Bo-Port Stage 1 Ported Fully Assembled Iron Head

Well, since I blew the head gasket yesterday, I was thinking of maybe upgrading since I have to remove the head, bring it to a machine shop to be checked, etc... It may not be too out of line to get a little upgrade too.

This caught my eye and looks to be a decent value since it is all setup with a cam, springs, oversize valves etc...

I would most likely go with the stage 1.1 cam, running the stock ihi turbo and preferring a smoother idle.

Anyone running one of these units?

Comments or suggestions?

http://www.bo-port.com/index.php?act=vie...oductId=72

I would buy a Gillis Valve before I spend that kind of money.
Why are these 2.3L heads so expensive ?
I bought a set (2) of aluminum Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads for my 5.0L Mustang for that price. That gave me 70HP out of the box before porting.
If Bo-Port would lower their prices they would sell twice or three times as many. The aluminum head is about $3000.00
WTF

That's crazy

You can't compare 2.3 prices to 5.0 prices. The 5.0 market is huge, and thus parts can be mass produced. The 2.3 market is tiny so prices are going to be higher. We're lucky to have vendors like Bo, Stinger, etc. which cater to our little engine. The head price is not that bad considering it's got a port job and comes with a cam. Plus there is a lot of money being spent on R&D which has to be paid for. These guy are not getting rich off of the parts they sell.

I don't want to offend a vender by any means. Sorry if it came off that way. I'm just saying its 1/2 the material is all. Maybe advertise a head with out a port job, cam and lower price would be a better idea.
However, I have to say the market looks pretty good for our engines. With gas prices the way they are too. If I could have bought a decent head at a reasonable price for my N/A 2.3L Mustang I would have. I think Ranger guys would agree.
People get caught up in the turbo market and get discouraged with fabrication and fine tuning. Simple bolt on horse power has a place in the 2.3L world.

Well irrespective of price, I was more interested in the actual product itself as well as the vendor. It seems they are not really into returning calls and/or emails promptly... I believe they are a reputable company, but would like some feedback on that too.

Actually, the price isn't all that bad considering what it would cost for just the cam $300 and a valve job $200-$300... then add the porting and all new oversize valves, plus the hardware and having it all setup... It's not terribly out of line.

I already have the gillis

So the real question I was hoping to get answered is...

How well will this setup work and what would you expect for performance gains... Anyone running the 1.1 cam? Another question I have would be what the 1.5 cam would be like... I really don't want to compromise the idle, so I believe the 1.1 is the best choice for my daily driver.

I am not aware of anyone running a 1.1 cam, but I know several who are running the 1.5 and love it. "LongbedGTs" is one, I think RDOG is still running a 1.5, but I'm not 100% on that. Maybe you could PM one of them and get their input on idle quality?

BTW - Bo is short-staffed and extremely busy at the moment so if you order a head from him, expect it to take a while to arrive. If you have the time to wait, I would definitely go for it as his stuff is very nice. As far as getting a call/email returned. A lot of people have reported having this issue in the past few months. Again - seems to be due to lack of staffing and excess amount of work. I guess midget season started recently started and he does a lot of work for those guys. He always says to keep calling until someone answers the phone, so that's what I would do if you need to speak with him. refer to THIS POST om TF.

Thanks for the reply... I'll see what I can find out on the 1.5 idle.

I'm expecting it will take quite some time to get the head back since it won't even be there until today or tomorrow.

I see you have a big valve head... I was looking at the head before I sent it out and don't really see much room to use bigger valves... Do you know what they actually do? ... just curious I guess.

I should have sent this head out a while ago since it was sitting on my old engine in the garage. Took a lot longer boxing it up than removing it! Just didn't think I would need it quite yet

Stock valve head diameters are: Intake 1.730 to 1.740", exhaust is 1.49 to 1.51"

For the standard turbo cast iron head the generally accepted largest over sized valve heads are: intake - 1.89", exhaust is 1.59" IIRC

I have heard of people using slightly smaller "over sized" valves in order to leave a little more material in between the valve seats. It seems like most go for all they can get.

If you are going with the ported head and oversized valves, you should go with the 1.5 cam. Putting a 1.1 cam in that head is a waste. The 1.1 is pretty much the same as a stock Ranger roller cam. the 1.5 will idle just like stock but will give you about 30-40 more horsepower.