Just curious what's accomplished in a port job? Is it mainly just smoothing surfaces intake and exhaust or is it removing good amounts of metal from the surfaces?
Both, usually. Cleaning up the factory flaws in the casting, smoothing out and reshaping angles inside the ports and changing the dimensions of the port openings in the cylinder walls are all part of porting a cylinder.
As far as porting mild to wild depending on your application, From just port smoothing and cleaning to a full on hogged out drag port. Different porting styles for different riding conditions. Just a simple port smoothing won't give you a huge power increase, but typically will inrease response and powerband smoothness. True port jobs will always increase power by making larger, smoother and properly shaped ports. The crazier the porting the less reliable it will be, and typically will have a narrower powerband, but a lot more power in the that powerband range.
It's not uncommon for the ears to develop very small cracks causing lean conditions under throttle. Welding the ears is the best way to fix or preventing this from happening. Make sure any porting and/or welding you may have done is done by someone with a good rep. Saw a welded cylinder wrecked when it was welded by a hack.
LMAO good to know Rust im getting a welder and probably good to note not to start off welding cylinders lol pretty funny I had a bad picture in my head.