adjust the height easily. No stooping!

Lighting is always a problem too. The old booth had a couple overhead fluorescents, plus a couple vertical on either site. Even light, but never enough. So, I installed four 3-foot 32 watt fluorescent (128 watts; equivalent to 512 incandescent watts!), which is several times brighter than the old booth. I also got a goose-neck fluorescent lamp, plus I have a couple magentic base lamps when the need arrises. The walls are painted an off-white color, so I get plenty of reflected soft light.

I built a work bench around the porting area, so I'd have a lot of space to set the tools and parts. Above the main bench is a small shelf that runs all the way around. For the counter top, I used High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), so it's easy to take care of and looks clean.

The final thing I did was mount a retractable air hose reel in the ceiling. This is a seriously nice feature. When I need the air line, I just reach up and grab it. When I'm done, it just retracts away. No tripping over air lines or wondering where the die grinder is hiding. I will probably add about four more, so I can have multiple die ginders with different bits, ready to grab and use...less time wasted changing bits.

So far, I've used the new porting area to work on a few engines. I cannot put into words how much better it is. What was drudgery is now actually enjoyable, and it now takes less time to get the same quality of work.

Here are a couple pics. The second one gives you a good look at the work positioner.

 

looks very nice, an it always help to have better light to do work. I can atest to that one. and thanks for all your great info blake

 

great job

 

Wow, that looks really nice. And the work positioner will be worth it's weight in gold in the long run!! Having to bend over and contort your body in all the messed up angles needed to port a motor will leave you with a seriously sore back! Great idea Blake and thanks for sharing it with us.

Zach

 

Man that looks awsome !!! Thanks for the pics too. YOu guys always give me new ideas to help out my garage ????

 

nice setup!!

 

Wow, thats like 10x times better than the old porting booth!!!!
..

 

You just need a cool guy airsoft tactical vest with quick draw grinder bits. Great pics as always.

 

Very professional, all shops should have a porting area that nice

 

That counter top looks familiar, hmmm......


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