Working the head on the AU I6- aiming for low 14s ;)

[StealthAu]

Originally Posted by jonbays

Stiddy I can agree 14's are easy for a MANUAL AU maybe but for an auto NO its a bit harder I can assure you.

I mightn't be the best tuner and I could have started with a lighter model than a fairmont wagon but I tried, spent good money etc and well low 15's are where its at.

with as high stall, i dont think it would be too hard to crack 14's

[stiddy]

I see where your coming from John, But a shift kitted auto with a good highstall, and diff gears, the auto will be faster and more consistant. I have a manual because in my opinion its alot more fun.
Fair enough you have a full optioned heavy wagon, your the exception, its not as easy for you.
Getting the times, these cars will become less and less of a comfortable daily driver.
Its all fun and games, its a challenge. But it comes down to sacrifice and whoever spends the bigger dollars.

[Stav]

Its all about truth. People selling products that work,tuners who can tune and workshops who deliver what they promise!! I have found great tuners and few great people along the way but I am doing most myself. .My car even with my 3.73 gears 2500 odd stall converter still feels much slower in first gear than a manual. To get an auto six in the 13's is harder.It will require more flkws to achieve. People say that getting into 14's is easy but it is not.

12 's will be with an undrivaeble car.


13's are there for whoever gets the right combo of parts not the most money spent.We are spending heaps because the performance shops simply havent offered repeatable power packages to do the job. In saying that without them the flame of desire would have not been as strong. Its up to me and others who are passionate about making it happen based on past knowledge.

OED ran his pb's dumping the clutch at high rpm ..a 2500 stall converter is highly unlikely to cut it.
One funny thing also..seat of the pants is a very good indicator of if your car is improving. If the car feels faster then it dam well is.

Stiddy who ran a 13.9? I heard some of JMM customer ran a 14.1 best in an auto.

[sprjenkins]

I agree with Stav that its the right combo of parts more than anything thats keeping us back. Jonbays has put me onto a Surecam grind that I wan't to give a try. Then we will see how we go.

The other thing is I was reading an Auto speed article, http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1792/article.html
where they tested then ported an EB and an AU head. Apparently the AU head will only flow to 225 kw. Now this could be a major problem holding people back.
Has anyone done an AU - EF XR6 conversion and if so what were the results?

My idea is to get the head ported, inrease the compression and run oversize valves. What I also wan't to know however is has anyone played around with/changed the manifold and what was the result?

[stiddy]

It was Shugg off the Fordmods, its a manual and he has an It's Performance stage 3ps motor (full rebuild), with a Haltech Interceptor. Made over 170rwkw on Cresent Motorsports dyno.

You will need higher than a 2500rpm stall to get these taxi's off the line quick.

[The Monty]

None of this would cut much ice if the porting cost was extreme, but Gilbert's charge only around AUD$350 for the sort of port job covered here. The 'before' and 'after' flowbench testing is another $80, and obviously stripping and reassembling the head is additional again. However, if the head is going to come off the engine and be reconditioned, then in this case having a port job done makes a lot of sense

Tell me if I am wrong, but is this not a good price, and a worth while mod? Would you see any gains over a dead stock head?

[sprjenkins]

I'd assume you would, If the head flows better you shouldn't go backwards. I was looking at changing heads anyway, so if its already out of the car then that would save on the stripping cost and I could get them to put the new cam in at the same time.

[LOWAU]

Since we are on this topic, does anyone know a good place in melb to get a head ported? I had figures of around 330-350 for port.

[stiddy]

Thats the part that gets people, yes on the bench it flows better, yes on paper it looks good, but when its actually back on the car, there have been many people that have gone backwards, seat of the pants feels stronger (probably in their head), but times on the track are slower.

