The V8 Owners Forum -

Ive been advised to look for these heads to give me more power (and more power is always good lol) but they're £600 new and there's none on eBay at the moment.

I was just wondering what exactly is done to the heads as I'm sure I'll know people who can do it for me for under £100 if it's machining etc... Like a mate of mine ported and polishe my old Honda Prelude VTEC heads for £25 for me so if it's the same sort of thing I'll go that route instead.


Cheers

Some of the detail is in Peters Book in the Powerpro series and there is plenty of info about the work thats required and carried out for stage one heads on this forum with the simple use of the search function.

Andrew

I hadn't realized they were stage 1 heads, I was under the impression they had been modified / adjusted for tuning but the way they've been described on the web made them sound more involved than a stage 1 head.

Cheers

Crazy wrote:I hadn't realized they were stage 1 heads, I was under the impression they had been modified / adjusted for tuning but the way they've been described on the web made them sound more involved than a stage 1 head.

Cheers

One mans stage I is another mans stage III !!

If you want to save a few quid you could pocket port the heads just behind the valves. Basically where the valve insert meets the aluminum track the 'join' is usually quite bad. If you smooth out this area alone you must be able to free up a few BHP!

The bad news is that the inserts are ROCK HARD, you need to use tungsten carbide burrs in a dremel (or somehing similar). The crappy bits of sandstone on a stick from B&Q won't even leave a mark before they turn to dust!

Aximinster Tools does 3.2mm bull nose burrs that will fit a dremel, you would still need about 8 of them, keep them cool when using them by dipping them in white spirit every couple of seconds.

Don't get me wrong, this home porting will not be as good as a Pro job but it's better than nothing and much cheaper!

sidecar wrote:

Crazy wrote:I hadn't realized they were stage 1 heads, I was under the impression they had been modified / adjusted for tuning but the way they've been described on the web made them sound more involved than a stage 1 head.

Cheers

One mans stage I is another mans stage III !!

If you want to save a few quid you could pocket port the heads just behind the valves. Basically where the valve insert meets the aluminum track the 'join' is usually quite bad. If you smooth out this area alone you must be able to free up a few BHP!

The bad news is that the inserts are ROCK HARD, you need to use tungsten carbide burrs in a dremel (or somehing similar). The crappy bits of sandstone on a stick from B&Q won't even leave a mark before they turn to dust!

Aximinster Tools does 3.2mm bull nose burrs that will fit a dremel, you would still need about 8 of them, keep them cool when using them by dipping them in white spirit every couple of seconds.

Don't get me wrong, this home porting will not be as good as a Pro job but it's better than nothing and much cheaper!

Any pro porter will use air powered tools, as electric powered tools such as a dremel will burn out very quickly.

Right of this photo is my late father's selection of tools built over 30 years of head porting:

Crazy,

Here's alink to Peter Burgess's page relating to the econotune heads which gives an insight into whats required.

http://www.peter-burgess.com/page18.html

No need to do a 3 angle on the exhaust valves but opening up the seat to actual exhaust seat size is as important as the inlets.

DO NOT polish the ports, leave the runners as cast and concentrate on enlarging the seats and opening up the area below, blending into the bowl area around the vale guides.

You can polish the combustion chambers if you want to, but not really worth it.

Kevin.