B6 rebuild help

[Tommy]

Okay Ive been posting a lot about the b6 im getting and now im wondering what can be done to boost performance and get good gas mileage. I was talking to an old timer and he is telling me to shave the head down to get more compression and then port it and he says I should get about 45hp, now that may be true on old V8 motors but what about on the 1.6l computer motors? Where can I get a master rebuild kit for this motor Ive looked online at rockauto, autozone, oriellys, jcwhitney, and a rebuild kit company that I cant think of the name right now, but have come up with only gasket kits and rings but not a master rebuild kit. Any tips you guys have for me on rebuilding this motor is greatly appreciated. With this motor I am feeling like Im really becoming part of the festiva family and cant wait til I can become more active in the meets and on this website.

[skeeters_keeper]

Have you read this:

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/988207/b6-writeup1-1s-pdf-december-27-2008-11-53-pm-1-9-meg

[Zanzer]

I've been doing a lot of B series rebuilds lately and I've found it cheaper to buy the gaskets and such separately than to buy the master kit. You have to shop around but you come out a good bit cheaper. Are you wanting the master kit to get new pistons? You may not need them. Tear your motor down before you start buying stuff to see exactly what you have to work with and what you need. If your pistons are in good shape you only have to clean them up and reuse them. Also, by tearing the motor down first you'll see if you need to purchase any oversize bearings in case you need to turn any of the crank journals.

As for simple head modifications, check out my build thread on Sensei's B6 in the garage section. I'm starting on the cylinder head portion of it now and I'll be doing some port and polish work to the head (with tons of pics)

[Tommy]

Thank you guys.

I was wanting the master kit for the pistons I was going to start searching and compairing prices as I took the motor apart and cleaned it and make a list of everything I need. How do I find your thread about the port and polish stuff?

I got the motor it is a dohc and it was entirely free to me, now I am going to clean the shed and start the tear down

[econoaddict]

I was talking to an old timer and he is telling me to shave the head down to get more compression and then port it and he says I should get about 45hp, now that may be true on old V8 motors but what about on the 1.6l computer motors?

Shaving and porting will not icrease your hp by that much on a 1.6

Be careful when having it shaved, to far can create problems.

Premature cracking, head bolts bottoming out in the block (extreme shaving), timing belt can be off a few degrees (fixable with adjustable cam gear) and worst case - valves hitting pistons.
Not 100% on this but I think spec is like no more than .020-.030 material removed. A good cylinder head guy will tell you up front if the head is shaveable.

If you want higher compression the right thing to do is get different pistons spec'd to the compression you want.

[Tommy]

Thank you, I didnt think that porting and shaving would do a lot on the smaller motors like it does on V8's, I will talk to the machine shop and see what he thinks.

[blkfordsedan]

Thank you, I didnt think that porting and shaving would do a lot on the smaller motors like it does on V8's, I will talk to the machine shop and see what he thinks.

It will, but think of it more in terms of a percentage. It also depends on the rest of the engine (supporting parts) and how restrictive the stock head(s) flow. If you take a stock smallblock V8 (~200 FWHP) and do a mild street port, you might pick up maybe 10-15hp....or ~5% to 8% with no other changes. If you take the same motor but add an intake, headers and cam, then the difference between ported and stock heads may be worth 20-25hp....but you started with more potential than the stock motor. Apply the same idea to a stock 82hp B6 and you get a 4 to 6 HP gain. These are just imaginary numbers...but you get the general idea: It still helps, but relative to the scale and existing motor design.

As an example, a stock '98 Ford 4.6L was rated at 225hp. In '99, Ford redesigned the heads to greatly improve flow. The added higher lift cams, better flowing ports, higher compression & bigger valves. The result was 260hp, or a 35hp increase (~14%).

[Tommy]

Thats the way all the old timers I know have always put it to me and the way I always thought about it, thats why I says I didnt think doing a port and shave would do much but also I dont know about computer motors because I do know you can only time them so much by distributor and most of it is in the computer itself.

[TominMO]

On my B6 SOHC, I have a cat-delete pipe and advanced the timing to 14 BTDC. Running premium fuel of course. The butt dyno is claiming a 10 crank HP increase.

[JoDan]

Dont forget the BP ecu... haha idk what reminded me of that.

[Tommy]

You guys talk about a SOHC but what about the DOHC thats what the motor I got is I didnt even think about that before I got it, is it the same just with another cam?

[Safety Guy]

What's it out of?

Karl

[Tommy]

A 1990-1994 mercury capri. The block looks the same and the bolt holes look to be in the same spot but I wont know until I put the motor to the tranny.

[Basement_Modder]

skeeters_keeper:

You are awesome!! Thanks for the PDF. I have no concerns in doing a B6 swap now!

[TominMO]

You guys talk about a SOHC but what about the DOHC thats what the motor I got is I didnt even think about that before I got it, is it the same just with another cam?

You called your motor a B6. That is the SOHC motor. Your motor is the B6D.