To be honest (and I hate to say it), I probably won't get a dyno before this head swap. I MIGHT, but there is a very small chance that I will go pay the 60 bucks for 3 pulls twice in a week.

If I do get a before dyno, it will be on monday of this coming week, but I have spent so much money lately. And with christmas coming up I don't think I can waste away another 120 you know?

I would think 10-15 whp is a reasonable estimate considering P&P alone is rated at a 10-15% improvement of power. If I am at 145 whp (a modest estimate), then that would be 14.5-around 20 whp. I really hope to see some nice improvements, especially since I have every supporting mod possible except FI.

 

Ask the dyno guys if you can pay for 4 pulls, do 2 now and later, you are wanting to see some gains.

They will often make you a deal.

 

Maybe if I can find a dyno nearby I will give it a shot.

UPDATE

Been talking to him every day or every other day and he says that his techs are working away on the porting (takes a long time to port 16 ports and bowls). I was really trying to get him to have it done by tomorrow, but it looks like monday is the lucky day. Which means I won't have it on until saturday of next week.

Anyway, he said for them to do a REALLY nice job it would cost an additional $150, I obliged. I had already mentioned to him that if it would cost a bit more money then to give me a ring and they did. So the combustion chamber will now be smoothed and blended into the vavle seat as well.

They have all of the seats cut, the head has been cleaned and glass beaded, and they are heavy into the port work from the way they sound.

Damn, there had better be some good friggen gains from this mod, All in all, it has cost me about $1300 including all of the gaskets, coolant, and oil. WTF that is a ton of money. I hope I don't wish I never did it in the end. Hopefully it is a killer gain.

Supposedly he was going to back and snap some pics for me today that I can download onto my usb memory card.

Anyway, thought I would keep you all updated on the project.

 

Damn, that is a lot. Can't wait to see the pics...this is exciting. The first US n/a beast RD.

 

holy fuggin crap, thats expensive.. def. get us some pics.. and make sure its built up right.. you dont wanna mess that head up..

 

Yeah, it is pretty expensive guys, but from what the guy who has been doing all the work said, it is going to be REALLY nice.

I am tempted to go in there monday before they assemble it to get even more pics because I have a feeling the shop manager might not take enough lol.

Can't wait to see what it looks like.

I am going to try to set it up so I can go to the shop, catch some pics right before they assemble it, and then have them put it together while I wait.

I dunno how much of a beast it will be LOL. For this money though, I am hoping for at least 15 horsepower. I don't have high comp pistons, which would be the only other mod I could make, lol.

I suppose any other speed mods after this will be either turbo or nitrous. Don't really like nitrous too much though, never liked the idea of paying $40 a week to 'fill my bottle' lol.

I will keep you all updated when I get some more info and pics.

 

Nice Job T!
Really we all are excited about your project, I hope you get the best... in that matter I'd advise you to do the piston mods once and for all, a set of 1.8 pistons is just $140 and the rings should not be more than $100; now that you will have to stop your car to put the head on, you can do it for once.... it would MUCH quicker than all this head work you have done... and then it will the N/A "beast" because it would have EVERY possible N/A mod...

 

Thanks Z! The support and exitement between rd members is great. fing02.gif

I already have a 1.8L engine out of my last tib just sitting around collecting dust, lol.

I could just pull the pistons out of it, but there is a LOT of carbon buildup on them and I would be better off just to buy the new ones (they come with rings), for 140 on kspec.

The idea has crossed my mind to go ahead and do the piston swap, but there is really more work to do than you think.

For the head, I will have the timing belt and the head completely swapped in about 10 hours or so (I hope). I will spend some time porting the exhaust manifold ports to match the head. I am going to leave the airram ports alone as I dont want the airflow velocity to get too screwed up and lose ALL of my low end power, lol.

But doing the pistons requires removal of the entire engine, removal of the oil pan, crank, pistons and rods. Then the block must be honed to provide a good seating surface for the rings. The 2.0 rods must be pressed of the 2.0 pistons, and the rods must then be heated up and the new pistons installed. Then of course the block would be rebuilt with all new bearings and such. All of that work for maybe 20hp? If I am LUCKY right? I would rather just get my wiseco low comp pistons in with a set of pauter rods (that I have yet to buy) and turbo the hell out of it. Would be a nice mod, but I will need to consider it further. I am casually searching for a 2.0L engine to use as a build motor for my high or low comp NA or turbo setup, lol. The NA route is soo much cheaper, but I am power hungry, lol. So I will have to see the results of this head and go from there.

Rest assured, my tibby is never out of service for longer than 24 hours, lol. I do all the work myself and am extremely dedicated to complete jobs the day I start them.

Thanks again for the support guys!! cool.gif

 

He won't have every NA mod.

There are a bunch more.

Quad Throttle Bodies, Phenolic Spacers, Cryogenic Intakes, lightweight part replacement, 2.2L Stroker engine, crazier cams, just to name a few.

And let's not forget a Engine Management situation and tuning for the best power.

 

Didn't I8aCobra have all the nat-atmo mods possible (within reason) & still only see about 160-170whp before giving up?