Head Work on a TDI Sport

[Bondiblu]

Has anyone had their TDI cylinder head ported and polished, and what gains were achieved?

A diesel engine also benefits from being able to breathe better, but not many people tend to do work to the cylinder head because a remap is more punch for the £. I think I may consider trying to get as much power out of the car before remapping so when I do get it remapped, benefits will be greater.

 

[muddyboots]

I may well be wrong, but I doubt you'd see much gain from head work.
With a n/a engine you need as little restriction to airflow as possible as it's only being pulled in by the engine, relatively little pressure difference between atmospheric and the vacuum generated by pistons on their downward strokes, so you need the easiest possible path in.
Different matter with a turbo - you've still got the same vacuum, but instead of atmospheric you've got the turbo forcing air in under pressure, which means any less-than-perfect port shapes etc won't really have much effect. The turbo will vary it's boost to achieve the desired airflow.

Might help with exhaust gas flows though....although I think it's only something to do once you've looked at removing exhaust pipe & cat restrictions first.

But if you're doing some work that means the head is coming off anyway, why not go for it; otherwise I reckon it'd be a lot of work & expense for little, if any gain.

 

[Bondiblu]

I agree, it will be more beneficial on the exhaust side, although I cleaned out my inlet manifold which was clogged up a bit and that made a noticeable difference so a little more would definitely help the engine breathe better.

I know it has been done before, but not commonly done to TDI's, and there are gains to be had, it's just whether its a cost effective mod.

 

[st10587]

cost effective............. no

power gains..............very small

 

[Russ_tdi]

The pd heads dont need any work for power up to about 290+ bhp of corse it would help with spool speed and flow for anythink bellow but wouldnt be very noticable.

If you where aming for 300 or over bhp then the head would def need work, biger valves and enlarged ports just for a start.

 

[Bondiblu]

Agreed, NOT cost effective, it's as good as replacing the air filter, changing boost hosing ,EGR delete, Decat, bigger exhaust diameter which are all restrictions in the breathing system.