advice on heads

Hi guys,

Basically i have a wee little 1600 crossflow in my mk1 escort. I'm trying to look for advice when it comes to head work. Over time I plan on getting the motor up around the 100-110hp mark, i don't plan on setting speed records, just having a car with a little bit of pep. My question is, should I bother taking the existing stock head off the engine and investigate giving it a light porting job, or go down the path of investing in something along the lines of a Stage 2 head from Burtons or similar.

I'm a student, I dont have buckets of money so I cant just throw a couple of grand down in a single hit. I know a few blokes on here were once young and keen and in a similar situation as me, so let me know what you'd do if you were to walk into your younger self and give advice :)

Thanks a bunch!

Cheers,

SKC

G'Day SKC,
 
Went through similar when I was a student. 
More time but less money. The time is where I started to do as much as I could myself to save on the money.
 
In regards to head work I ported my own and then sent to machine shop to skim and tidy it up and sort the valves seat and guides out.
To save further you can do all dis-assembly and reassembly yourself.
 
One bit of advise is to thoroughly research best way to achieve your aim and the ensure you aim will still hold true in 12months time otherwise you'll start spending money twice when you change your mind on power target or use of car etc...
 
Goodluck
 
Rhys
 

thanks guys for the feedback, its really been awesome!


Matt,
at the moment i can probably drop around $1k on it, but every few months ill still be able to trickle in a few hundred bucks...eventually hoping to get a 224 cam and new pistons. As I said, its not for huge power, but I'd love to get 110hp out of it eventually.
The other question is, would it be worth boring out to 1700?

Thanks for the advice Rhys, yeh it took about 6 months of thought to come to the fact that if i really wanted power, id trade the entire car in for something more modern.

I and a mate were going to take it apart and port and polish it ourselves, leaving the skimming and other specialty machining to the pros.

Keep it coming, I'm learning a tonne from all your suggestions. This is my first Escort and my first project car, so your words of wisdom are going a long way for me :)


SKC

If I would like to purchase something along the lines of a Stage 3 xflow head, is getting it from the UK from the likes of Burtons my only choice? Or are there engine builders here in Aus that deal with similar heads.


Cheers,
SKC

I`ve been calling a few places around Adelaide asking if they know much about the 2l pinto heads and most say we know plenty, anyone out there able to provide proof of a good builder from experience?