Valve porting - Freeflow head?

Cavey1638

Member
Hi All,

Just a thought, has anyone had a 3.0L E85 ported/free flow head done and what are the expected power gains? I love the car and it makes me smile every day. Is having the head done likely to bring any noticeable gains to performance?

I have a 2004 3.0L E85 but would like a bit more grunt.

Regards

Cavey
 
Head work alone will achieve very little unless the port design is constrictive, not likely on this engine, plus you have to factor in any increase in airflow into the engine will require a matching increase in fuelling, so remapping would be required to make any usefull gains from the increased air flow.

A combination of increased valve lift/duration with different cams, increased compression ratio, a modified head and a matched exhaust will see improvements if you are prepared to reduce torque lower down and increase the RPM band, because that's pretty much the only way you can improve the output of a normally aspirated engine, but then you would have to look at changing gear ratio's to match the different torque band.

You often read of an extra 15bhp etc, but when your starting with 230bhp that's hardly noticeable for a lot of cash.

Two problems with this car is it's over geared and has a flywheel like a manhole cover, going to a lightweight solid flywheel and reducing the overall diff ratio will improve the throttle response and give a better speed range to the ratio's, the 3.46 diff is probably as low as you can go on a road car and still have a usable first gear, my E30 325I sport sprint car used a 3.67 diff with a direct top 5 speed box from a 323I, coupled with a 7500rpm limit and 220bhp it was a quick car in it's class.

But, the costs do not add up for day to day use, it would be cheaper to just buy a Z4M.
 
Artful-Bodger said:
Head work alone will achieve very little unless the port design is constrictive, not likely on this engine, plus you have to factor in any increase in airflow into the engine will require a matching increase in fuelling, so remapping would be required to make any usefull gains from the increased air flow.

A combination of increased valve lift/duration with different cams, increased compression ratio, a modified head and a matched exhaust will see improvements if you are prepared to reduce torque lower down and increase the RPM band, because that's pretty much the only way you can improve the output of a normally aspirated engine, but then you would have to look at changing gear ratio's to match the different torque band.

You often read of an extra 15bhp etc, but when your starting with 230bhp that's hardly noticeable for a lot of cash.

Two problems with this car is it's over geared and has a flywheel like a manhole cover, going to a lightweight solid flywheel and reducing the overall diff ratio will improve the throttle response and give a better speed range to the ratio's, the 3.46 diff is probably as low as you can go on a road car and still have a usable first gear, my E30 325I sport sprint car used a 3.67 diff with a direct top 5 speed box from a 323I, coupled with a 7500rpm limit and 220bhp it was a quick car in it's class.

But, the costs do not add up for day to day use, it would be cheaper to just buy a Z4M.

Everything this man says is true , and well researched , head porting is old school tuning , gearing and flywheel weights will make more difference .
Ultimately if you want to go quicker take some instruction on a track from a pro , it's the best money you'll ever spend on a car , and gives the best results :thumbsup:
 
Dear All,

Thanks for the replies. I previously had a Stage III S60 T5 so have some knowledge but not with the BMW engines. In the back of my mind I sort of knew this would be diminishing returns to get more performance. Yes in reality I wish I had bought a Z4M. I have been lucky in a professional capacity to have had training including skid pan front/rear wheel drive etc.

I love the handling of the Z4 I have. I agree once we start with high lift cams, larger injectors, fuel pump , remap etc then yes not a hope in hell.

Oh well best start saving up.

Thanks again

Cavey
 
You can get a bolt on supercharger kit for your engine if you want more power that is the way to go, should be able to hit 300hp easily but they ain't cheap although possibly cheaper than an m
 
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