Hey everyone.

I haven't been on here in a while, but I figured I'd ask the community a question, figuring some of you have already done this sort of job. My father and I plan on rebuilding the engine of my 1999 Tiburon (with 2.0L obviously). He's a mechanic who's worked on Hyundais since around the time I was born, so he knows what he's doing. He told me he intends to send the head in to a machine shop to have it shaved a tiny bit to increase the compression ratio. Now here's my question: for those of you who have already done this type of work, how much did you have the head shaved for safe but optimal performance? Obviously the people at the machine shop should be able to determine what's good, but I'd just like the general opinion of the community here. While you're at it, are there any other tips you could give me to make the car perform any better while I have the engine apart? I'm not taking out the bottom part of the engine, so forget about over-boring the cylinders.

Thanks!

Nick

 

port and polishing the intake manifold and the head while doing a gasket match. nothing else i can think of .

another piece you can buy that you WILL see a difference is a set of lightweight pulleys with the underdrive. losing mass weight on spinning externals will lead to hp gains. not much but they will be noticeable the first time you drive the car. obx pulleys are what i have. you have to file out the keyslot approximately .030" to make it fit on the crank. also, a different sized serpentine belt you will need other than the stock size. we have a diy on this that shows the size you need.

 

Up to 1mm off the bottom of the head. Also do some looking around here for information about using 1.8L pistons to increase compression. This may require going to mid-grade gasoline, unless you do something funny to the intake charge (methanol) or chambers (see below)

Do some research here & elsewhere, and show it to your dad. Keywords "Singh Grooves"

Don't use a lightweight crank pulley unless it incorporates a damper like the stock pulley (no damper crank pullies give me the willies)

Oh, and obviously since he's a mechanic he'll know: balance & blueprint!

 

lol, ive had no problems with the underdrive pulleys along with several other members here .

 

I also use the ARK pulley set (W/P,C,PS) and have had no problems and they improved acceleration.

If your taking it to the machine shop, have him blueprint the head and open up the 90deg at the exhaust runners, that is where you will see the most increase in performance, besides porting the IM and gasket matching.

edit* Don't do the singh grooves, just my opinion

 

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the suggestions. The lighter crank pulley sounds like a good idea, but balancing and blueprinting sounds pretty expensive. I'll have to look into it to see how much these things will cost and if they will fit into my budget. About the 1.8L pistons, sounds like a pretty good idea. Will they fit properly or will I have to do some even more modding to get them to fit? I already fill up with premium gasoline all the time now just because it's cleaner for the engine and the response is better when I lay down on the pedal. Any more suggestions are welcome.

Thanks again!

Nick

 

Mostly everything listed can be done by you or your father. Shaving the head obviously constitutes a machine shop. You can port the IM and gasket match yourself.

You could even give the exhaust runners a shot, the only thing with them is you can't go to far or you'll port right into coolant passages.

The 1.8 pistons will drop right in... stop using 93 as you are wasting your money smile.gif

 

y do u say he's wasting his $

 

^^ typing "why do you..." requires four more keystrokes, please just type like an intelligent adult.

the reason that one would say he is wasting money is that he is putting high octane gas into an old stock car.

 

The difference between low-grade and premium-grade fuel in a tibby is only about two or three dollars per tank. Hell, I say suck it up and drop the pocket change for the health of the engine