RSracer

If anyone is daring enough to give it a try I found a good DIY.

http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.shtm

It may take awhile but instead of sending $400 you can get 20hp for almost for free.

WeDriveScions

You leave out the fact of how tough it is to even get to the head and take it off and re-install it....

I'm a confident installer, and do everything myself, but even I know when to conceed defeat and let the pros do what they do best....

Even reading that.... around 10 times, I had to sit and ask myself... how would I do that and know that perfectly....

Some guys on here can't even change their springs..... 400 bucks is nothing for the detail, time, and perfection I'd insist on - For a P&P job!

RSracer

$400 only gets you the polish, $600+ for installation. I've replaced a head gasket on 2.2L engine and it's not hard it's just time consuming. If you pay attention and torque the bolts the right ft/lbs in the correct order the installation should go smooth.
The hard part of the installation is remebering the order that you removed the parts so that it's fits together correctly.

I just put that link incase somebody wonder what was involved in the polishing process.

hahaitzskippy

hahaha man that is so old school and main old school muscle and honda. no offense to anyone.

there is more to PnP then jus drilling and making things bigger. but i know what your trying to get out of this.

i rather jus spend the money and have it done right from a reputable shop who knows what they are doing. im in socal and there are a handful of shops that have a lot of experience in PnP and i dont mind sending my head to them.

overall, good idea but something this important, i rather have a professional thank you very much :D

jct

indy cylinder head is here in town for me (there local haha)

Fushyuguru

That's why it's always important to LABEL and take pictures of EVERYTHING. First time I rebuilt a 13B rotary, I had a fit halfway through as i didnt label all of my apex seals. I ended up just replacing them all (not cheap).

Biggest issue with a P+P is what material removal is the most beneficial. To do it right you need a flow bench and a chock block to find all the coolant paths. All the tricks in the industry come into play with a good P+P shop. In rotary terms I feel confident streetporting but concede when it comes to a peripheral port or semi-pport. The more complex the job, the more experience it takes to do it right without chocking the block.

My next upgrade on the tC is a P+P head. However I'm not quite satisfied with ZPI's current offering. Waiting for the rumors of a valve job'd P+P head to come to fruition, and they better polish the combustion chamber this time.

Satmax

When it comes to port and polish, I'd rather leave it to the pros with the right tools. Plus, if they screw up, they'll replace it.

I used to have an 90 Eagle Talon Tsi back in 95. My HKS fuel computer took a dump during a race and ended up melting a piston. The piston became deformed and broke the valves. Bits of the valve jumped around inside the chamber as I limped my way back home from the track.

When I got home, I opened up my trusty Chilton repair guide and went to work. It's not difficult to remove a head from the engine. I took the head down to a Tulsa racing garage and they ported and polished a severely damaged head. When I got it back, it looked great! Only set me back $200. Putting it back on was a snap. I'd imagine it would be just as simple on a tC engine.

I suggest if you decide to do this yourself, that you utilize a torque wrench during installation. I'm sure the tech guides available on SL will have toque values for the head bolts.

engifineer

Well... I would like to see the 20HP on a dyno. Just because you can buy a pnp head that nets you 20hp does not mean that simply doing it yourself will get you the same result. I personally would remove it myself and send it to a machine shop to get the pnp and re-install myself. As a matter of fact, I leave ALL machine type work (and so does my father, a mechanic) to a machine shop. It makes more sense than setting up to do it yourself most of the time and you get garaunteed results if you use a reputable shop (not a fast and furious "tuner" shop with no rep). If you do the tear down and re-intall, the machining isnt too bad cost wise, and you will get verified results rather than hoping you ground off enough, or did it correctly by hand.

Fushyuguru

Totally agree, and any reputable shop will use a flow bench! Without the flow #'s to back it up, a diy-garage job has nothing to verify a good/decent/junk job from one another, and no one to blame when you grind into your coolant veins.

I'm and engineer and I've jumped head first into just about every type of job that people said needed a professional to complete, and I've had good results when well rehearsed. However the porting of a piston head is one I really think twice on tackling.

WeDriveScions

If that is said, and I say it as well.... definately something to let the pros do....

Fushyuguru

Hehe, I'm not saying I wouldn't do it. I would just need: X-hours of research on P+P techniques and valve jobs (mainly some facetime with local machinists), makeshift flow bench, spare 2az-fe head (for blueprint/practice), ~20 hours of grinding work (I'm not the best die-grinder, and I have a small compressor).

How much is that time worth to me? Alot more than the price for a pro level P+P.

engifineer

And you may get results from a DIY job, but for the time involved (And the cost of replacement gaskets) to tear it down and put it back together, you may as well spend the cash to get it done professionally the first time and get the most out of it.

PghtC

I have ported 3 heads in my garage. You have to be careful about the intricacies. The combustion chambers have to have their volumes measured after the polishing to ensure consistency. I then take it to the machine shop and have them flowbench it to make sure the runners are consistent. Then that is pretty much it. The ones I have done have run very well.

It is not totally impossible, but you have to make sure you do your research and it always helps to have a spare head available to cut/cross section to see where the walls are thin so you don't accidentally take too much material off.

It is VERY time consuming. I put in a minimum of 25 hours on each head to get it right.

Jarrod123

have you done that for a TC yet?

PghtC

I have yet to find a reasonably priced, busted head that I can slice open, so no. I have done 3 GM 2.4L heads. Whether GM or Toyota makes it, the theory is all the same. But like I said, I need an old scrap head that I can cut before I go and dive into porting one. I don't want to screw up a perfectly good head.

WeDriveScions

Wow.... 25 hours a head.... Scary.

Stu_Gotti

Wow.. wow & wow! I think I'll pass.. maybe later on.

PghtC

yeah. IT take a long time to do the job right. If I were a professional I am sure it would go faster. Plus the fact that it is a 16 valve engine doesn't help. That's a lot of valve guides to smooth and a lot of bowls to shape...

and a lot of aluminum dust on the workbench and on my respirator.