98 2.3L head/cam/possibly turbo upgrade

[arre2006]

my build thread is at the 4cyl section of these forums but since it looks like i'm the only guy on the planet fixing up the engine of his 4 banger i guess i'll post here. mostly pics, but feel free to ask any questions or POSITIVE comments on the build. this is not my first build, and i'm the type of guy that can't just settle for stock lol!

ok about the build: about a few months ago i had water going through the exhaust so i ASSumed it was the head gasket. now that i have torn the engine to the block i found out the culprit was the POS LIM paper gasket.

**FYI: replace that with a better quality one or pay the price

as of right now, i'm starting the overhaul of the valve train and getting the head ported and polished. can't wait to see what all i can do to my ranger

**EDIT**
HERE'S MY HEAD TORN 90% APART



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MY AFTERMARKET ROCKERS



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two things i noticed while porting around the valve guides: as you can see by the first picture, there is a BIG restriction on both the intake and exhaust valves. there is a wall where the gases will hit hindering flow on the port. i marked the entire restriction that needed to be removed in red; the orange line indicates the top of the wall where the gases will hit. it's literally a 90 degree incline. the air will slam onto it forcing the air back



this is the port after removing much of the material where the restriction is. you can tell there is a BIG difference after removing the wall. the air can slip through unhindered. there is still some more polishing and smoothing out of course but so far my carbide bit worked like a charm



this is how much material i removed just smoothing out two intake ports. the surface is pitted and rough due to the cast iron being molded. smoothing out the ports and removing the restrictions around the valve guides should improve the air flow as well as increase efficiency. remember i only smoothed the ports. i did NOT open up the ports any more than they are. that will decrease the backpressure needed for them to function properly. there IS such a thing as overporting. aside smoothing out the port jobs all i have left is to clean up the combustion chambers. i'm also talking to a head shop to have the bottom of the head milled flat as well as having a three angle valve job done on all my valves. keeps the seal on the valve to the chamber tight.



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I got bored so i decided to remove the bearings off the head. since i didn't want to spend $200 on a cam bearing tool that i'll only use once nor did i want to mess around hunting for the tool to rent i decided to make my own. pretty easy to make and works like a charm. i just used a huge bolt with appropriate nut and four 3/4in washers. i had to trim 1/16th off one of them to press the bearing out but it still worked well. it did warp a bit but nothing too terrible and didn't damage anything. all four bearings are off perfectly. next time i'm buying more washers though just as a precaution. everything cost me just $2.56 at my local lowes so it was a win for me all around.