Travis - sflraver

I just picked these guys off the net because they listed prices. The 944 aluminum head is no different than any other head.

http://www.aluminumheads.com/Servers.html
It came out to $243.95
4cyl Valve grind - $69.95
Head resurface - $30
Valve guides - $8 ech
Valve seats - $10 ech

Just search localy for head rebuilders. Especially for a street car... they will work just fine.

Techno Duck

Like Travis said, the 944 cylinder head is nothing special. If they can do a Chevy head, they can do the 944's head.

82-T/A

I'd just like to add my 2 cents here...

With most cyl heads, there is a good deal of port maching / polishing that you can do which will considerably improve the car's all around performance. When you first take off the car, there is usually staining that takes place in the area around all of the ports where it's NOT covered by a gasket.

For example, on an exhaust port, the you might see about 1/8th of an inch (more or less) encircling around the outside of the port hole. This is area that was exposed to exhaust gasses, and that was NOT protected by an exhaust gasket.

Typically, a VERY easy way to properly port-match your ports is to grind THESE portions down.

Take a look at this image as an example. (see below)


This is an image I took of the middle section of an intake setup for a mid 80s Pontiac Multi-Port Fuel Injection system. You can see that in some places there is nearly 1/8ths of an inch of staining. Like I mentioned before, these are areas in the intake that are exposed to the exhaust (or in this case, intake air / EGR) which is causing a restriction. You want to grind this area down (smooth it out) with the idea being that you would create the LEAST resistance in the intake (and exhaust).

You would not BELIEVE how much this helps the motor. Not necessarily off idle (although it does help some), but in the mid and upper rpm.


I don't know what kind of quality control Porsche had back then, I'd guess that Porsche being what they are, would have closer tolerances than Pontiac, but you never know...

In any case, if you DO decide to port / polish, you'll want to do this BEFORE you take the cyl head to the machine shop to be magnafluxed / valve job done.


You probably don't NEED to buy a used cyl head, but you won't know until after you take the head off. Since you were never actually able to START the car, then it's probably safe to say that the damage isn't very significant.


Anyway, you can really pick up some power by doing this...






Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX-P74
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1984 Porsche 944
1981 Pontiac TransAm WS6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

apierce918

im gonna start tearing down, but was wondering, on valve guides and seats, on pelican, it shows them being 1st replacement? whats that mean? and im not seeing the seats on their website

knfeparty

Why can't somebody part out a LATE LSD car?

V2Rocket

By tear down I hope you mean "tear down the engine by removing the intake and camcovers so I can pull the cylinder head and inspect for damage and replace if necessary"

Anything else and I'll come to your house and do my duty as Emperor of CA and confiscate your vehicle.

apierce918

"tear down the engine by removing the intake and camcovers so I can pull the cylinder head and inspect for damage and replace if necessary"

thats where it stands for now

V2Rocket

Legoland951

I am not sure what the prices around your part of the country are but a non running 944 goes for $1000 or less here maybe more if you have some modified parts etc. Fix it up and you have a realistic chance to get what you are looking for. Buy a head for $100 and send it to a machine shop for $150 unless you bent less than 4 valves as these valves are expensive and you still have to pay machine shop to rebuild head afterwards.

82-t/a, 944 n/a cars get very minimal gains from port matching and polishing from everything I have seen so far. They built these engines to their limit for the time of production and needless to say, at much higher standards of Pontiac or any GM engines of early/mid 80s. The iron duck engines are pretty bulletproof but they run like lame ducks powerwise. A typical 350CI V8 engine of that era puts out as much as a 944 4 cylinder engine for that time period and thats the reason why so much more power can be gained from an American engine.

82-T/A

Hey!!! Why is it needless to say?!

Hah... yeah, I know... a Porsche is a Porsche. To be fair though, you get what you paid for. That picture is actually of a 2.8 V6/60, not the Iron Puke. The 80s were a really bad time for GM V8s... but to make myself feel better if I may, and redeem some credit to GM for their horrible LG4 carbed V8s of the late 70s and 80s... I'll make mention of the 1969 Olds 455 big block in my 81 TransAm that's putting 550+ foot pounds of torque to the ground.

Anyway, I'm sure you're correct about the tolerances, but while the cyl head is off the motor, you might as well clean it up. It's the only time you have to work on it, and might as well get the benefit. There isn't much effort you have to put into a PnP anyway...


Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX-P74
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1984 Porsche 944
1981 Pontiac TransAm WS6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

Legoland951

There was a guy selling a junkyard head in the LA craigslist a while back for $40 but I think the ad expired. He has been trying to sell that thing on and off for 3 months now so check every once in a while and you may find a cheap head there.

Todd, don't get me wrong as I like the TPI 5.7L engines and I prefer it much better than a 2.5L n/a 944 engine. My point is the 85 corvette costs about as much as the 944 at that time and the engine with 230hp is absolutely junk in terms of casting quality and tolerance standards so you can do a lot to them to extract power. However, even stock with poor quality, the v8 engine ran great and I got 25.2 mpg driving from L. A. to San Diego with that funky 4+3 speed manual transmission. That engine started to knock at 125k miles but it had something to do with me doing donuts at the skidpad for 45 seconds at redline back in the old days. I actually burned 25 percent of the crappy tires in one shot.

If I can find a 88+ fiero GT stick cheap, I would buy it.

apierce918

i got down to the head earlier today, just need to take the exaust apart for clearance before i pull the head, but i put a strait edge across the top of the springs, and they are even acrossed the board.

could it be possibly, since the belt wasnt seated, when it slipped it was loose enough to allow the cam gear to jump when the valves hit the piston and they arent bent?

i'm still pulling it regardless and the shop will check them for straightness even if they look like they are all seated properly, so we'll see. but maybe just a shed of hope to sleep on, cant touch it again til friday due to work and school though

Jerad

Andrew, I'm pretty sure I know this car very well. Did it spend the last couple years in Dayton and have service records from Farmer Automotive?

apierce918

for a couple years it was yes, i was later informed Micah, (one of the PO that kept most of the maintenance records i have) was a rennlist member, there was one owner between him (im assuming him) and he ran it down a bit, and i started bring it back some and am in the current snowball phase, lol

Jerad

Yep, that sure is Micah's old car. He's been on rennlist since the beginning but hasn't been on much the last couple years. Please let me know before you decide to part it, I'll take it off your hands for a fair price. I would have bought from him, but I wasn't in a position to buy at the time. Feel free to PM if you have any questions about its history when he had it.