Head porting

[handedyourhat]

Not sure if anyone has come across this yet but I was very undecided in which exhaust manifold gasket to use, upon laying the small individual exhaust manifold gaskets on the head that I got in my gasket kit I noticed that they dont fit very well. There must have been about 3/16" overhanging in the exhaust stream. :shock: , and when I put them on the exhaust manifold they really dont fit, they are too small for the exhaust manifold ports. so before even scribing the marks on the head to remove the accessive  aluminum material I decided not to use the individual gaskets but to actually use a exhaust manifold steel gasket from a 95 Golf 8V it fits so much better on the exhaust manifold that I was quite surprized

Any thoughts ...

Dan

[Smokey Eddy]

I'm building an aaz head with 1.6td parts.
The individual gaskets worked ok for me. I removed a very small amount of material from the head and manifold.
Are you sure they aren't upside down? I'm sure you've checked that but they do go on 1 specific way. the wrong way will make them seem really out to lunch.


Other than that, i dunno. The individual gaskets on my 1.6td head fitted fine..?

On the topic of porting, i just finished porting my aaz head, alh intake and 1.6td exhaust manifold today! yay! It's not smooth as glass but it's darn better than with those casting marks! woohoo

[handedyourhat]

Hey Ed, they fit the head fine I would have to remove a small amount of material (aluminum) but when I placed them on the exhaust manifold the gaskets are making the port on the manifold smaller... I noticed that the VW 8V exhaust gasket fits way better (almost an exact mach to the port size )  

I just sent my TD pump to GILES on friday :twisted: gonna be a merry christmas present to me !!!    

Dan

[handedyourhat]

O.k. I found the problem , the gaskets are offshore garbage, they are not euro gaskets...

[zukgod1]

Yup that will do it.

[jtanguay]

the casting marks on the inside are a good place for the dreaded EGR crap... smoothing it out is a very good idea, but quite time consuming.

i wonder if it really does make much of a difference power wise on a turbo motor... i know that N/A gains are there to be had, but with a turbo would it be negligable?

[theman53]

I talked over and over to my machinist and he said that huge gains are to be had with a port job on a TD. He said mine should flow almost double over stock on the flow bench, which should equate to more tunning power. From what he told me and what I understand you are looking for flow, but you're also looking for velocity.
He also said to watch the casting marks around where VW put the head together...they tend to leak coolant if you go too far.

[Smokey Eddy]

i smoothed the valve guides where the air/exhaust would pass by them. That is a common place for backflow/obstruction.
Just smooth sharp edges and it will help.

[handedyourhat]

Hey Ed, ya I smoothed out my ports with a couple of different little flapper sander wheels, what a awesome job that those did, gasket matched and just made all the parts fit togeather so much better than factory . the air has got to flow sooooo much better with a smooth surface compared to a rough casting surface ....I even matched the turbo exhaust flandge to the exhaust manifold flange, I must have removed 3/16" off one side of the hole in the manifold... I think I might be a little obsessive (LOL) :roll: I love workin on Diesel engines ...

[Smokey Eddy]

I need to do the turbo but i don't have any bits that will do cast iron. Did you use carbide bits?

[lord_verminaard]

I've ported an iron head once and a couple of iron manifolds, a coarse stone actually works quite well.  I then go to a finer stone, then a flapper wheel, then a cross-buff, if I want it really smooth.

Brendan

[Smokey Eddy]

Ahhh
the iron won't gum up a stone like allum does!