[Valhalla 21340]

i am seriously thinking about porting the heads on my intrepid...i am currently working on a '56 mercedes benz 190sl (on hold till spring), it runs alright, needs a lot of work still (radiator, clutch, mastercylinder/brake booster, interior, fuel line, brake line...new fenders and floors, though!)...motor runs strong, but i am going to polish and port the head during spring break (its a 4 banger, 1.9liter,nothing radical)...but i figured the same can be done here, (i wont be doing it myself though...if i botch the benz bad, theres another parts car...the intrepid? hell no, i botch that, i'll be drivin the BMW <Bus, Metro, or Walk> )
has anyone here (Si, this is your cue) attempted or done such a modification and where/how much....i want a pro job, ill pay the money as long as it doesnt exceed 800 bucks. Thanks!!!! if that can be done, ill look later into retrofitting aftermarket headers from the Prowler onto true duals...!

 

[silver ghost]

If you pull the heads yourself, you should be able to keep it under 8. If a shop pulls them it's gonna be more, alot more. There's a considerable amount of labor time to r&r these heads. As far as the machine work, find a reputable machine shop in your area and ask them. I been playing with that Idea also, but I don't want to pull the heads unless I absolutely have to! Being a tech that should say something about the kinda work involved! If iI ever pop a head gasket thoug, I'm gonna go all out on them.

 

[Valhalla 21340]

last time i changed my plugs and wires (champions and mopar wires), there was a considerable amount of oil in the "plug tunnel" of cylinder 3...could that be an excuse to pull the heads? cause if it is......

 

[Lafrad]

that is an excuse to pull the valve covers and replace the o-rings and gasgets

 

[silver ghost]

All the years I been working on cars, I've only seen 1 3.5 pop a head gasket. Maybe guys in dodge dealers have seen it more but not that I know of.

 

[Valhalla 21340]

well...i do believe im gonna rip em off anyway. these past few days have been really tolling on everyone...makes you think about tomorrow, what it may bring...lifes short, pull the heads and bore em'>.

 

[Mopar4U]

Originally posted by Valhalla 21340:
well...i do believe im gonna rip em off anyway. these past few days have been really tolling on everyone...makes you think about tomorrow, what it may bring...lifes short, pull the heads and bore em'>.

I like the attitude

I'm kind of doing the same thing. "Were going to war, I think i'm going to rebuild my snowmobile" So, I am now. What the hell.

 

[Valhalla 21340]

now that i think about it, mopar4u,...my polaris xlt DOES need louder pipes!..........

 

[LymanSS]

I've spent a lot of time thinking about porting the heads on my intrepid. My conclusion...it probably won't work. That is, unless you have a way to re-program the computer. Since these engines use a speed/density engine management system, they have no way to detect the increased flow, and will therefor fail to add sufficient fuel. Most cars these days are running with MAF sensors. When you do internal engine mods that increase the flow, more air passes throught the MAF sensor, and the computer knows to add more fuel. But in an intrepid there is no such thing. Instead it relies on an absolute pressure sensor in the intake manifold. The computer knows that at a given manifold pressure, and a given RPM, the engine will flow a specific amount of air. With a system like this, any mod that raises intake manifold pressure is fine. (stuff like intakes, ram air, or ported throttle bodies) These things are detected by the MAP sensor, and fuel is added. But stuff after the intake manifold (heads, cam, etc) will likely just result in a lean condition. Thats not to say you won't get any power out of it at all. But you may have some serious knock problems, and it may not run right. If you have a pre 1995 car, you can get superchips to burn up a custom program for you. But if its later than that, I think you are SOL as far as getting a proper Air to fuel ratio. You would need an aftermarket computer, or a secondary injection system, or you'd have to spend a lot of time tricking the stock system into thinking the manifold pressure was higher than it actually is. You might be able to do that, but it would be sloppy at best. I could be dead wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that this is the truth. If you have any other info on the issue I'd love to hear about it. My intrepid is a full time project car now (its been retired) so I'm interested in the more radical mods that people try.

Scott

 

[blkbute]

yeah, the damn computers on these cars are way too sensitive. if only I knew how to reprogram them, soo much stuff I would like to do but the computer restricts me to hmm lets see. NOTHING.

 

[1mz-fe]

scott, get yourself a couple of good 0 gauge wires and more your battery to the trunk, or somewhere else. get two k&n cone air filters and some dryer hose. take the intake-TB tube off and put one intake on each TB. that's what i'd do if i had a project engine. you could concievably gain 10, maybe 15 hp out of this. i've been thinking about it hard, that T tube is so restrictive you HAVE to be losing air in there. it's a straight up 90 degree turn in either direction. all that air hits the back of the tube at high speed, then what? it becomes turbulent and slowly goes to the TB at low speed and "dirty."

we've been waiting for someone with a project car to do this mod that shouldn't actually be that complicated.....i nominate YOUR project car.

 

[LymanSS]

I like the idea of moving the battery and running dual intakes. The stock one isn't quite as bad as it seems though. When you take it you, you can see that they really did some CFD calculations and tried to make it work despite the harsh turns. But you're right. It still sucks. I don't know whether there is room on the drivers side of the engine compartment to run the hose over to where the battery is. I'll go take a look at it tonight and see how it looks. Twin throttle bodies really deserve dual intakes. Anyway, I'll see how it looks, and maybe order up some cable and a battery harness to relocate it to the trunk tonight. Wouldn't hurt to even out the weight distribution anyway.

Scott

 

[1mz-fe]

keep in mind that you're going to have to work hard to attach all of those wires and connectors (don't know what all of them are, but there's a bunch). you might have to custom drill some holes....but the gain should be worth the effort.

 

[Valhalla 21340]

i dunno if it is worth that much effort (moving the battery to the trunk could be more difficult than it sounds...maybe im wrong with THIS car, but i know in my mercedes, it was a BIATCH) it would serve a dual purpose though...make the front end a tad lighter and the rear a tad heavier (good). now, i looked into this idea a while back...once i get my hands on disposable income (after i buy a custom warrior instruments guitar, that is. you gotta keep ya priorities in order...oh mah goodness).....buy a new hood for the car and build functional hoodscoops on it. get another hose identical to the stock one, and modify that rear runner, so it would accept the hose on both sides...connect it to a filter box per-scoop (2), with drop in style filters.....or maybe, if i get that much money, ill just tell paxton to do what they do to the prowler...but on my intrepid...a blower with headers, ported heads, true duals, and maybe a couple of blue bottles in the trunk (so i can blow myself up)

 

[LymanSS]

Heh heh...if you come up with enough cash, try doing what mosler does. http://www.moslerauto.com/mosautoweb/html/twin_announce.htm I think that would rule!

Scott

 

[Warlord187]

Twin HEMIs!!!!!!