Going back to the picture in post# 51; just because there are carbon deposits present doesn’t necessarily mean those areas are directly exposed to the flow path. Those marks are characteristic of the stock gasket seal. As stated above, be sure to make a template of the head ports and bolt holes for accurate adjustments and keep the head face and flange face oriented appropriately. I wanted to clarify that the carbon marks are not accurate representations if someone saw the picture and thought that was all that was needed and grind within the lines.

 

Not necessarily true...when I place the head template (traced directly from the head's ports) up against the header, they lined right up to the carbon deposits...in this case, where you see the carbon is where the exhaust gases are obstructed...

This goes back to my complaint regarding the lack of information from head manufacturers in disregarding this critical little bit of modification that is required to achieve the new head's designed potential...Both Bob and I have become aware that just throwing on a big head with cams will do little if you're still blowing exhaust out the same tiny hole that all Mini have...it's like a restrictor plate for the exhaust...

 

We also need a flame test to make it complete...

 

So true ! They assume you know.....

 

I don’t see how lack of preparation on the part of the purchaser or installer constitutes negligence by a vendor. This is somewhat like tort reform vs. a risk free society.

 

Look...I'm not saying Randy's a bad person for selling me a head that "could" make 20hp...I just think that the mention of matching ports might be worth mentioning when advertising such power increasing modification "will depend on such and such"....just my 02 cents, but I bought a modified head because I didn't know how to make one...therefore, chances are that I wouldn't have a clue about port matching or what it is at the time let...

 

Ditto that

 

Randy at that time was a mentor to me as to the development of my Mini.... we had many long conversations about power gains etc........ This is not a case of walking into a store and saying I'll have one of those and then blaming the vendor because it did not do what I thought in my mind it would do.... Randy was my consultant, vendor, mentor and I bought ..at that time everything from him..... he should have said something about this.... he knew I had no clue..... I told him so..... i told him I was not happy with the increase from thehead and not once was this brought up.... I don't feel like writing a "brief" here.... In my business I take an active role in the success of people's purchases..... I am not Randy bashing as this is all a learning curve for him as well and I am not mad at Randy.... far from it..... if he knew the difference i performance of his product and he did not tell me then he is shooting himself in the foot as I can't tell people how happy I am with it and help create more sales...... enough is enough...... in this small market specialty vendors should assume nothing and ask questions to qualify the purchaser.... I ask nothing that I don't do everyday myself and require of my employees

 

As usual...my eloquent friend saves me just in time Thanks for stepping in Bob...

I confess my ignorance early on and like Bob says...this has been a learning experience...Hell...I'm still learning and never pretend to know everything...and for those of you who think I should know better...thanks for noting the obvious

 

A more general comment. This has nothing to do with Randy, or bashing. I've learned so much from many people on this forum, even if I'm never going to do those particular mods. Those who get to the bleeding edge have cuts to show for it. People like Sid give us "Reality MINI blogging" and sometimes frustrations flare, and thoughts get shared. He's had some rough times with the head/header deal lately, and even though I don't want to live his life, I've enjoyed watching it from a far (! - it's better than every reality show on TV except for Miami Ink).
I just hope the sharing continues, from people like MSFITOY, SpiderX, obehave, TonyB, stevecars60, etc.
Back to normal transmission...

 

enough of the self ignorance confessions.. how about this.. if some schmuck likemyself was out to buy a new head, wats someof the things they would need to consider? ive got nfi what to look for but looking to buy a new head in the next 6 months.. any advice on this would be good .. peace..

 

Time to install the thermal barrier...

What you're looking at is the underside of the DFIC overlaided with a self adhesive thermal shield...the two wires you see at either end of the DFIC are the in/out thermocouples to my intercooler temperature gauge...

 

Thank you for your comment.

However it does suprise me that someone would not know to say matching ports is a Biggy. Over the last 45 years or so, just about every engine builders shop I've visited, many, for bike motors, big blocks, small blocks, marine engines, shifter kart motors, the list goes on & IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PORTS. You could put some other things in there but ports & valves are the hart of the total of the rest. It realy gets interesting when you start talking piston port or reed valve, how about rotary valve, all 2 cycle, some kind of vodo there but very cool none the less.

 

+1 My gratitude also to the aforementioned pioneers (and all the others out there) who share their findings with the rest of us, so that we won't have to go through the same trial-and-error on an individual basis. Cheers!

 

There is thread I started called "Heads.. a discussion" which has a lot of info from the various vendors and supporters of them as well as some names we don't hear often on this forum...... I would start there......

people like M7 and WMS have been active for some time.... Precision while new has brough a lot to the party in a small period of time on this board..... "The Old One" has a strong following and there is the "Madness" crowd...... all seem to have their following and supporters.... it seems they all recomend you call and talk to them about your performance goals so that they can help make decisions on things like big valves or not.... which cam..... etc..... best of luck from the bleeding edge.

 

thanx for the info !

 

Great stuff guys....
M7 will have a new manifold, something very interesting, and in typical
think outside the box fashion we will deliver something special.

Expect more in November.

peter
Team M7
562-608-8123

 

Hi Sid,

I like to say that "my hobby is stamping out ignorance starting with my own...."

your bud,

Bob

 

Spyder, your next thread "Reversion" ?

 

What do clarinets have to do with performance?


I'm just messing

Contemplate the flow Grasshopper for within the flow lies true happiness.

 

Hey long time no see...what's the mad scientist up to these days?

 

Clarinets?????

Shucks, listen to Maceo Parker when you work... see your personal performance increase, 3 to 8 PP ( people power ). That's without mods...

 

When I owned my Mini, I was fairly religious about doing dynos after each mod.

About six months before I sold it, I had to have the milltek header replaced for the usual issue (cat). When I took it to the shop to have it installed, the mechanic mentioned that the exhaust ports on my modified head and the header were not matched.

Now a little bit of background: unless Webb was in town, all of my work was performed by a race prep shop here in the Bay Area. They are proponents of dynoing before and after mods and the price is relatively cheap.

To make an already long story short, I had them install the new header, dyno it, then match the header and the head and reinstall/dyno it. While I am at work and do not have access to the charts, from memory the results were less than jaw-dropping. It think the best pre-match dyno was 1 to 2 hp less than the matched and the torque difference was similar.

In terms of driving impressions, the only thing I noticed was that the car backfired a bit more than usual. One of the tricky things about the butt dyno is that when you fire the car up cold and do a few hard pulls on it, it always feels crisper. Get it hot or flog it at the track and try to discern the butt-difference and then make the comparison...................

If someone has had a different experience - so be it. On my car, last January, the difference was negligible. Before anyone gets all huffy about this, I'm not saying that matching has no benefits or that it shouldn't be done. All I'm getting at is that for me and my adipose-impaired butt dyno - I felt no difference, and the real dyno apparently mirrored this.

 

Regarding MSFITOY's photo of the underside of the DFIC with heat shield installed: any evidence or thoughts on whether this is better than the ceramic coating that comes on the DFIC from the factory? The ceramic coating is very thin compared to the thickness of the aluminized blanket stuff I just got from Pegasus.
cheers,

 

Phil...that's an interesting question...my DFIC was one the first three produced and didn't have the time for ceramic application so this was the next best thing in my mind...hopefully it's as good if not better than ceramic...the price was certainly right