VAC ported and polished head

[fmorelli]

Alright, well I'm persistent if nothing else. As some may recall, I had a head ported 1+ years ago which got mostly done and then a few things on the project went awry. Personal issues for the guy doing the work. He's a good guy and I'm not going to go into the details. At the end of the day I got the head back, but had decided to go a different route.

End of last year I shipped another N54 head out, this one to Tony Salloum @ VAC Motorsport. I was not going to have issues on this one. I've known Tony and been in the same BMW road racing circles as him for 20 years. VAC got the head, work got done over the past month or two, and now it makes its way back. I'll post photos and such here, as we get it, build it up, etc.

So a few things. What I told Tony was the following: the head will be on a street motor, 600whp emix, 20psi target with TD04s, Schrick low-lift cams. Not looking to replace the valvetrain (I don't see a return on that expense).

They took in the head, disassembled, cleaned, mic'd everything. Got resurfaced at 0.005", ran through his CNC for the port and polish. VAC just got a Newen CNC valve seat and guide machine. He dropped me a couple photos of work done with it. Very nice. I'll post photos of the N54 work when the head arrives, but figured I'd show these in the meantime.



Here's a video of VAC's 5-axis mill porting an n54 head:

Filippo

 

[Lurcher]

Head porn. I'd love to understand how they are getting the measurements for the milling.

 

[NoQuarter]

That is really cool to see.

I was wondering same thing about the measurements then also the testing on something that models the head to validate it prior to ruining the first one.

 

[fmorelli]

Good question - I don't know how they figure all that out. They do a fair bit of it so I imagine there is a process. I've not asked Tony details like that - he's always been gracious with his time with me, and I appreciate that (and try to be mindful) given they've got a busy place to operate with a lot going on.

Filippo

 

[NoGuru]

Amazing to watch.
For the measurement's, my guess would be lots of precise sensors. Thinking about my 3D printers, they have end stop switches and sensors to know where the end points are located. This could be translated to robots like the one in the video.

 

[doublespaces]

I thought they have a sensor 'bit' and you run the sensor over the edges manually and it maps out the geometry. Or a 3d scan.

The head to head variance and casting differences when the bit is in there at a deep angle is what I'm curious about, you may end up with an accidental collision.

 

[JohnDaviz]

Did you also change valves for bigger ones?

 

[fmorelli]

No stock valves which they did a valve job with the CNC valve machine.

 

[Osiris]

This is just awesome to say the absolute least! You have taken this car to the next level.
How has this translated to performance etc? Was there a marked improvement and what was your reason for going this route?

 

[fmorelli]

This is just awesome to say the absolute least! You have taken this car to the next level.
How has this translated to performance etc? Was there a marked improvement and what was your reason for going this route?

I have everything here to do the work. It's a big job and have not gotten to it yet.

 

[SlowE93]

So what does a job like that go for these days ?
Head only.
Next question is what is projected efficiency gain ?

 

[JohnDaviz]

So what does a job like that go for these days ?
Head only.
Next question is what is projected efficiency gain ?

Depends where you live. I live in germany and here you pay for an all out head porting about 2500€ (2888$)
Besides intake, exhaust and combustion chamber there was also some valve work.
Head looks amazing and i paid 1400€ / 1620$ (with a little research one can find amazing companies in other nearby countries)

 

[Osiris]

Depends where you live. I live in germany and here you pay for an all out head porting about 2500€ (2888$)
Besides intake, exhaust and combustion chamber there was also some valve work.
Head looks amazing and i paid 1400€ / 1620$ (with a little research one can find amazing companies in other nearby countries)

That looks incredible! But on a turbo charged car how much benefit are you seeing from doing this? What are the reasons for doing this? Just better flow or is there power to be gained?

 

[fmorelli]

-3 to -5psi is my hope.

 

[martymil]

Hate to dash your hopes but around the same power 1-2 psi less at best at 20 psi, where the bigger benefit is when you start
to push big power where the head ports are a restriction.

 

[fmorelli]

Hate to dash your hopes but around the same power 1-2 psi less at best at 20 psi, where the bigger benefit is when you start
to push big power where the head ports are a restriction.

Hell those head ports suck for FBO much less big power. Probably one of the more constricted head designs I've seen. It won't be 1-2psi. It will be more.

 

[martymil]

We have a vac stage 3 head with high lift cams on a single turbo

Hate to disappoint you when you don't see it

 

[fmorelli]

I've got to wonder why you have a VAC ported head in Australia? No one down there knows how to do that stuff? A ridiculous waste of money to ship it from Philadelphia.

 

[SlowE93]

Where is the popcorn emoji

 

[martymil]

I've got to wonder why you have a VAC ported head in Australia? No one down there knows how to do that stuff? A ridiculous waste of money to ship it from Philadelphia.

We have plenty of engine builders here that know these engines, @V8bait has been tuning it earlier this year but covid stopped everything.

We been taking it easy up until 3 months ago and now we have been working on putting the hp28 in the car and getting all the pieces together
so we don't end up with the car on the hoist for 3 months.

We cant turn it up because it's a certain fact the gearbox will explode at 28psi with this motor on the hp21

There has been enough loss up until now.

We had a drexler diff built just for this car with billet stub axels and BMW motorsport gears to hopefully hold the power.

Time will tell, but the difference in power is minimal on the old motor at 20psi and 18 psi on the new motor.

Once we get it on the dyno and overlay the charts i can show you.