I am interested in attempting to port a head for the 2200 SFI in my '99 Cavalier coupe. I will probably buy a junkyard head to port in case I screw it up, and then swap it over later. I do have access to a full porting room, a Sunnen VGS-20 head and seat machine and SuperFlow SF-600 flow bench. I do have several questions about this process.
A) Are there any specific areas that I should touch up and/or avoid?
B) Will porting require me to retune the computer, either to avoid hurting the motor or to feel any power?
C) Are there any commonly available oversized valves that don't cost a fortune or better rocker arms?
D) Is it even worth my time and money?
Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!
I'm sure the LN2 gods will chime in, but I can definitely say it's worth the time/money; especially if you have supporting mods like an intake, exhaust, etc. Any provisions to port the plastic intake manifold at all?
"In Oldskool we trust"
im interested in this as well. come on ln2 gods..... i think you can only oversize the valve 1mm. heard its really not worth the trouble. i want to know where to port and where not to port...
I would suggest unless you know what your doing just poney up the $$$ and pay to get it done. I have access to a torch and a welder but you wont catch me trying to build a tube frame chasis... lol
A) Are there any specific areas that I should touch up and/or avoid?
Your basically looking to smooth out the intake and exhaust chambers. The smoother the chamber the better the airflows.
B) Will porting require me to retune the computer, either to avoid hurting the motor or to feel any power?
Not required. I ran a fully built 2200 for a year (about 7,000 miles) with ZERO tune. BUT, to take advantage of your port work and better combustion, flow, IAT you will want to tune it
C) Are there any commonly available oversized valves that don't cost a fortune or better rocker arms?
Your going to have atleast a couple hundred. I paid like $300 - Valves, $280 - 1.6 aluminum roller rockers, $120 - valve cover spacer ( needed for rocker arm upgrade), $200 - spriings, plus you will also need head bolts and a head gasket.
D) Is it even worth my time and money?
Yes, it is worth the money...but, let's be honest to play you have to pay. The 2200 is not a cheap motor. I have over $4,000 invested in internals in mine.
You dont want to shave down the vane in the exhaust ports, Reduce the profile of it a bit, But leave it in there. It helps with scavenging.
Who/Where is a good place to send my head for port and polishing?
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NCR-SCCA
Mike wrote:You dont want to shave down the vane in the exhaust ports, Reduce the profile of it a bit, But leave it in there. It helps with scavenging.
Actually, because of the exhaust-port's odd floor shape, it's there to deter reversion... which would dilute your incoming intake charge during cam overlap.
Just shape it carefully so the spent gases flow over & around it easily, while leaving as much height as possible on the port-outlet side of it so it can still do it's job.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
Just get a port and polish kit and do it yourself, it isn't hard, plus you will learn something new. If you need a professional job then take it somewhere because if you grind too deep you might hit a water jacket or something. I did a set of heads and basically what I did was clean up the castings and then gasket match the heads. You lay the gaskets on the heads and then take a marker or something similiar and draw around the inside of the gasket. Then you use what you have marked to match the opening with the gasket and then smooth out the transition. Don't go crazy on the intake because sometimes the rough surface is meant to be there to cause turbulence with the air coming thru. On the exhaust after you match it you just use the polishing wheels to shine it up. Unless you are looking to squeeze every last horsepower out of your engine just gasket match it and you'll be set otherwise pay the big bucks and pay someone with a flowbench and all that. I had no problems doing my engine and I'm sure you won't either, just take your time and read up about your heads and make sure there aren't some thin areas where you might hit a water jacket or something and you'll be set and proud you did it yourself.
Here is a link to the instructions to one of the kits, read them and see if you want to tackle the job or not. If interested find some more detailed instructions and then go ahead and do your heads. You'll be proud of yourself when you are done and feel like a rocket scientist for being able to do one of those port and polish jobs right in your own garage.
http://www.eastwood.com/images/pdf/46056Q%20Porting%20Kit.pdf
K i have to ask... Where did you get the rocker arms!?!? Are they 1:5 or 1:6??
They look like the crane cam gold roller rockers for the 350 sb i believe and they are 1.6. I got my head port and polished and got 1mm oversize valves and you can tell a big difference you dont have to get it tuned but you might be able to get a few extra horses out of it if you do. im going to find that fact out for sure proply in february when i go to get mine retuned.
Man, QWK! I know the factory ports on the later head are small (1-3/8") but now with yours... What do they measure now? I bet you hafta go with something like an Al's Header (1-7/8") to match-up with it!
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
Has anyone measured how our head flows? Just wondering about the numbers. Nice work there, Ryan. Who did your polishing/porting?
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NCR-SCCA
Chelotus Racer wrote:Has anyone measured how our head flows? Just wondering about the numbers. Nice work there, Ryan. Who did your polishing/porting?
I have the numbers somewhere, but would hve to look for them..... As far as who did the work, my buddy Rob Stidem did. He used to own his own speed shop, but now works for a well known circle track engine builder here in STL. He is the best around here, and is always swampped.... He has done a buttload of Eco heads for me.....
P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq
QWK LN2 (P&P Tuning) wrote:Chelotus Racer wrote:Has anyone measured how our head flows? Just wondering about the numbers. Nice work there, Ryan. Who did your polishing/porting?
I have the numbers somewhere, but would hve to look for them..... As far as who did the work, my buddy Rob Stidem did. He used to own his own speed shop, but now works for a well known circle track engine builder here in STL. He is the best around here, and is always swampped.... He has done a buttload of Eco heads for me.....
any luck with those papers.
I am looking for struts for my newly aquired Eibach pro-kit performance coils, If anybody has some?
Culinary Graffiti wrote:QWK LN2 (P&P Tuning) wrote:Chelotus Racer wrote:Has anyone measured how our head flows? Just wondering about the numbers. Nice work there, Ryan. Who did your polishing/porting?
I have the numbers somewhere, but would hve to look for them..... As far as who did the work, my buddy Rob Stidem did. He used to own his own speed shop, but now works for a well known circle track engine builder here in STL. He is the best around here, and is always swampped.... He has done a buttload of Eco heads for me.....
any luck with those papers.
Honestly, I have not looked... They are somewhere at my house filed away. I really don't even go to my house except to get the mail. When We move everything out (sometime this summer/house is unsafe to live in), I will post up...
P&P Tuning
420.5whp / 359.8wtq
Hey Ryan if you get a chance down the road could you give me some tips on tuning for a ported head cam and rocker swap on my 2000 ln2 or even shoot me some numbers on what you would charge me to tune it honestly I'd appreciate any help as I'm doing the build on spare parts to finnish up when I have the money lol ln2s ain't cheap and my baby is getting the best parts available.
Mike wrote:You dont want to shave down the vane in the exhaust ports, Reduce the profile of it a bit, But leave it in there. It helps with scavenging.
That's the older 2.2 head. The 2200 doesn't have anything in the exhaust ports. At least the one I chopped up to measure thicknesses back in the day didn't have them.
Arrival Blue 04 LS Sport
Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said
what EMS do u guys use for tuning the ln2's?
mike
i make neons and j-bodys go fast
