Ported and polished Head with Cams

[TiPerformance]

Does anyone have their cylinder head ported and polished? I am looking into aquiring a spare cylinder head to have ported and polished.

I have aquired several cam specs so I am going to talk to the local machine shop to see if my cams can be re-ground and which of my specs will work best.

I am hoping to pick up a complete spare cylinder head for around $250 so I can start this project. That way I can have the cams ground and the head all done so I can still drive the car.

Does anyone know what the stock BMW cams are made of? I am hoping that they are ground from a solid piece of metal and not the Press on type lobes.

As for the porting and polishing goes, I am going to probably gasket match and then have some of the combustion chamber also ported, but just mildly. I am going to try to have a guy that I know port the intake and exhaust ports with a CNC mill by programming in the gasket as the template and then hand polish everything.

The only thing that I am concerned about is proper tuning after everything is done. Hopefully I can adjust everything without having to have the computer reprogrammed. I am hoping that I can use a AFPR to get the air fuel ratio in tune and the that computer doesn't flip out.

I was looking into getting an exhaust and intake and maybe a shark injector, but that was going to cost me about $800+ where I figure I can do this for around the same price and produce better gains.

[ZeroG]

Originally Posted by TiPerformance

Does anyone have their cylinder head ported and polished? I am looking into aquiring a spare cylinder head to have ported and polished.

I have aquired several cam specs so I am going to talk to the local machine shop to see if my cams can be re-ground and which of my specs will work best.

I am hoping to pick up a complete spare cylinder head for around $250 so I can start this project. That way I can have the cams ground and the head all done so I can still drive the car.

Does anyone know what the stock BMW cams are made of? I am hoping that they are ground from a solid piece of metal and not the Press on type lobes.

As for the porting and polishing goes, I am going to probably gasket match and then have some of the combustion chamber also ported, but just mildly. I am going to try to have a guy that I know port the intake and exhaust ports with a CNC mill by programming in the gasket as the template and then hand polish everything.

The only thing that I am concerned about is proper tuning after everything is done. Hopefully I can adjust everything without having to have the computer reprogrammed. I am hoping that I can use a AFPR to get the air fuel ratio in tune and the that computer doesn't flip out.

I was looking into getting an exhaust and intake and maybe a shark injector, but that was going to cost me about $800+ where I figure I can do this for around the same price and produce better gains.

I have my M42 cylinder head ported and polished. I also have some pretty wicked cams. 272 dur. 10.5 lift and I am still using a hydrolic lifter. The cam fit but man was it tight. As for AFR's after you have all this work done. To be honest big injectors and a custom chip is the best way to go if you don't want Stand Alone. I spend a fortune rigging it, and finally got a pretty good running car. I use a AFPR and a split second Mass Conversion with the ARC II to control Duty cycle. The idle is OK, not as good as I would like, but I can live with it. My car is also FI so maybe my requirements are a little different. It took me a week to tuning everything and make it running money. I can get about 11.0 WOT.

-Chad

[TiPerformance]

Thanks for the Info. I am not really looking to go with forced induction at this particular moment, but it may be a possibility in the future. I take it that your cams are from BmpDesign?

As for my cams I am probably looking at a stock cam regrind, so my duration will stay around stock it will be around 244 degrees, but my valve lift will be about 10.23.

The head will pretty much be gasket matched and then polished, I am still debating if I should do anything in the combustion chamber.

I am also going to see if I can port out the intake manifold any.


I am hoping that if I stay with a near stock cam duration that I will eliminate any problems that I have with the computer and that it will be similar to adding a supercharger that isn't producing very much boost. This way I can tune it with a AFPR. Only time will tell.

Is this really a rare thing to do on this engine or am I just having trouble finding people like ZeroG who have done something similar to this?

[ZeroG]

Originally Posted by TiPerformance

Thanks for the Info. I am not really looking to go with forced induction at this particular moment, but it may be a possibility in the future. I take it that your cams are from BmpDesign?

As for my cams I am probably looking at a stock cam regrind, so my duration will stay around stock it will be around 244 degrees, but my valve lift will be about 10.23.

The head will pretty much be gasket matched and then polished, I am still debating if I should do anything in the combustion chamber.

I am also going to see if I can port out the intake manifold any.


I am hoping that if I stay with a near stock cam duration that I will eliminate any problems that I have with the computer and that it will be similar to adding a supercharger that isn't producing very much boost. This way I can tune it with a AFPR. Only time will tell.

Is this really a rare thing to do on this engine or am I just having trouble finding people like ZeroG who have done something similar to this?

Yes, I got the Cams from BMP. I don't know how much they are charging to reground your stock ones, but if you are or know anyone that is a BMWCCA clubracer they will give you a discount. Email me, and I can send you picture of my head before an after, I fully documented my whole project.

zerog5@juno.com

-Chad

[TiPerformance]

I found a head with cams and valves today for $250 shipped, not a bad deal but I am waiting to hear from one other place.
I am also going to expierment with intake manifolds, one is going to be a ported stock M44 manifold and the other is a 1 piece manifold from a 90's 318is. Not sure if the 1 piece manifold will work, but it is worth a shot.

I was quoted around $250 to have the cams reground



Estimated cost will be around $900- $1200 all said and done and I will have alot of parts to resell. (can't use them all)

I plan on having the car dynoed before and after with A/F and EGT reading taken. And I will post the results. Hopefully I will have everything done by December and I can install everything by the 1st of the year.

[GDB]

Sounds good. I finally heard from bimmerperformance and they want $462 per cam, so I'm more than happy to let them keep their cams. Good luck with your car.

[TiPerformance]

Originally Posted by GDB

Sounds good. I finally heard from bimmerperformance and they want $462 per cam, so I'm more than happy to let them keep their cams. Good luck with your car.

Yeah they can keep em for that, plus I don't know if I would trust them or not since they don't give a phone # and don't answer E-mail in a timely fashion.

This is going to be a true learning expierence.