Cylinder Head service

[Dzenci]

I am going to have my sr20 engine apart soon so am looking around for cylinder head service worshop(s). I had a mate at work take his rb25 head to a workshop somewhere in Bibralake and he got it back with sand and crap in it and had to pay someone else again to get it done. Now, I dont want that either. lol.

I have been ringing around for quotes but I've never dealt with any of the worshops before so if you had experiences with good workshops, please recommend.

Cheers

[Marti]

Gerry at Head Torque in Osbourn Park

[Nemi]

used harris engineering after i had to rebuild a head sweenings fucked.
harris fixed all and it's running strong very happy with them.

[cplagz]

Gerry at Head Torque in Osbourn Park

+1 ... I deal with Mick (sabo) there.

[eScoRt20]

head shop in bibra lake was probably all torque engineering. i used them for my 2L escort daily. guy was a complete muppet. gave him valve seals, and head, and said i wanted it crack tested, vacuum tested, and pressure tested, and also i wanted him to check the valve seats, and put hardened seats in, and machine a set of cam followers.

He used a bench grinder to machine the cam followers, so they were stuffed, had massive ripples along all the faces, so paid for them to be machined, then had to buy 8 brand newies anyway. put the head on, torqued up, basicly everything done ready to start up, filled with coolant, and the core plug at the back of the head fell out. which they supposedly put a new one in. so had to pull it all back apart. put it all back together again, and now it blows a bit of smoke under load. which makes me think that he didnt put the new valve seals on, which makes me think he didnt pull the valves out to check the valve seats....

[to4garret]

used harris engineering after i had to rebuild a head sweenings fucked.
harris fixed all and it's running strong very happy with them.

agreed,

best thing i like about harris engineering is their no bullshit approach, he tells it straight, doesnt fuck you around (if you dont) and the work is done when he says it will be done, if not before.

of all the heads i have had recon'd by them, its generally been a next day pick up.


AAA+++ great trader will by again!

[DrNick]

Do you know if any of these places have the facilities to just clean a head up?

I'm going to do the valve job myself but I dont have any way of cleaning all the valve lapping grit and bits out cuz after all it needs to be 100% clean. Was hoping theres somewhere who can just clean it up before i install it.

[S133LTR]

Harris are generaly alot cheaper than headtorque.

both do a good job

[S133LTR]

Do you know if any of these places have the facilities to just clean a head up?

I'm going to do the valve job myself but I dont have any way of cleaning all the valve lapping grit and bits out cuz after all it needs to be 100% clean. Was hoping theres somewhere who can just clean it up before i install it.

ally head?
hose and air compressor

[Lonewolf]

speaking of which, anyone in perth do good head porting?
i would presume there arent many around that would know what they are doing with a 4 cylinder n/a head.

[joshg123]

Youd be suprised... gerry now does flow bench testing as far as im aware

i have to speak to him tomorrow blake so ill ask

Head torque if budget is not a consern, my number one choice.

Harris also do a good job and are a bit cheaper

But if you want the best job, gerry is the man

[Lonewolf]

just weighing up options for when the motor gets cracked, haha.
Having a head that flows well from the factory, and isnt exactly cheap to replace is my concern.

[DrNick]

ally head?
hose and air compressor

yeah man , 2jz head... im just paro about getting it absolutely clean. i thought about chucking it in the shower actually but just wondered if the shops have something better

[S133LTR]

Robo-wash is always good.. alot of auto places have them. Just be careful when you spin it up not to scratch/damage it, but high pressure hose would do if your careful.

dunno how much lapping the valve seats needed but PM if you need valve shim clearences/tolerences, I did mine at the start of the year.

[joshg123]

Solvent in a bucket, clean rag.... wash it down, wipe it down, check, once you think youve got it clean, wipe them on some pure white rag, if you get marks then wash your bucket out, and start again, keep going untill you have zero marks being left when you wipe them on the white rag

thats how i build engines, makes sure every little bit of dust/metal/filings is off them, can also do this to blocks and cranks but remember to crc the fuck out of them afterwards, can also use peter g's guard cleaner, works a treat!

EDIT - this is after robowashing

[Dzenci]

Cheers to all for the positive feedbacks.

I guess I will have to choose between Harris and Headtorque now..

[datsqik]

Ron Bells in Mandurah do all my head work, they have done dozens of sr heads and have multi angle cutters etc designed just for the sr heads, he also drills the plugs from the oil galleries and fits thread plugs so the can be cleaned properly after glass bead blasting them which brings them up looking like new. You can just about garantee the exhaust guides will need to be k-lined as with most jap turbo engines they have sodium valves and transfer lots of heat up the stem and thru the guides which creates premature wear.

