Well, my engine is getting pulled this week. I had low compression on all my cylinders, mostly #4. Leakdown test was pointing to intake valves, but who knows. I ended up dropping her off at RS Motors yesterday, so I'll find out soon what's wrong. I'm hoping it's just the valves, but Ron also said the cylinders can get "ballooned" under some cases, although I've never been a typically power levels where that type of thing is common. If it's just the heads, I'm going to have the valves ported for better flow, along with a mild head porting. I don't want to lose any lowend torque. If the cylinders have ballooned, I'll get the block sleeved, and throw some upgraded pistons in for good measure. In any event, the basic bits (timing belt, water pump, etc) are getting replaced so she should be as good as new when I get her back. I'll also get the intake and exhaust all port matched to help with flow, do a TGV delete, and put a better CAI since my power goals are mid 300's (stock starts getting restrictive). I'm interested what other people think I should do while the engine is out? What's worth upgrading, or replacing?
Agreed, some nice cams would be a good idea. Still sounds good tho. Mid 300s will be easy with a little headwork and a decent turbo. May want to consider rods/pistons depending on what you're working with.
With good porting... you will gain low end AND high end. If you've seen the JDM heads, they are much bigger and they still ride fine.
If I did cams, I'd also be looking at larger valves (at least intake), stiffer springs, etc. 300s seem quite high for a daily driver though, maybe mid 200s. However, I don't want to put that much into the heads as the gains aren't that much (value wise). I'd rather put that money into my suspension setup or sound system My target is lowend and midrange power, for daily driving and auto-x/rally-x. Also, since I have a EWG, I'm looking at getting a lower A/R turbo, probably a Super 50 trim T04E/T3 with a .48 A/R from Slowboy. That should boost lower than my 18g I have now, and flow a little better too. Seems like a sweet turbo for EWG. I expecting the porting to help everywhere, especially if they can get the valves flowing better. I havent' looked into the different heads (JDM vs US), would be interested in seeing what would provide better lowend while keepiing good flow through the RPM range.
Well, they've found the main cause of my problems... it turns out timing is messed up. I'm guessing the tensioner is messed up, but they hadn't gotten quite that far when they called me. I wasn't thinking about the timing belt because it not that old yet, and I have never heard of anyone having problems like this (that I could find). Also, it seemed like the problem got slowly worse, and wasn't one of those things where all of a sudden it started running really bad... like a omg what just happened kind of situation. I could never pinpoint moments it got worse. So they will be checking the timing belt and tensioner, as well as any valve damage (as the intake and exhaust valves can interfere with each other).
Since when? The off-boost drivability of my 22T heads was worlds above any 25D, 205, or 257 heads. With aggressive camshafts.
