[redline07]

I'm preparing for a turbo application in the future and want to know if it is worth my time and money to upgrade my valvetrain to handle higher revs?

It's going to be a GSR turbo.

If you do recommend upgrading, what valve springs and retainers?

Thanks for any help...

 

[gadogs]

the only time i've heard of upgraded vavle train on a turbo car was to handle higher revs. if you want to pull to 9K then upgrade and spend the money. i would put my money in a seriously built and sleeved block to handle obsessive amounts of boost and hondata so i don't blow it all up.

 

[94gsr4dr]

yes, upgrade the valvetrain

 

[TheFifthSpeed]

If you plan on building ne thing build the block. The block will blow way before the head. IMO you can always spend good money on the turbo then do the valvetrain later.

 

[94gsr4dr]

why not do it all at once?

 

[racinGSRstyle]

upgrading the valvetrain does not entitle you to higher revs...

revving higher in terms of reliability should be equally looked at in both the head and the block aka the rod ratio...

 

[chusteveb]

Bottom line, it all comes down to tuning. Your question of worth on time and money is all relative. What is your goal for the car? Mores specifics on your set up can help for a more specific answer (sorry).

 

[WreckedGSR]

I talked to alot of people about this and it seems that on a b18 the limit with stock internals and block is 8-10 lbs of boost.

 

[gadogs]

DO THE BLOCK FIRST. you will throw a rod due to boost before you float a valve. you have a thing called a "rev limiter" for a reason. if you plan on pulling passed that then you need stiffer valve springs. doing your head isn't going to help your turbo boost more or spool faster. this is redundant. do some searching. get your block done. get sleeves, rods, pistons, and a fuel management and you'll have so much power you wouldn't want to spend any more money doing the head. i boost 10 psi on my stock block occasionally. tunning is what matters. if you upgraded the internals of the head and did nothing to the block, that will do nothing to your turbo car. BUILD THE BLOCK TO HANDLE MORE BOOST. unless you are ungodly rich. buy a pre-build dart block and head and huge ball bearing turbo and massive FMIC and standalone fuel management system and have a very wicked turbo honda.

 

[95gsrturbo]

i helped build a 600 whp motor on the stock head... it can handle it.

 

[StyleTegGSR]

first ask yourself why would too much boost cause the stock head to blow? what would blow on it? there is no way for the head to really "blow" you can bend valves, but its nto gonna blow. bending valves won't be caused by too much boost or too much power, its cause by broken timing belts and over reving. unless you want a big turbo that requires alot of exhaust that you can only produce by reving higher than stock, there is not point to upgrading valve springs and retainers.
when upgrading your cams, you may need a stiffer valve spring and new retainers, so that is another reason you may want to. a valve job can be benificial, but not necesary.

 

[DaBoyNBlu]

i wouldn't "build" the head for boost, not for a street motor.

first, there aren't any proven cams that'll help.

second, it just adds more things to break. when you're boosting, you definitely don't want the possibility of more things breaking.

leave it stock, get adjustable cam gears to dial out the overlap, ARP studs to hold it down, and a good head gasket.

all will be well.

 

[WreckedGSR]

Well, my friend is giving me his head from his 600whp civic that had a c1 in it. It is p&p for boost, lightweight valves, feria(sp?) springs, titanium retainers, 3 angle valvejob. This wont hurt me at all right? I'm now planning to get a blockgaurd and a few other things when i drop all of this in, so i can run more boost. I want to run a stock head gasket because on his civic he tried a copper one and went through 9 of them until he just threw back on the stock when and everything ran perfectly again. Looks like im trading in my paint job to build the motor for more boost til i sell my stock head hehe.

 

[smurfey002]

you'd think after taking off the head 3or 4 times and replacing it, he would have learned, hehe.

 

[WreckedGSR]

haha yeah really he acctually bought a second head bc he thought it was the head giving him problems but it turns out that it was just the stupid copper gasket.

 

[StyleTegGSR]

the ported and polished head you have if it was done for a boosted application, will be benificial to you. the port and polish will make the air flow better into the head resulting in a quicker spool, you will increase your volumetric efficiancey, this means you will be able to get more air into the combustion chamber, without turning up the boost. the whole head will help aid in getting the air into the chamber quicker, fuller, and smoother.

 

[gadogs]

but to the guy who originally posted this, you need to concentrate on your block first. alot of people make insane power without touching the head. maybe port and polish but no replacing parts. you need to do the block and get it tuned. i cannot emphasis this enough. if you want more power from your turbo or make it last a long while, then you need to upgrade your stock bottom end. get new pistons, rings, rods, and bearings. this will make you able to boost more and make more power considering you've got a good tune. if you have the moeny then sleeve it and you'll be able to put out tremendous amounts of power. i vote upgrading stock block over stock head any day for a turbo application.

 

[StyleTegGSR]

well cost to power ratio, a ported and polished head will not make tons of power considering that it costs about a grand to do right

 

[WreckedGSR]

I gettin the entire head from a friend for $700 w everything. I can sell my stock one for $700 so basically its free

 

[StyleTegGSR]

you are getting a hell of a deal, if you don't do it. send him my way. basicly its a good $1000 for a b18c/b16a port and polish, another $300 for a valve job, about $600 for cams, springs, retainers. so that adds up to be around $2000 for only a few hosepower. keeping in mind the more boost you are running the more that headwork will help. so if you are running alot of boost, you can get quite a bit of power from it. but in low boost the difference will be nominal. same goes with intake manifolds. people in low boost tend to lose around 15-20 whp from upgrading stock intake manifold to a j/g or rev hard. but when you up the boost significantly, the manifolds large plenum and short runners become benificail. thus increasing output.

I am in no way saying the head will not give you power, because it should as long as it was done correctly, and it should make a good amount more, but cost wise,to get it done yourself its not the first thing you should be thinking of. the whole cost thing is refering to people who do it thereself, you would be getting it for cheap or free.