Beak's head and cam upgrade

[Peter-S]

This is why mine is still pretty standard apart from air filter elec ignition and four branch. There comes a point where the expense just ain't worth it. It all depends on stuff like how much you will use the car, how good is the rest of it, how long you're likely to keep it.

[nigecapri]

Recondition head (skim, fit valve guides, reface seats) = £200
Valve guides £3.20 each
Unleaded Exhaust Seats £5 each
Fit unleaded seats £60
Total there is about £330 (inc VAT) to get what is effectively a recon standard head.

I know I might sound boring but £330 would buy you a good sierra head and lots of very good head each weekend for a month


Now the extras:

Machining for bigger valves £72
Smoothing off effect of machining the valves: £48
45.5mm Inlets £14 each
38mm Exhausts £14 each
Gas Flowing and improving airflow £120
Totaling about £740

Those mods wont make a MASSIVE difference for the money, your new cam will and you've already got that.
For their machining work at 353 quid you could fit your cam, diy port it, new valve seals and still have £350 for some very very extra extras every weekend for a month.

There's bound to be a kit car owner somewhere who's fitting a hyabusa engine and who's got a fully ported head on sale for a ton

[nigecapri]

Sold on the bay in july, he spent £300 on it and let it go for a ton. They are about.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ford-Pinto-2-0l-u ... dZViewItem

[Matty28i]

Chris,

I think I would be taking the head back from your machine shop guy, saying politly that it's a bit over your budget at present.

Don't know what he's charging for a bare skim but I only had to pay £30 to have both the cylinder heads lightly skimmed on the 2.8. I'll recon about £20 for a single head such a the pinto. Mind that is getting the machine work done trade and doing all the disasembly and reasembly of the cylinder head. It does help having good friends in the trade with good contacts though. You will need to add the extra's though.

My advice would be to take the head back and do some more research as to where to go etc. Especially if you prepared to do some / most of the work yourself.

Track day or no track day. I certainly wouldn't rush into spending what you have been quoted. You could get a full performance engine for less although used.

I know Jamie has a full injection set up that came off a fully rebuilt 205 engine. I'll not say how much he paid but he got a bargain even though, he left the bottom end & that was included.

Go and ponder as to what you want from the car, as "you" have said, it's going to get expensive.

Ade that used to be on here built a killer engine on a budget, I think you should either do a search on here, or go to Capri Club Scotlands web and get in touch for his views. Glyn and Colin also have a vast experience with the pinto in a performance modification mode. Then theres Johnna / Rob with the fuel injection knowledge.

Just my Opinions, but I'm sure a few on here will tell you it can and will get very expensive without a proper game plan.

Matty28i

[Matty28i]

Chris,

You could do a dye penetrant test on the head to make sure you get no nasty surprises this time around. Check on the welding sites to see what I am on about, a few pounds spent cleaning the clylinder head and spraying on a dye and developer would show any potential cracks and a dodgey purchase.

Matty28i

[340truck]

....what's the bottom end like - 'cos £500+ on sorting a nice head only for the bottom end to go bang in 3 months time would be a downer (to say the least). My opinion's not worth much but I would find another head which doesn't need new valve seats or guides, have it skimmed as Glyn suggested, diy clean up with a dremel, and fit your cam. Low outlay, save your money for the next upgrade which might be a staged head along with other mods to suit, as matty says you can plan the best package for your money while the car is running rather than as now when you want it back on the road. I've got 2 or 3 heads in the lock up but don't know the full condition, I'll try sort out a usable one over the weekend if you like, FOC if you come and get it.

[Beakster]

Yo,

Ok, I decided that it was going to be silly to spend so much money sorting that head out. As I was heading into London anyway this weekend I called a load of scrap yards in between Reading and London.

I managed to find a head off a G plate carbed sierra as a scrappys in Woking. £60 and it came with the exhaust manifold and carb (which looks a bit broken). I tried to haggle him down to £40 but he wasn't having it.

The head looks quite good and the valve seats that I can see look pretty smooth. I 2 hours taking the inlet manifold off today. Was very hung over and one of the bolts sheered, so I had to take the rest of the studs out then unscrew the whole manifold which came off with the sheered stud.

Tomorrow I'm going to get all the valves out and clean it properly. I might get it skimmed for a bit more power, but the face looks quite good.

And best of all it has a "P" above the number 4 exhaust port, so it's good for unleaded.

[ollyw]

so doesnt need any conveting

[Beakster]

yeah, I actually found that out by searching for posts about Transit/Sierra heads and found one of yours Olly from when you were getting one.

Going to take the valves out tonight and clean it up, then drop it into the engine shop for a 20thou skim tomorrow. I reckon that will give me a little bit more power/economy without being too harsh on starter/conrods. It also means there will be room to skim off more in the future should I need to.

[Beakster]

Started porting my sierra head tonight. I took it to engine shop for skim this morning but they said port it first and skim it at the end.









Going to spend another evening on it then take it for a 25 thou skim.

[nigecapri]

By the time you've finished with it she'll go alot faster without all that extra metal in the head Bit more out from around those valve holes I reckon eh.

[Beakster]

Coming along nicely. I reckon I'm 2/3 of the way to where I want it to be.

Only problem is I have killed 2 dremel tools. So I'll have to go back to B&Q again tomorrow for another exchange. Taking the piss a bit I tho.

[rich_jc]

Those "power tool" ones are ok, but aren't really up to proper work.

You can pick up 240v dremel kits for about £30-40, and they come with the long bendy attachment that would be ideal for what you are doing.

Rich

[Beakster]

Yeah, one I got has the bendy attachment that I'm using. It cost £30. The dremel one was £65 though. Nearly there so I'll get the broken one exchanged today and it should see me through to the end.

[rich_jc]

That's b+q rip off merchants for you. There's a very good nut and bolt shop down here that sells the dremel 300 for £35.

Rich

[InvalidBoy]

I've missed this whole thread because I have just discovered how to fellate myself...

...whats going on?

[-JC-]

that's the same dremel-type tool that I have. Tbh I'm not too impressed with mine either, it's lasted a while but I don't use it lots. The bendy (to give it the tehnical name) attachment seems to have fused itself to the tool, so I couldn't remove it even if I wanted to, when I tried it was twisting the whole tool apart with no sign of budging so I gave up. Oh and the Bit is a little crappy too, it's quite big so won't accept any of the useful attachments I had left over from the draper one I had before. Think I'll go with dremel next time tbh.JC|2 LITRE LASER AUTOMATIC|STRATOS SILVER