ported/polished head, should I

26th February 2007, 12:08

I was browsing ebay as you do & I came across the below ported/polished head, as I have a newman cam & pulley being delivered very soon & to fit this its a head out job I thought this was a awesome deal.

Ebay VTR head

It matches my spec (silver top, CAT under car & 90bhp) He has no receipts (wasnt given any when bought of someone else), its covered 85k.

Worth it or extremely cheap & bound to have somthing wrong with it?

Thx.

26th February 2007, 12:11

I would get your head work done as you have your stuff fitted I did to my vtr which was same 90bhp model as yours, I loved it, not sure about buying one done, but if your getting cams I would go for it. I loved my VTR when it was all done

26th February 2007, 12:35

If the costs were acceptable I would, but currently I am looking (i think) at the below.

1. Port/Polished head £400
2. Fitted Cam, Pulley, uprated cambelt, alternator belt & dastek with remap £600.

The £400 for the port\polish head is just to much to swallow

ManC

26th February 2007, 12:51

Where you based? my mate who did mine Im sure it was not that much to do it

26th February 2007, 12:51

I would only have that type of work completed by someone reputable as a bad job can make things worse. Can't even confirm that anything has been done at all if there are no receipts.

26th February 2007, 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloz

Where you based? my mate who did mine Im sure it was not that much to do it

Derby

be intrested to know how much he charges.

@Kamracing, I can see your point but if a said individual comes with good reference I dont see why you couldnt get him to do the work. Having thought about a bit more about the VTR head on ebay I think I will leave it as £40 is way to cheap for a head, it also only mentions "inlet manifold" being ported polished...

26th February 2007, 14:05

Personally Id rather work with the item that is on the car at present rather than swappin heads.

If you can afford to have it done it would really allow the cam and manifold to work their best and get the most out of all the mods you have.

So in short - Yes its worth having done, but would rather do it to your own head rather than a item from another car

26th February 2007, 14:44

Ill let you know, he has done loads of saxo and 106s in the area, he does all the lowering too, I have to ring him later because he is fitting me clutch on Sunday so Ill get you a price,

26th February 2007, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloz

Ill let you know, he has done loads of saxo and 106s in the area, he does all the lowering too, I have to ring him later because he is fitting me clutch on Sunday so Ill get you a price,

That'll be great and the fact he has done loads of work fills me with confidence straight away

Having got a couple of quotes for local garage's to do the work it's looking very expensive

ManC

26th February 2007, 18:51

Anything without flow bench figures is just plain wrong and should be avoided. Going on 'refernces' is just as bad. After all, I'm sure there are plenty of people who are happy with Cituning...

Gas flowed heads are expensive for a reason; because they take so long to do and not everyone can do it properly. Anyone that mentions their head has been 'polished' should be flayed alive...

26th February 2007, 20:22

Gonna give HiFlow heads a call tommorow and see if I can get a quote on a head swap, doing it this way I know its been done properly and wont have to worry about problems down the road.

ManC

26th February 2007, 20:23

Call Shenpar on Tel: 01332 862901 and have a chat with Rob Smith.

They have a better reputation than HiFlow in motorsport circles.

26th February 2007, 20:28

id say sack highflow off aswell.

headwork id only go gmc or qep myself

26th February 2007, 20:41

Didnt know HiFlow had a debatable rep.. hmm..

Getting a quote for Shenpar tommorow for fitting my cam & pulley. Will drop the question about a head swap when I speak to them then.

With this being a proper motorsport garage I know it aint gonna be cheap.

ManC

26th February 2007, 20:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by manc

If the costs were acceptable I would, but currently I am looking (i think) at the below.

1. Port/Polished head £400
2. Fitted Cam, Pulley, uprated cambelt, alternator belt & dastek with remap £600.

The £400 for the port\polish head is just to much to swallow

ManC

mate do you no how easy it to do urself,

ive been doing it at college half a year now, just pratice mate, but the thing is saxo ports are piss as they are just circles, you try doing a zetec head fucking cunts they are as the injector sits snug and u gotta keep it like that and try not touch the walls.

also if hes just done the inlets thats not that good if you port u gotta get the hole head breathing nicely so port em all to the same, but there you go you can port the exhaust youself

go down hardware store get some grinding stones and use air gun and attack those ports

26th February 2007, 21:00

Eek.. doing it myself..

All the stuff I'v read to date says you have to insure the head flows correctly or else it could end up being quite disastrous.