[JoesAu]

I had My Head fully done by Forum member TrickXd just recently, excellent work also had new double valve springs put in and new slightly larger valves cant remember if it was intake/exhaust, throats opened up, nice angles behind the valve port'npolish, my car is going noticably faster especially up top revs nicely. And at the moment my car is running like a dog and overfuelling something cronic cos of cam so it will go harder once i change the 02 sensor, advance the cam to where it needs to be, change plugs and the valves clean out. Can post pics of my cyclinder head if u wanna look?? or Send me a pm with ya Mobile number if u have a good colour screen phone and i'll send u the pics alot easier.

[LOWAU]

I understand, i have heard a few peoples bad experiences about porting the head.

All that we want done is enlarge the exhaust ports to XR spec or a bit more and just a general clean up to smooth out the sharp lines in the combustion chamber but not to much to as to drop the compression heaps. Also we will be decking the head about 10 thou to make up for any port work.

The head is off just need to find a place that would do it, I would prefer a place that has done some I6 ford work, any recommendations guys?

[OED666]

Originally Posted by Our Blue XR6

you should'nt have to try to get low 14's in an AU , the fact is the AU I6 is a POS, ......

99% of the time someone does a performance mod they have
issues!

I have never had one issue with my AU motor. I dont think they are a POS. I thought my ED motor was good, but when the AU went it, it was so much smoother.

Originally Posted by Stav

OED ran his pb's dumping the clutch at high rpm ..

I didnt quite dump it, but it was at 4000rpm I launched at. It took me quite a while to learn my launch technique.

I plan to better my times this year, and the head will be staying on.

[LOWAU]

nooooooooooo, you gotta wait a bit for us to catch up. hahaha

[sprjenkins]

Theres a place called Martini Heads, www.martiniheads.com.au, They're good and have been doing heads a long time, however you get what you pay for and I don't think they are the cheapest in town.

[JoesAu]

opening the ports intake and exhaust wont drop your compression! you lose power down low cos theres more open area then b4 but you you gain up top once shes flowing. Removing the little dimple inside the combustion chamber will lower your compression if u didnt already no. PLus you need some one who knows what there doing by decking the head you cant just say i want this much off! clearances need to be checked.

[sprjenkins]

What is the standard AU compression?

[Stav]

Originally Posted by stiddy

It was Shugg off the Fordmods, its a manual and he has an It's Performance stage 3ps motor (full rebuild), with a Haltech Interceptor. Made over 170rwkw on Cresent Motorsports dyno.

You will need higher than a 2500rpm stall to get these taxi's off the line quick.

Stiddy...Shuggz ran 170 rwkws at the normal dyno dynamics dyno and converted from auto to manual .From 150 rwkws he got up to 170 rwkws onthis particular dyno. However on Joes dyno he got 147.3 kws.

I dont remember him getting a 13.9 ..I dont think the car made it to the track at all as it wasnt posted up by him but I can find out for sure.

The quickest Au is an automatic and Jim Mock's customers car..last I talked to Brendan they had pulled a 14.1

[Stav]

Originally Posted by OED666

I have never had one issue with my AU motor. I dont think they are a POS. I thought my ED motor was good, but when the AU went it, it was so much smoother.


I didnt quite dump it, but it was at 4000rpm I launched at. It took me quite a while to learn my launch technique.

I plan to better my times this year, and the head will be staying on.

Good idea..the head on your car us doing a fantastic job.You will get better times..I know you will..

[sprjenkins]

Just spoke to phill from surecams about getting a new cam to go with the head, sounded like a top bloke, only problem is there is a shortage of billets, so I'm gonna have to wait a couple of months :(

[sprjenkins]

Also I found out that the compression ratio for an AU is supposed to be 9.55:1, apparently it is usually lower though. Maybe running an aftermarket computer/edit and 95-98 octane fuel we can bump up the compression a fair bit for more power. I mean the new BMW M3's V8 is using a compression ratio of more than 12:1.

[JoesAu]

Jmm says the compresion is more around the 9.35:1, but they can talk crap.