[180SXTCY]

+1 to ron bells and datsqik. done my sr20 head as well on a few engines of mine now both mint

[joshg123]

just weighing up options for when the motor gets cracked, haha.
Having a head that flows well from the factory, and isnt exactly cheap to replace is my concern.

Gerry said he has the flowbench set up for this kind of work blake, and can sort it out no problems. Has just finished doing a 4g63 and a rb26 no budget heads.

I doubt anyone would have played with a VE though, cant be any different to a Vtec honda in principal though.

[Lonewolf]

cool, another option when the time comes.
Would be a different kettle of fish when it comes to porting an n/a head vs something turbocharged I expect though...

can he flowbench manifolds too? Will need somewhere to test my intake for even flow when complete.

[joshg123]

Went down and took another look at the new gear.

Hes gonna do me 1mm oversize fererra valves, cut em in, and flow the head for me.

not sure about manifolds

[Nelos e46]

hi mate i had my sr20 done at k.u.s.t.o.m workshop cannington the majority of cars in the workshop where bmw for some reason but its off albany hwy down the road from bob jane, pm me for exact details if your interested i cant get them for you.

[Saf]

Ive been porting heads (4 stroke) and 2 strokes for quote a few years (actually thats the primary reason i started my business with 2 stroke engine building) , and there is a problem in Perth with porting ... ive seen it happen a few times.

People here have at times no data, for specific engines, and will port away intil they 'feel it looks good'. There are a few people that can really make Chev and Cleveland heads go insane, but if seen a 2JZ head ruined, ive seen another import head go right thru the port and into the cooling jacket. The problem is people dont specialise ... "porting is porting mate, she be right, bring it in".

The problem with porting, is it can go too big or too off shape. A good head porter for 4 stroke will spend a lot of time reshaping whats there (not going in for a big cut), cleaning up the exhaust ports and giving them a mirror polish (as with intakes, and that in itself is a awesome bitch fest), the domes should be all CC'd and then polished, and re CC'd, and the head should be doweled on intake and exhaust. 1 out of 10 porters here dowlel, so you spend all that coin and something can sit a mm off and fuck it all up.

Most of us here run streetcars that go to the track at times ... its good in my exp to do heads in stages and sort them right, than once off too much and ____ it up.

[Lonewolf]

yes, these are the issues I face.
A known high flowing head from the factory, and being n/a there are velocities and intake tuning to think about rather than just outright flow.
I guess a light cleanup would be the way to go

[Saf]

Blake, can i ask why you would spend that kinda big coin, and not just run a turbo motor ?. Or just do a turbo conversion on your N/A and have it a low pressure very crisp motor ?. On FWD's N/A to T conversions are pretty nice as they increase the disp of the engine without giving it lag and making the FWD misbehave.

Seems with headers, cams, shorter intakes (or perhaps multi TB) its a lot of money with margianal gains ?

[Lonewolf]

thats part of the fun, developing a combination that no one else has, and being a bit of a pioneer. If I wanted easy i would have kept the 180sx.

Gearsets break with the torque of a turbo motor, and there is no current viable (eg sub $5000) option for strengthening it.

the VE also opens up another can of worms, as you need to run at least a gt30 size turbo to avoid backpressure on the exhaust side, which kills motors.

then there is the legality and traction issues too :)

[duste]

What would be a rough estimate for a 4-cylinder port and polish? Just to clean up casting imperfections, not for an extreme porting job.

I'm having to switch over the my spare head (current head has cross-threaded holes for fuel rail to mount to thanks to a dodgy engine conversion) so I thought I may as well look in to porting and polishing while the engine's apart.

All in all, what would I be able to retain and what would need to be replaced? ie. Would I be able to keep the stock valves, etc..?

I'll ring up Ron Bells when I get a chance, just thought I'd ask on here for a very rough estimate (100/200/300/++).

Cheers

[to4garret]

2k+

[duste]

Cheaper than I expected, cheers.


Anyone not want to be a pingpingpingping?

[AGIT8D]

Belly will do you a good job mate :) Just go in and talk to the boys.

*edit* Alternatively go talk to Jeff from Sik Pac and he might be able to help you out or point you in the right direction (possibly back to Belly)

[180SXTCY]

+1 for ron bells. doest killer work