Dan87951

Not to long ago the head gasket on my 87 Turbo blew. I now have the cylinder head off the car and was going to send it off to Lindsey for a basic level 1 rebuild with the steam kit. In the future I plan on adding a bigger turbocharger something that will lay down 350-375rwhp in the near future and was thinking it might be in my best interested to go with there level 2 head? The price they want for the level 2 is another $600 but it flows 28% more air. If I do the level 2, will the stock intake manifold be my bottle neck now? I don't want to waste money on a level 2 if I won't see any gains because I'm still using the stock intake manifold. If thats the case I will stick with the original plan of doing a level 1. Any recommendation or experiences would be great.

xsboost90

not sure but special tool was laying down like 543hp w/ the stock intake...

AznDrgn

I don't know either but you can always get the Lindsey intake too or else send the stock one out and get it extrude honed.

jgporsche

his intake is extrude honed.

billthe3

I'm debating on doing this as well, so any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

The stage 2 was going to be a little too expensive for me, so I was thinking the stage 1 with o-rings and their exhaust port work that speeds up the exhaust gases.

Dan87951

doesn't look like many people use there head service? Can anyone recommend someone else?

RMills944

Have you looked to Vitesse Racing yet?
http://vitesseracing.com/html/cylinder_head.html

kasturbo

I opted for the Lindsey stage 2. You will notice a differance, but not as big with the stock cam. I went with the web cam. The stock intake will be fine for now. It's there stage 3 head that would have problems with the stock intake. The intake is something you can do at a later time.

One thing I would recommend with either the stage 1 or 2 head is to upgrade the valve springs while your having the head rebuilt. The stock springs are only good up to 16psi. of boost.

Dan87951

No I haven't, but I can only imagine what his price on a head rebuild would be if there anything like his turbo's. He does great work I hear but man I just can't afford his stuff.

hosrom_951

ST intake was stock

It was not honed but port matched to cylinder head.

Ask him

Porschefile

Dan, you'll still see gains even with the restriction of the stock intake, TB, IC/pipes, stock cam, etc. It just won't be as substantial a gain with all of those stock components (especially with just a stock cam). Wow, I guess I didn't realize it but, LR's site states that their Stage 1 flows roughly ~186cfm @ 28" h20. In all honesty, those are some pretty crappy numbers but that's basically just a stock head with a valve job so that's to be expected. The stage 2 is listed as flowing ~232cfm @ 28" h20, which is a SUBSTANTIAL improvement. Even with all of the other stock components, that's a sizable enough increase in flow that you should definitely notice a worthwhile gain. Personally, I would opt for the stage 2 if you can afford it. It will make meeting your intended power level that much easier in the future.

Billthe3, honestly, I'm a bit skeptical about their "high velocity exhaust" option. I understand the reasoning and science behind it. I am not 100% sure exactly what they do to the exhaust port, but I am 99% sure that they are basically closing up the port diameter by adding a restriction such as welding up the bottom of the port several millimeters. It does work in most cases as forcing air through a smaller hole by default means increased air velocity. It's a tried and true method that's been around about as long as cylinder heads have. The thing is though, that's all well and good but at what expense to cfm? LR state that the stock exhaust port flows ~191cfm and with their high velocity option flows roughly ~185cfm. That's great but, sub 200cfm exhaust flow on a turbocharged vehicle really isn't all that great to begin with. Plenty of people get by just fine without porting the exhaust, but it makes me wonder if we're sacrificing a good amount of power by sticking with stock exhaust ports. IMO, I'd rather sacrifice a bit of spool (if that would even be the result) enlarging the ports a bit (removing the ceramic liner or porting an n/a head basically) and squeezing say 220-240cfm out of it. Turbochargers are exhaust driven of course so an increase in flow capacity/efficiency of the pre-turbine exhaust components without too significant a negative effect on airflow velocity is usually VERY beneficial. Oh well, more useless rambling from me. Sorry, I'm bored.

Porschefile

Not to be a jerk or anything but, that's kind of a misleading statement. A quick look at ST's 543hp dyno chart makes it readily apparent how restrictive that intake was back then (hp/tq already dropping by 5k rpm). I'd say it's far from ideal at that power level. Even at mid-range ~300-400whp levels there are still some improvements you can make to the stock manifold, or by building a custom one.

billthe3

Good info. Now to decide if I want to pony up the money for a stage 2... Or not do the exhaust port work... Damn decisions...

I just ups'd my head to them today, so I think I have till the 11th before they recieve it.

Porschefile

You could also just do a stock rebuild and that would certainly work just fine at your intended power level. Hell, plenty of people have pushed 350-400+whp even on completely stock heads, so it can definitely be done just fine. It might require a few psi more to make the same power compared to a modded head, different cam, etc etc however it will cost significantly less too!

billthe3

Good point. Simply not doing their exhaust port stuff would save me $175 or whatever it costs... I'm still thinking I want to o-ring it and do the stiffer springs incase I plan on doing higher boost levels at a later point. Are there any issues from running stiffer springs with stock rollers/cam when you aren't doing higher boost levels?

My current goal is somewhere around 275-300ish - I think I'd want to get to maybe 350 eventually, but I figure that'll take some more serious funding.