At what point does this make sense? Will it show any gain on say a 50 trim, stock block setup?

I've got the AMS 50 trim setup about to go on. I delayed putting it on to couple it with the 60k service, and I'm also putting in head studs at the same time. I'm pulling the head (none of that 1 bolt at a time stuff) anyway, just wondering if there will be any performance gain with headwork at this point.

My goal is.... to use 93 octane in the car, and stomp on it everyday to/from work and for pleasure, and make the most power I can with a 93 octane constraint. Will headwork benefit this setup at all?

I "might" put alchy on the car, just seems like a PTA to find a source for alchy, fill the bottle, monitor the bells/whistles necessary so you don't blow up etc.. But then again, I "might" not go the alchy way and leave it the way it is.

I will freshen the motor somewhere around 75k (which is about 1 yr. away), so why not go 2.3L and 35/37r at that time since I'll be in there??? Or at least that's the plan at the moment. So even if the headwork only shows minimal gain now, it won't be wasted later (assuming headwork would benefit the latter setup).

I've searched, and the question has been asked, but never really answered. At what power level does headwork start to show some gains? AMS, what say you?

 

A stock head is good for 620whp with a good set of springs anything past that you will see your hp number start to drop or you will brake something. But a race port will give you top end you can see gains from 20-60 whp by porting your head thats if you have all supporting mods needed.

 

I put a fully ported AMS race head on my 50 trim kit earlier this year (bad valve guides on the old head)...

Does it make more power? Yes.

but

while you are almost guaranteed to make more power in the upper RPM range, you may actually lose quite a bit of power during spoolup, not to mention that you will spool 100+ RPM later than on the stock head. If you are running an MBC, then you will lose some low-end power. If you can compensate by adding more boost in the lower RPM via an EBC or the stock boost control, then you should gain power across the entire RPM range. Otherwise you'll end up with a torque curve like mine, which actually climbs all the way up to 7000 RPM. No more torque hump like you see on stock Evos.

l8r)

 

on your setup a race head isnt really all the critical. Your money would be better placed elsewhere.

Eric