Porting na head

[Deathstar]

I've decided the best way to improve performance in my 06 Pt na is to shave and port the head and add some crane cams, JBA header and optimizer II.

I plan on making a detailed post here on the job. I have a local Dyno shop that will dyno/tune so that I can present some real numbers when completed. I have seen many post asking how to beef-up a na. We will find out how much this helps. I am betting 35-40hp.

By the way, I live in Orlando, FL. If anyone has experience in around here, I woud love to hear from you.

[Hooligan]

Orange County PT Cruisers
(Formerly The PT Warehouse)
Orlando, Florida
Phone: 407-467-0462
ocptcruisers@yahoo.com

Try this place for info, Good Luck!!

[lakersfan1]

This is an overhead cam engine, yes? Then you don't want to shave the heads ..... unless you get adjustable cam gears and pay for the time to readjust.

If you work the heads, I'd concentrate on deshrounding and polishing the bowl side of the head .... and then just sharpening splitters, polishing the exhaust ports, and smoothing any rough transitions in the intake ports.

If you can get 40HP, I'd be willing to do this to my 07. Are the Crane cams regrinds so they would look stock if I brought my car in for warranty service? I don't want to mess up my lifetime powertrain warranty.

Since I just bought mine, what's the inside of the engine like? Are there rockers, or do the cams sit directly over the valves? Are the lifters hydraulic so we don't need to reshim for cam replacement?

I'll have the suspension fully tweaked in a couple weeks, I need somewhere else to go with my itch.

[Deathstar]

I started the project and hope to document it here with text and pics along with Dyno numbers. Hopefully I do a good enough job that it becomes a sticky for those who have na PT's. Trying to get power from them has been asked a lot here on the forums.

So here goes some starter pics. I will start adding more every few days.

[Deathstar]

Heads are getting ported by Toby Weeks Machine shop here in Florida. He has a lot of experience on mutliple motor types including WRX's. We decided to shave the head down to raise compression from 9.5 to about 10.5. We are going to cut the exhaust side more than the intake then polish the bowl.

We are going with Crane #12 cams to let it breath better with the porting, plus I may be adding a 75hp shot of Nitros on rare occassions. More pictures to come.

[rte662006]

How are things going with this project?

[Deathstar]

Head will be completed on Tuesday, will put the Crane Cams and other goodies in later in the week and should have running by the weekend. It will take another week to complete the painting and install of the PTeazer hood and roll pan, along with a custom dual side exhaust system that dumps in front of both rear tires. Lots of other go fast bolt-ons will be added then also. Hopefully will be working with some local tuners on some electronic mods. I am taking pictures of each step, both engine and body.

Goal -> A hot looking PT running 200hp normally aspirated + 75 shot of nitros to boot. Will test and tune at the local dyno to see how close I was able to meet these numbers.

[WinDaddy]

I'm interested to see how it comes out too. I've got 120K now and was thinking about swapping cams and using a bigger throttle body (from Howell Automotive)- I wonder how well they work.

[Deathstar]

I just put the heads back on. Ported pretty heavy and shaved .020. The compression ratio should be around 10.5/1 now. The cams are pretty lumpy at idle, but I can feel the power. What I really feel is it reving faster now. I will post some more pics shortly. Car will not be completed for another 2 weeks but this is what I have.

06 PT na
Ported and shaved head
Crane #12's
AF/X underdrive pulley
Fid cam gears
Demon Coil
Crane wires
Bosch +4 plugs
cold air intake
Glasspacks dumping into funtional lake pipes-These exit just in front of the rear tires.
Sending TB to Howell for porting
Will remove counter balance shafts soon
75 shot NOS

Body
225/18/40 fronts 245/18/40 rears
PTeazer raised hood and roll pan
Custom metal side skirts over chrome lake pipes

2,900 watt sound system (Sounds good but is 120lbs)

Deciding on?
Neo or other for engine tuning electronics. Don't knwo what to use yet.

I will take the car to a local Dyno here for tunning and to show actual horsepower gains. Will dyno with and without NOS. Next will be drag runs at the Orlando speedway. Hopefully this will help guide others to what they want to put into thier na PT Cruisers and if the gains are worth the efforts. I sure hope so. :-)

[Mean Green]

You could have saved money on the Demon coil. It does absolutely nothing extra that the OEM can't do. Does look pretty, though. Looking forward to your finishing the car and seeing what it does on the dyno.