Wondering how much better the JCW head is than a stock MCS head. I have a chance to buy one with relatively low miles.

My 2005 MCS currently has a 17% pulley, MTH standard software, Alta intake and colder plugs. I'll be installing JCW injectors this weekend.

Planned mods include a better air-air intercooler, MTH tuner software and Milltek exhaust.

Would the JCW head be a better investment than the air-air intercooler? And what might the head cost to have installed?

Opinions welcome!

/gary

 

I know of some people swapping it out for the stock head, and getting it ported and polished. Reports of about 17-21 hp.

 

Thats pretty hard to believe!!


Anyway, if you got a JCW head, I word port and polish it at least (properly) before putting it on.

 

Webb has a suite one for $1800 with the Schrick cam.... JCW head isn't all it can be from the factory.... So if it's more than $500 or so, save the $ (my price point, I'm not trying to start another pissing contest on the subject). TMICs seem to have more value on the dyno than the street, and a very good bang for buck is a hoodscoop, like the M7 or some other manufacturer, but I haven't seen any in mainstream production yet. TonyB did some serious driving with the stock and GRS ICs, and with and without the M7 scoop. Scoop did most of the bang for the buck, and the TMIC didn't seem to pay off in $/hp. I did the data crunching here (with some BiM-Com logging).

I have an early Alta TMIC, and I'm still undecided. These do better at higher speeds, so the track rats love them more than the street drivers.

If you're going to pay for installation, it's a bit of a task, take the top of the motor apart, including most of the intake path, and getting it back together is on the order of a kilobuck or a good percentage of it. So this makes the savings by going with a used JCW head even more marginal.

Also, get your MTH map for the injectors while you're waiting for the parts, or even before you order them. Then no waiting in case MTH guys are off partiing or on vacation....

Matt

 

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I'm almost certainly going to upgrade the firmware. Either the MTH tuner upgrade or something like the Apexxi module. Leaning towards the MTH tuner as I've been very happy with the MTH standard package, plust I can get a year's worth of revisions to it for the investment and install them myself quite easily.

~$1000 for installing the head...ouch! Definitely decreases the "bang for the buck" factor. I could do it myself but it would take me 1 - 2 days and during that time I wouldn't be making any $$ so that's out. The head itself is, I believe, $1000 delivered and it has low mileage. The current owner of the JCW head upgraded from it to a revalved/ported/polished head with matched intake manifold and has dyno'd around 235 HP at the wheels.

I'll have to look for TonyB's test results. I know there's a thread in NAM somewhere on it. Gets so dang hot here in Big D that cooling the intake air has real appeal (the car is running so much stronger since the cold front came in Thursday and dropped the temp ~40 F that it's ridiculous). The M7 scoop is a possibility - it's inexpensive enough that if I don't like the look I can remove it. From the photos I've seen it's not terribly subtle, and I want my car to look and sound as subtle as possible.

I must contemplate my navel on this. Perhaps I shall make a wheat offering to the Flying Spaghetti Monster in hopes it will provide me with a carbohydrate induced revelation...in the meantime additional thoughts are welcome.

 

JCW head would NOT be as useful for HP as the other 2 I would go with:

1. PILO -has 2 or 3 head mod level choices, with or without Schrick CAM, plus options for titanium valve springs, retainers, etc ....

2. WEBB Head includes the Shrick Cam already -1 choice level

Detroit Tuned (Chad) has installed both, PM him ikf you like

 

Wow! That head is already modified nicely. I wonder why the guy is selling it. You should ask him what is he replacing it with.


For 1k, that is probably a good deal. If it was just stock JCW it would be worth half that.

 

I wasn't clear...sorry. The head I'm considering is a stock JCW head. It has been replaced on his car with a CHR Racing Motorsports head with a Shrick cam.

For $500 for the head and $1000 to install it the JCW head makes more sense (in the proverbial "bang for the buck" sense). At $1000 for the head I'm a tad less enthused (I'd been thinking along the lines of the install running $500) but then again, the JCW kit does add around 42 HP altogether... and the head has to be a significant contributor to that addition.

 

Remember, there's the pully, and the injectors as well. Those that have opened up a JCW and compared the head to a good port polish haven't been that impressed. Also, your buddy got a lot a improvement with his upgrades because there was so much room to improve! At a kilo buck, I'd pass. In marketplace, someone was hyping a pretty new JCW head, and cought some serious crap at the requested price point, but I think it was higher still.
I'm in the CA bay area, and two shops said the removal/install of the head was close to $1k including the gaskets needed. So now you're looking at $2k, when for 40% more (plus or minus tax) you get the schrick cam, and better port/polish.
Or for two k, you can get a scoop, and still have over $1600 left in the bank for things like rent or food! (Or a BBK, or some serious suspension work, or a bunch more goodies for the motor!)
Personally, I'd leave the head and/or the TMIC for the very end of the mod list. The IC doesn't have the $/hp of other mods, and the head is good, but just plain pricey, and a big job....
But each has one's own preferences, and that pretty much the best guide on how to spend the $.

Matt

 

for very good prices. Get one, and have Endyne or M7 or stagmeyer (spelling is off) port and polish and for under a thousand, you have more blow! And the scoop is another $300 painted, I think. And in person, the scoop looks better than it's rep. Remember, there are all those STi's out there that make anything on a hood look pretty good!
And you have $700 left over for the substance abuse issue of your choice!

Matt

 

The port and polish is where the gains are made - simply bolting on the JCW head (nothing more than cleaned up castings) is a big waste of money. You can simply port and polish a STOCK head for a much better bang for you buck.