Exhaust manifold gaskets and porting

[arnold]

I just did a full porting on the intake and exhoust and manifolds of my 1.6 td,the new metal/fibre exhaust gaskets for the manifold to head just came in and will have to cut quite a lot of material to make them not disturb the flow.

Now these gaskets are fibre with a metal layer around it,when i do the gasket matching  the inner metal ring will be cut completly exposing the fibre to the exhoust gasses,will this hold ?

Seems a lot of guys do porting here,its very fun to do but i will be installing a t3 instead of my K14 together with all the porting so i cant be objective,dous it really makes a noticable difference on a TD ?

[Vincent Waldon]

dous it really makes a noticable difference on a TD ?

You may be asking about the porting or the T3... can't tell for sure.  If you're asking about the T3...having driven both, I think what you will mostly notice, unfortunately, is more lag.  The good news it that given enough fueling you'll also notice more butt-dyno "kick in the pants" when the boost does kick in, and the T3 will not run out of steam at upper RPMs as soon as a K14 might.

Just my opinion, but for average driving conditions (city, highway passing etc) the smaller K14 is actually a more drivable match for a 1.6l engine than it's bigger T3 cousin.

Of course, if you're going for straight "grunt"... T3 it is baby!!

Again, just my opinion.  


Vince

[Baron VonZeppelin]

I just did a full porting on the intake and exhoust and manifolds of my 1.6 td,the new metal/fibre exhaust gaskets for the manifold to head just came in and will have to cut quite a lot of material to make them not disturb the flow.

Now these gaskets are fibre with a metal layer around it,when i do the gasket matching  the inner metal ring will be cut completly exposing the fibre to the exhoust gasses,will this hold ?

In a perfect world, you were supposed to have had the new gaskets in hand FIRST.
Then gasket match the head ports and manifold ports to the gasket openings - and port/blend from there.

Without actual flowbench testing - can't say what the gasket restriction would equal, versus no gasket restriction.

Leaving some or all of the inner metal fire ring material will probably result in a longer lasting gasket/seal property. The "restriction" will just result in a larger boundary layer inside the ports - which isn't a terrible thing since they will have a boundary/tension layer regardless.

Removing all the metal fire ring from the gasket will result in a shorter lifespan of the gasket and its sealing properties. But will give full performance benefits of the hogging out you did on all the ports.

Gasketmatching - porting - polishing is beneficial on any combustion engine. But i'm not aware of any closed test on a dyno illustrating the gains of only those mods versus Stock - on a 1.6TD.

Since you have already gone that distance - i would cut the gasket to fit your modifications. Just use anti-sieze compound on all fasteners and brass nuts so you can get things apart easier when its time to re-do the gaskets eventually.

[arnold]

dous it really makes a noticable difference on a TD ?

You may be asking about the porting or the T3... can't tell for sure.  If you're asking about the T3...having driven both, I think what you will mostly notice, unfortunately, is more lag.  The good news it that given enough fueling you'll also notice more butt-dyno "kick in the pants" when the boost does kick in, and the T3 will not run out of steam at upper RPMs as soon as a K14 might.

Just my opinion, but for average driving conditions (city, highway passing etc) the smaller K14 is actually a more drivable match for a 1.6l engine than it's bigger T3 cousin.

Of course, if you're going for straight "grunt"... T3 it is baby!!

Again, just my opinion.  


Vince

The porting...i know on a NA it can make a huge difference if done correctly,i'd love to see someone do crazy porting on a otherwise stock TD engine,off course with dyno before and after so we can see some numbers.

Now for the T3/k14,i will have the first test drive tomorrow,from what i read here the lag seems huge compared to a k14.
The K14 in combination with a full open exhaust and enough fuel gave me instant boost but overspools waay to fast if you want more then 18 psi,i really think it's to small for my needs.

Now with the porting and a better flowing intercooler,shorter piping i hope to reduce the lag of the T3 becouse i do mostly city driving.IF it's to laggy i'll remove the intercooler or find me a good vnt

[arnold]

I just did a full porting on the intake and exhoust and manifolds of my 1.6 td,the new metal/fibre exhaust gaskets for the manifold to head just came in and will have to cut quite a lot of material to make them not disturb the flow.

Now these gaskets are fibre with a metal layer around it,when i do the gasket matching  the inner metal ring will be cut completly exposing the fibre to the exhoust gasses,will this hold ?

In a perfect world, you were supposed to have had the new gaskets in hand FIRST.
Then gasket match the head ports and manifold ports to the gasket openings - and port/blend from there.

Without actual flowbench testing - can't say what the gasket restriction would equal, versus no gasket restriction.

Leaving some or all of the inner metal fire ring material will probably result in a longer lasting gasket/seal property. The "restriction" will just result in a larger boundary layer inside the ports - which isn't a terrible thing since they will have a boundary/tension layer regardless.

Removing all the metal fire ring from the gasket will result in a shorter lifespan of the gasket and its sealing properties. But will give full performance benefits of the hogging out you did on all the ports.

Gasketmatching - porting - polishing is beneficial on any combustion engine. But i'm not aware of any closed test on a dyno illustrating the gains of only those mods versus Stock - on a 1.6TD.

Since you have already gone that distance - i would cut the gasket to fit your modifications. Just use anti-sieze compound on all fasteners and brass nuts so you can get things apart easier when its time to re-do the gaskets eventually.

I would like to say the gaskets are no ori vw gaskets,they fit good but even on the stock manifold or head they create a restriction,i did cut them to match the port and manifold perfectly altough this made me cut the whole fire ring out.

This is the intake with a stock gasket,the gasket fits perfect with the head intake,i removed A LOT to just make this fit,then started the porting,
I start to believe even with a turbo this will allow a 100% better flow,and make myself believe i didn't spend a day in aluminium dust for nothing,altough i really think this whole intake design sucks...

[Rabbit on Roids]

you talk about porting the exhaust side, and the port being bigger than the gasket. then you post a picture of a stock intake with a gasket laying over the port? what gives?

[arnold]

you talk about porting the exhaust side, and the port being bigger than the gasket. then you post a picture of a stock intake with a gasket laying over the port? what gives?

yes i cut the exhaust side gaskets to match the ports ater reading barron's post,i did ask about the possible gains on porting in general on a turbo diesel engine and the picture shows that on the intake there are serious manufacturer flaws.

Do you think on a stock td porting and gasket matching would improve performance ?

[theman53]

it will to some degree raise performance. The real gains are in the bowl and radius up to the valve head.

For what it is worth...I have been kicking around an idea in my head. I think that porting the head on the exhaust side is great. On the manifold I think it is bad on a turbo. Like I said "me thinking" here so it may not be accurate, but I would think that the smallest exhaust manifold runner, as short as possible, but still handle the flow would be best. Smoothing up would be great but I think that making the exhaust manifold bigger in any way pre turbo would be bad for spool. After turbo I think the bigger the better...Just a thought