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how do i do my own headwork



  20VT Clio & 9-5 HOT


it aint as easy as that, its a skill, takes a long time to master!

benr will gladly give u good head! (so iv heard)
 


if you attack it with the traditional dremel thats numptey move number 1.

basically i highly recommend you dont even attemp it if you dont understand the principals of what you are trying to acheive......like being handed the ingredients for beer and trying to make beer....you might get beer.....but itll be sh*t.

By all means, after you completely strip the head and knock out the valve guides the most i reccomend you do is remove a bit of casting marks and maybe, if you have any idea smooth the bowl area a teeny weeny bit. Increasing the actual port size alone will do you no favours and youll actually loose out.
 


increasing the actual throat does nothing really until you race the flow limits of the valve size and up them.

How much power, its doesnt work like that.....you might increase flow by 2% if you have a dab of luck, but you could just as easily loose 5%.

I really wouldnt bother touching it at all if you have no idea what to touch, what to do and why.
 


Its dead easy. All you need is a heavy hammer, a lump of cheese and a hacksaw. Not sure what to do with them, but getting the right tools is a good start.
 

MaLicE

Honorary Member
ClioSport Club Member
  Lazy v8


u go to the doctors and get 2 or 3 of your bottom ribs on either side, then u can bend down enuf to do you own head work..... :D
 


Quote: Originally posted by MaLicE on 24 August 2003


u go to the doctors and get 2 or 3 of your bottom ribs on either side, then u can bend down enuf to do you own head work..... :D
:eek:

You seem to have given that a lot of thought..... ;)
 
  williams and trophy


used to do it myself on the minis but they are relatively easy to work on

with the valver and willy engines its a lot more technical.

go take it somewhere is MHO

where to take it is another matter tho.....lots of companies claim amazing things for little mods like this
 


http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/head01.htmhttp://www.pumaracing.co.uk/head01.htm

a good site if you want in-depth analysis on aspects of tuning, shows up all the bongo mags crap advice.

you could read all the DIY guides in the world though, but like is expained on that website every casting is different, and the degree of skill and knoledge involved means that you get a wide range of supposedly "worked" heads, with wide ranges of actual power increases.

have a go yourself on an RT, im going to on a spare head, then RR with old head and new head. easier to create initial gains with an 8v energy.
 


There is not a huge amount of science to it, but is definetly something that takes a while to master. Really helps if you have access to a flow bench as this is where most serious tuners tweak the most power out of headwork. An ok guide to basics of porting heads can be found here (for vw but its all essentially the same) - http://www.gtiworld.fsnet.co.uk/porting.htmhttp://www.gtiworld.fsnet.co.uk/porting.htm

Biggest problem is not doing it properly and as BenR says you can often lose power on badly worked heads, flow rate depends on flow speed and port area, so opening up a port too much, can actually reduce flow rate rather than increase it, as port velocity drops too much. Also breaking through to water jacket is very common mistake. It is best to practise on a couple of similar if not identical scrap heads, so a feel for them and the amount of machining that can be done is known. However simply removing cast marks, and matching manifolds to the heads (which is non risky but worthwhile) is a possible home job. Also to promote laminar flow, port walls are not best being totally smooth, but actually with a little bit of roughness (why sharks have skin like sandpaper, actually causes less drag). I am defo no expert, but if you have (or can get hold of) a spare head, go for it, have fun let us all know how you get on with things.
 
  FRST and 106 GTi


Yes, all the "black magic" of working an head is told on the web. Now... they only say how to work one cylinder, but our engines have 4.

I think that the big difficulty is to get the 4 flowing the same. I really doubt that a std head flows the same in every cylinder.

Try working a wrecked head... dont go on your own head right away... this needs practice...

... or just go to some expert on the subject. Its an expensive mod, but well worth it!!!

Try talking to BenR first. He knows what to do to an head.
 


its not an expensive thing at all.

I charge a base 400 for 16Vs...........and silly mods like forged pistons cost 600 quif for the F7, viper costs 250, chips cost 250......so, interms of VFM and total potential output, nothing really compares.

And contrary to what Alex said, there is alot of science to it. Theres not much to the ideal shape, but no production engine is even close to ideal. So you do the best you can within constraits.

Your also thinking of boundary layers, benefits are 2 fold. Prevent fuel drop out, create turbulance agains thte port walls, at slow velocities the middle of the port flows faster than the outside of the port.

Port volumes, shape, radii, valve shape and size, length, texture and more than i can be bothered to go into for no particular reason (money).

I could easily spend far too much time telling you all about it and what to do, but even then only a spall portion would be able to do anything worthwhile with the head. Its just the way things go, otherwise there would be no big names in this specialist area.
 


if you dont mind me asking ben, how did you learn? is the only way to learn by experimenting (obviously with theory andk nowledge of what youre doing) a nd bench-flowing your efforts to see what youve done?
 


indeed.

I started through simple reaseach when a young un, built my kart racing engines (150bhp/ltr) which last 9 hrs, built and fiddles with all sorts of crap. Tried it myself on a 4 stroke and it ran w**k at low RPM ( i went bonkers with removing stuff....), then slowly got more and more proficient at it, talked and learnt from alot of head GURUs.............its not a jump in and do it. If you dont know why and the detailed theory, there is no real point to trying to do it seriously.
 


indeed. when i stripped down my first engine i remember getting a wire de-carb brush on it and taking all the carbon out and then "buffing up" (i thought i was doing a lot more at the time) all the areas i had heard needed doing, took away the casting marks and got it a bath and skim and thought i had done the most wonderful job ever...now i can see i had f**k all knowledge about what i was doing, in fact all i probably did was give it a glorified engine clean!

having studied the subject a lot mroe now im going to muck about with a few energy heads and put them on, see how it runs after that.
 


have fun mate, its glorious if not hard and dusty work.

Need any help just shout.....im only a consultation fee away lol!
 


yup, no problems, but itll be better if you hand it to me with all the valves etc in it....you can take the tappets out and keep them in oil.....up to you weather you reuse them.

i dont charge for stripping and rebuilding anyway.

What you want done?
 


oh ill re-use em alright.....the head had new valves & tappets put in about 5 months before i bought it !!

let me know when your back in the dumpland (U.K) & ill pop up with it
 


im in bristol now fool! lol

classic car track day this sat at combe which ill be at.......

nice, new valves and tappets.....as they cost a fortune!

maybe you can help fix my arches!
 


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