well, this is my first time to the 928 forum so Hello everybody. I bought myself a 85 928S manual for my 17th b-day. "alotta saving" I bought her with all the intakes from the 5-8 cly bank bent. The PO only removed one head when I bought it so i ended up pulling the other one while still in the car and just pulling the short block when i had the time. I took both the heads to machine shop and they ended up scoring the bottom side of one with a wire brush. "they said it came in like that" and basicly threw a wrench in my whole project let alone my budget. Anyways Its been about about 4 months since then, so i've been saving up for my machine bills. Basicly my budget is $1,500 "I do have my head gasket set, and everything but the heads ready" I've been considering some euro heads, or Maybe S4 heads and cams "i'm not sure if they are gonna work out though"

What do you guys think about which heads i should with? Or if any of you guys had swap in a set of euro's; any tips?





Levi

 

Levi,

What you don't have that sorted out YET?

Best option for a US 85 is to stay with the same head (US 85/86). Euro S heads work, and the combination of a US 85/86 block with Euro S heads is VERY popular, but it requires using the whole Euro S intake system and is only usually done when there is some external advantage to looking like the earlier 16v motor.

32v vs 16v isn't a simple comparison, lots of plus and minus, with a theoretical 5% flow advantage to the 32v, and lower parts costs on the 16v due to half the number of moving parts of a 32v.

OTOH stock vs modified is generally a no brainer, stock is a cheaper and safer route, so I would be putting 32v heads back on, but I might also be improving them with larger valves etc. since I am not that focused on cheap or safe.

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Last time we talked, you were looking for a bare set of 85/86 32v heads, and I was rushing through my old parts to see what I had prior to leaving for CES in Las Vegas. I made it to the bottom of one pile, but what I found were a set of assembled heads, and ran out of time before my trip.

My wife broke her arm while we were in Las Vegas, and its been too chaotic since then for me dig back into the other piles, but we returned from a business trip to London yesterday, and I expect to be back into my 928 stuff this week.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure bare heads are a good way for you to go, as its generally best to keep lifters in the original locations and with the original cams, or replace all of the lifters with new ones. For this and other reasons I don't usually disassemble my 32v heads, and send them as unit to the head guys to do the valves etc.

With all the trouble you have had locally, maybe a way to proceed would be for me to have the shop I trust here in SoCal go over one of the sets of heads I have so they would be 100% ready to install? It won't be the cheapest option, but I can't see putting on a set of used heads without disassembly and checking, cleaning lifter and replacing guides.

 

At a $1500 budget you're covered for getting the heads squared away and putting it together. Take them to a reputable shop, get a full valve job including replacing the bent ones and having the heads surfaced. A gasket kit is ~$500 and just the head gaskets is around $170. Figure $500 to $800 for machine work. There's room for more parts and labor inside the $1500 and holding something in reserve would be smart.

I know you'd like to mod the engine for more power. We all do. (Ok, maybe no. There are wusses everywhere.) Get what you have running in top shape. Porken's chips look to be a good addition and those can be done after getting the car together and running at 100%.

Also, what kind of shop uses a wire brush? They should be put on a mill to take off a few thousandths.

 

Head gaskets are a lot less than $125 each. Send Roger a PM, that's where I got mine from.

 

Other than "scoring" the bottom of the head, did they do the other work? If so, have them surfaced/milled and put them back on the car. That shouldn't be too expensive. Even better, post a picture of what this damage looks like. If you have them milled, you'll also need to have the water bridge milled so it fits properly and doesn't leak or crack when you install it.

 

You are corrrrect. $85/ea was easy to find.

The head gasket set is $485 at Pelican.

The full set is $806! Amazing. A few years back I just got each thing separately that I really needed and saved a few bucks. Looks like I'll be doing that exercise next time around. It's the same set everywhere as only Reinz makes it.

 

Glen,

reread the origonal post. He has the gaskets.

I have a set of assembled 85/86 heads that I might be convinced to let go.

But they really could not have done enough damage to cause those heads to be destroyed with just a wirebrush.

 

haha I know, I know. It's been hard going in the garage lately. sorry hear about your wife though.

yeah, that damn machine shop is such a headache. The PO already had one head disassembled so i took the other one in and they tore it down gouged it and charged me $100... Now I have two bare heads that are f'ed up and 32 valves & springs. gotta love it.

I spent about two hours the other day going through the phone book for machine shops, but most of them have never done a set of 928 32V heads... I've been thinking about outsourcing the machine work and just assembling them with my dad. I'm gonna call acouple more shops get some estimates, see how much extra it takes to regrind the seats for the 39.5mm 968 intake valves. Interestingly the 968 valves are only $15 ea.


Ohh I was able to my HG set for $360 from autohaus.