1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Port and Polished Heads?

Yes, you can buy the RMW head he is cleverly refering to, or a Thumper head for that matter...IF... you have 2k plus to spend. I say more power to ya having a go at it yourself, save some money keep the wife happy get your hands dirty and use wisely your friend who has porting experience.

 

My, aren't you a ray of sunshine!

You port your own head, because it's a fun learning experience and you save a bunch of money. You are unlikely to damage your engine, at worse it won't run as well as before and you put a stock head back on the car.

The original poster has an experienced man to guide him through the process. I'm sure it will turn out great!

Dave

 

STOP That, you guys!! LOL

Gonna try your own?? well that is always a good learning skill.
I use WD40 on the carbide cutters to stop the aluminum build up when cutting. A LOT of WD40.

Remember there is NO 'put it back on tool" so remove as little as you can at a time!! Too much and your done!! cool??

POWER is in the throats and bowls, and the Valve JOB!! In the throats remove as much of that 'hump' right befor the guide ( you'll see it) then smooth up to the seat. Get a 5 angle valve job done at a good performance machine shop ( 3 seat- 2 valve)

Run a sandpaper thru the runners and ports ( 100 grit on the intake - 150/180 thru the exhaust) to remove a lot of the slag and casting flaws.

Basicly you are done.. unless you are about to tackle the port openings??

Have fun!!

Just me................................

Thumper

If done half way good.. you WILL see better mileage and 5-8% more power, just from a home port!!

 

I ported and polished the heads on my motorcycle. I wanted to match the intake ports to the carburetor, and found that the intake port on the heads were way bigger than the carburetor throats and was square rather than round, like the carb. I used JB Weld to build up the ports in the heads and then used a die grinder to smooth and match the intake ports. Two years later, I had a look at those heads. The JB Weld epoxy is still intact and looks real good. So, there is a way to "put it back on". But it is better if you don't have to.

Dave

 

What were you expecting?

Just remember, you can just as easily make a head perform worse as easily, if not a lot easier than make it better when you go at it with a grinder.

For me, the tried and tested, with results to back it up, is the way to go.

2cents

 

You'll want to do it slowly and be sure that each cylinder's ports flow the same amount of air. You can make a simple flow bench by building a wooden box with a fan and a vinyl tubing manometer.

Dave

 

lol ok i couldnt resist...yea you can spend 2 grand on a quality machined piece...tested time and time and time again...a part that has been on podium finishing cars and street monsters alike...or...you can try to do it the cheap way...do it yourself...jack the head up...blow the motor...then have to explain to your wife why you have to spend now 5 grand on top of what you spent trying to do the head porting yourself...therefore wiping out what you saved and putting yourself so far in the red its not funny...but yea...your call...why would you not buy a head from a company who already took the time to ensure the head is port matched and flow tested?

 

I guess you are a glass half empty kind of guy. :lol:

I'm not a professional machinist, I'm just an enthusiast. I've ported a few heads, as have many of my gear head friends, all with success. All head designs are a little different, you just do your research and then you can make informed decisions about where you can remove material, err on the conservative side and you'll be successful.

I can't think of one instance where a home ported head or the engine it was installed on, has failed catastrophically.

Dave

 

I have tuned many a Mini and I can tell you with 100% certainty not 1 single head ported by an amateur was any better than a JCW head and some were worse than stock....

This is a fact

 

Oh, I've seen a few disasters over the years.....

One guy got I know a little overenthusiastic (if a little is good, a lot must be great, right?) on a Fiat head and went right thru the port sideways into a water jacket - fortunately it was an aluminum head and could be welded up again.

With cast iron you have no such guarantees.....

But I'm with the others, see if you can buy a take off head for reasonable $$ and sit down with it and see what happens. There seems to be a lot of info on how to get good results, if you take your time and are careful you might get a great result and learn a lot. However, you won't get the razor edge performance and even flow that a pro will....

 

Thumper does his by hand

http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/vendor-site/1041

 

I have a complete head, cam and all that you would just have to strip down and dip just looking for couple hundred + shipping. PM me for pics.

 

Jim, as we speak, my MINI is at Steve's! Having a TPR-1 Ported Head, Camshaft, and Cam gear installed.:ihih:

 

Oh yes I know! Steves is the hangout on Saturdays :lol: Was looking at your head last weekend...man Mike has a smooth hand

 

:lol:

(couldn't resist)

 

ewwuu.....:crazy: