What mods will benefit a street head?

[steel_3d]

I'm getting my head surfaced cause I blew a head gasket (shitty rebuild done before I bought the car), so I'm wondering what other work to do while the head's out anyway. I want to end up with a fun street motor that'll spool a decent sized turbo quick, leaning towards a stroker, but I haven't decided if I wanna do it all now. My goal is a streetable, fun 400whp, 500 max.

Which of these mods should I do since my head is out anyway?

-3 angle valve job, regrind valves, lapping, basically a full rebuild
-1mm oversize valves
-hks 264/272 cams
-adjustable cam gears
-springs

I'm not planning on revving higher than 7500, so the stock springs should be fine. Just wondering if I need the extra safety margin from floating valves once the head's been milled too, plus higher lift cams. The head might've been milled before already, not sure.

What head gasket thickness would be best for copper (sce ics titan): .043, .050 or something else?

The reason I was thinking cam gears is again cam timing that might be off from a changed deck height. Also, I've heard of people improving spool by tweaking cam timing.

If none of these will help with drivability considerably, just top end, then I'll save my money, get the 60 dollar resurfacing done, and spend the money on the bottom end.

Thanks

 

[BrokenTsi]

The valves, cam gears, and springs are absolutely not necessary with your setup. You benefit most from the cams. 3-angle valve job is just your avg valve job. And unless your o-ringing your setup, i wouldnt use a copper SCE head gasket.

 

[steel_3d]

The ics titan has an integral steel "o-ring". I'll have a mirror finish on the head, that should be fine. I hope the block will be smooth enough without decking. They advertise "no machining required" so I'll give it a shot. What thickness do you guys suggest for my situation?

So would you do for the rebuild I stated for 320, or just stick with the resurfacing for 60? Will a 5-angle help me any, or none of these things have any effect in the mid-range?

Again, I want this car to be fun to toss around and autocross course, not be a total pig. If there's anything I can do that will help that, I'll do it now.

So 1mm over valves or cam gears won't do anything for spool or mid-range? I don't need to worry about cam timing or valve-piston clearance?

 

[kelvinb]

i also was looking to put in 1mm oversized valves, but do i need new valve seats?

 

[dsm-onster]

So 1mm over valves or cam gears won't do anything for spool or mid-range? I don't need to worry about cam timing or valve-piston clearance?

Yes, as stated in other threads, oversized valves won't help you in the mid range but mostly up top with ALOT of flow from a really big turbo. For the street, I doubt you'd be concerned with flow at 7000+ rpms since you saind that you want to maintain the stock rev limit.

Resurface, hks 264/272 cams, and put her back together...

I suggest looking at FP cams as they are proven to be competitive to HKS and are far cheaper. Then you can get some better springs and rev as high as you want, if you so chose.

 

[dsm-onster]

i also was looking to put in 1mm oversized valves, but do i need new valve seats?

Your valve seats need to be cut to accomidate the larger valve or it will sit out from the combustion chamber surface distorting your valve train geometry, and you'll get no more flow than with stock valves because the hole in which the valve sits is no bigger.

 

[BrokenTsi]

To even get the full benefit of oversized valves, you would need ALOT of precise port work on the head, large cams, a sheetmetal intake manifold, and a huge turbo. Otherwise, you will be hurting performance. Unless you plan on breaking records, its not necessary.

I used a stock head, hks 272's and a 50 trim last season. I rev to 7500+ rpms all day long. Never had a problem.

 

[steel_3d]

Ok, the picture's clearing up.
I'm thinking of going with a .050" gasket to be on the safe side, since I don't know how much the head and block have been machined already (I know they've been "rebuilt" at least once). This won't affect anything noticeably, right?

 

[BrokenTsi]

You'll be fine. Whatever head gasket you use is your preference i suppose, I personally used an OEM composite gasket (with copper spray) with ARP head studs. It held 32psi on my 60-1 on my stock engine just fine. But it's up to you.