ported mini header

I somewhat recently bought a 98 tacoma (with only 107,000 miles!) and decided to get the 01-04 mini header since I figured it was a matter of time before my cast manifold cracked. The truck already had a high-flow cat, Xlerator muffler and k&n filter. When I got my header I noticed the flat edge of the piping on the intake side along with raised welds around the openings, also inside the header where the tubes came together there was overlap that would impede exhaust flow and also little weld bumps in there too. I decided to get out the trusty 'dremel'...it's actually a black-n-decker..and bought a dremel snake and some stone grinding wheels. 4 hours later I was done. I've driven it for about 500 mile since and I've noticed my power band is much smoother and down low even around 1000 rpm there is more grunt. Top end I didn't notice much but it was already decent due to the opened up exhaust. I also had a lull every time my truck shifted into 2nd (It's an autotragic) jk I like it. And that lull is completely gone, that right there is definitely worth it to me. Here are some pics. I also smoothed out the pipes going into the collector since they had a flat edge too, not sure if that would really do much though.

 

another pic

 

Nice work and welcome. If you did the same thing to the intake side(intake manifold/plenum) you would gain a lot from it