ManC

27th February 2007, 01:18

Ive heard this modd isnt worth doing?

27th February 2007, 07:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by riggsy

Ive heard this modd isnt worth doing?

Obviously by someone that knows squat about tuning...

27th February 2007, 09:21

personally i dont recommend your port & polish a head yourself. its a good mod if the work is carried out correctly but if port and polishing is not done correctly u can lose bhp, when u send it to a company to do it they check tho airflow through each port, then inlarge all ports and match the new flow rates of each ports so the air flow in each is matched as if there not one may flow quicker then others making one run different etc... also you cant just start taking any metal off anywhere in the port as the ports also make the air swirl as it enters the combustion chaimber thus making the air mix with the fuel better which gives a better bang. they also check the valves to see if there sealing correctly, and use a flow bench to make sure that each cylinder is flowing the same as if its not one will be getting more sir then another etc... its all known as gas-flowed. so like i say u can do more damage then good if you dont know what your doing as its not just like polishing and porting a simple stright peice throttle body like some people do on here. if someone tells you they can port and polish your head for £100 then it wont be gas flowed etc.. and will be jsut doing it from what they see looks better but the flow rates to each cylinder could be out from each other making more air go to one and not the other. for a proper port and polish you will be looking £300-£500.

27th February 2007, 09:50

This is something I have argued about for years. Anyone can 'port' a head with a rotary tool and some carbide burrs.

It takes someone with a flow bench to make proper, reliable horsepower.

27th February 2007, 13:10

All very good points - but how much are we talking about here bhp gains?

For all the hassel and possible fact you could lose performance is it worth it? After all where do you stop?

Personally Ive never been tempted to change cams as sometime you sacrefise high end power for low down and if its a daily drive whats the point if it runs like dog unless your booting it, maybe an outdate missconseption about cams but each to their own really.

27th February 2007, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo_dave

Obviously by someone that knows squat about tuning...

Nope he knows his stuff

27th February 2007, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by riggsy

Nope he knows his stuff

Obviously a knob then...

*no one* says a head is not worth porting if you're tuning an engine. And I'm not talking about bolt ons either...

27th February 2007, 16:24

totally agree with Mr dave on this.

A: you need to set up a flow bench and do it properly

and

B: It's always worth doing, especially if you're changing the engines characteristics in some way, i.e. a cam

that ebay chap has no clue either. Ported and polished on the inlet manifold you say? That's a completely different part of the engine old son

27th February 2007, 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by VTS_16v_Boy

All very good points - but how much are we talking about here bhp gains?

Depnds on the other supporting services. Anything up to 20bhp is possible for something like a 16v. Don't forget, that the bigger the numbers the less pleasurable it is as a daily driver...

Quote:

For all the hassel and possible fact you could lose performance is it worth it? After all where do you stop?

If you're serious about tuning, yes. You can't get good power without it. You should never fit cams or throttle bodies without having the ports at least mildly worked over...

Of course, if the limit of your tuning is a farty exhaust and a warm air induction kit, then no, there is no point.

Quote:

Personally Ive never been tempted to change cams as sometime you sacrefise high end power for low down and if its a daily drive whats the point if it runs like dog unless your booting it, maybe an outdate missconseption about cams but each to their own really.

Depends. SOme people buy a camshaft like they buy a pint of milk. Thought is rarely given to the intended use of the engine, just the usual bigger is better attitude. Naturally, there is always a trade off between daily drivability versus ultimate power. You can't expect to just be able to jump in and drive a lumpy cammed 8v to the shops the same way that you could with the stock motor.

And as ever, the engine is only as good as the map

27th February 2007, 16:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampDavid

totally agree with Mr dave on this.

:O

People never agree with me!

As a side note, HiFlow heads have been around for a while, but the eBay ads they do are for heads that or just ported to buggery. They *DO* have a flow bench, but they do *NOT* flow the heads they sell on eBay (as, naturally, they'd have to charge more as porting is so labour intensive).

27th February 2007, 18:38

Has any one used highflow for a head swap then ??

27th February 2007, 19:09

not I, but I have seen a gmc and a highflow 16v head side by side on the bench, and to be honest, you get what you pay for. to look at, it looked like highflow had "tryed" to copy the gmc item, but, having said that, the gmc unit, had a lot more "roughness" than I was expecting, still, untill you get some feed back with genuine power figures from indipendent people who have used the kit it's going to be a leap of faith.

Pete

27th February 2007, 19:31

Any one got a gmc head?