There are some tired and true methods to porting a head. Using them would get you close. However, most of the heads from vendors have been through multiple iterations making them better suited to the MINI engine peculiarities. You would need to define your goals, then pick among the various methodologies to determine what will help you meet those goals.
yea im a ray of sunshine...because i cannot count anymore the times people have either decided to p-n-p their own head...or taking it to an "expert"...keep in mind this is a forced induct head on a euro car...its not a universal skill...what is good for the goose isnt often good for the gander plus lets not even get into those who try to install the head themselves...forget to lock the timing gear out...crank their timing 90 degress and jack the motor up...sometimes you have to swallow the bitter pill called pride...admit its beyond your capability and leave it to the pros... there are some things ill learn on my own...but playing with internals of my cars heart or brain is beyond my mech experience...if you dont have the money now...save up and buy a quality head like a rmw... paying 2 grand for probably 10s of thousands in r&d and prototypes isnt a bad thing...plus they work! they are consistent at performance
Actually, having a shop that has ported heads is a good thing to help you. The "BASIC" P&P will give you the results that you want... There is such a small amount of differences, in technique between a blown 4.6 head and the 1.6 head design as far as power produced thru a certain basic port work. Just remember there isnt a 'put it back on ' button.. slowly is better. K>I>S>S> and dont forget the value of the valve job. Your machinist friend , I am sure, has already spoken to you on that, yes?? Also the basic head from Me is ONLY $1295.00 NOT 2000.00 !! you WILL see great power and torque gains from the TPR1 head. There are a few other heads out there under 2000.00 !! Actually my top head is STILL under $2000.00. However .. doing it yourself will give you good power.. and a great feeling knowing you did it . Let us know how it turns out, cool?? Just saying............................................ Thumper
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....
Sorry fella's been a little busy with work and being a new dad to get on here that much and give updates. There are no updates to give anyway. Everything is still sitting in the garage. I do have a port and polishing kit coming in the mail. So as soon as that comes in I will try to get back on here with what's going on. The Mini is taking a back seat to just the schedule of life. Except for the 1st weekends of the month, which is autocross. As far as the price of getting a performance head, I am cool with the pricing. I mean it's cool to do it myself and save a few bucks. But the main reason for taking this project on, is just cause I am a hands on guy. I love to work with my hands and see what I can get into. I'm an Electrican by trade and I know that's not the same as being a mechanic. But it does mean I work with tools all day and have to figure out how to make things work and figure out problems. I'm not out to start buliding my own heads and be a competitor. Just thought the whole reason for these "forums" were set up as a helping agent? And yes sir me buddy told me to make sure and get a valve job as well.