Hey guys,

Ok so i have acquired a factory head this weekend, and am planning a build on it. I'd love some of the people that have done this before to chime in here. My plan thus far is port & polish, larger valves, (spings maybe) and a different cam. Suggestions are more then welcome being this is my first attempt at something like this. here are some pictures of what im working with thus far.

 

wow!!!

Ask Mike Thumper bout this as he does all his work the good, old-fashined way.

Anyways, subscribed! This one should be interesting

 

Are you doing the porting work yourself or are you looking for recommendations for someone to do the work?

 

I won't be doing any of the machining, that's a skill that I don't have . I'm just trying to figure out what parts to use as of now, and how they compare to the heads that are on the market. I will also post the before and after flow sheets when they become avaible. Any sugestions on cams, or valves?

 

porting, as in life,

a bigger hole.
is not always a better hole

 

Words of wisdom right here...

 

Any one know any thing about the ferrea valve train?

 

Subscribed.

 

Thanks to all who have subscribed! I should be taking the head to the machine shop here in the next week or so...still trying to figure out what valve train to go with....

 

Good for you for doing you own thing. Every one seems to just follow the crowd on here. Here is some reading for you to do. Good luck

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech....html#post1311

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

http://www.gofastnews.com/board/tech...Porting+School

 

Subscribed. Planning on doing this sometime so I'm anxious to hear how it works out

 

Good for you... making your own HP is ALWAYS fun.. ( with work)
Unless you are going to RACE the car.. push High RPM ( 7500+ ), have a radical camshaft, the STOCK Valve train is extremely strong, and the expensive bits are not needed!! ( amazing huh??) to want them, is different, than needing them....

Valve size is in direct correlation on your application.. if you can live with a loss of the low and mid range,and are mostly in the 5500-8000+ rev range, then the a BV size will be rocking!! If you are a street driver, with the weekend track runs once in a while.. the smaller( Medium size) valves are the way to go. Even the stock size will pull a LOT of power up to 7100-7300 revs!! SOOOooooo.... save a buck or two and you dont need all the dual chrome / aluminum spaced/ super trick valve train stuff for a 250+ HP MINI!!

Porting for a NOVICE is good as long as you dont get caught up in the BIGGER is BETTER thingy.. the increase in power will be good with the basic work. Trying to eek out a lot of flow and power without knowing what you are doing can and WILL hurt you. "KISS"!!

Have fun and find out how food tastes with aluminum !! LOL

Just me..............................

Thumper

 

Thanks to everyones support!!! getting me more anxious to get this ball rolling!

Thumper,

i was planning on this head being more for a race application. I really want to "get as much as possible" out of this head. my car has a ton of low end power now so id love to have more high end. as far as the porting goes i was going to start off with just gasket matching it. Good, bad?? also...if i were to do dual valve springs what would that do for the head?? just make it more durable? this is a learning process for me so please bare with me

 

also any one know if there are aftermarket rocker arms? (if thats even what they are called for the mini) this head did not come with any.

 

Must use their parts in systems:

• Ferrea Valves require their retainers and locks.
• Ferrea springs use OEM locator, ferrea Retainer, ferrea locks, and ferrea valves.
• You can use the valves/retainers with OEM springs.

Kind of an all or nothing.

You could potentially measure the OEM spring to find a matching ferrea spring to make use of OEM retainers/locks. It wouldn't nesscessarily match to what Ferrea offers specifically for the MINI according to the catalog. You would really have to know what your doing to go this route.

Ferrea components are considered by most to be the best.

 

yeah i noticed the all or nothing deal with them....i wonder if the make a cam or not...i havent started doing my big research yet (honey do lists hahah) but as soon as i can id like to see if they recommend a specific cam for their valvetrain or what the deal is..

 

just an update, the head will most likely be going to the machine shop to start the flow testing. also it will be disassembled cleaned up and start the port work!

 

If you want to save yourself some time (and probably money), I have a used one that's been on my shelf for the last couple of years with everything in it.

I can't run it anymore in the race car due to rules change. I could probably even find the flow sheets if I dig deep enough.

Alain

 

depends on how much your asking for it....ive been laid off from my "Career" since december. im working for coors now so i am making a pay check. so what are we looking at here?

 

Have you broken down how much it was going to cost you to build this thing up?

 

In the ballpark of 1500.

 

Sorry Tommy, but a friend of mine needed a replacement head today due to a mechanical failure. It's sold and delivered.

 

hey tommy this is John Im just checking in

 

Sweet dude, glad to see you signed up...

Every one John is going to be doing the work on the head.

John has the head now and we will be starting the flow-bench process pretty soon Just an update!

 

My professional German import machinist spent 12 hours labor on my head flow bench and all. Jan's silly heads still killed mine on the last dyno day