I have been thinking of port and polishing the headers of my o5 zx6r has anyone done this yet? or is it not common to do on these bikes if so what effect would i be looking at pros or neg. can it be done on the intake side also?

 

I am going to assume you are talking about porting and polishing the cylinder head, not the "headers"?

If this is the case then you need to do some research before you get into your motor. First, why do you want to do this? Are you going to go racing? Track days or just a daily rider? I am curious because by "only" changing the intake and exhaust flow (by porting and polishing) you will do several things with the least effect on horsepower and torque which is what I suspect you are thinking of improving.

The biggest changes will occur in Volumetric Efficiency (VE) and Thermal Efficiency (TE).
To make it fairly simple, VE has to do with how much air mass ends up in the cylinder at a given RPM, when compared to a reference value (100%) of the cylinders value at BDC (Bottom dead center) multiplied by the density of atmospheric air. NOT so simple! Cam timing is a way to "cheat" at improving VE if you know what you are doing. Valve size and combustion chamber shape also play a large role into factors that effect VE. I won't bore the hell out of you by going into details, just know that when you start messing with the intake, exhaust, combustion chambers Etc... You will need (or hopefully get an expert) to do some dyno work and fine tuning. It is not adviseable to "only" do the ports. You would need to increase the combustion chamber size, different pistons and cams Etc. If you are looking for an easier way to get more out of your ZX-6R, try getting rid of some weight, (I dropped 20 lbs of crap off mine) Get a Power Commander with a GOOD map for the new slip on you are going to install. If you think it will be cheaper to just do the porting, I beg to differ because of the tuning involved after the head work is done.

I purchased a Sato Titainium slip on from Kyle USA http://www.kyleusa.com/ and a power commander (PCIIIr) which they will load a map specially built for your bike and achieved a gain of 9 RWHP plus improved the mid-range on pump gas. That's a damn good improvement without rebuilding the motor. You don't have to buy a Sato but you won't find a better made pipe anywhere. I think they run about $1300.00 and the PC runs about $279.00 if you can't afford it save your money or get a reasonably good pipe and a PC and you should be good to go.

If you think your bike doesn't have enough power, try doing what I do. Just open the throttle.

Just something to think about, or not!