Head Swapping

[Yohan]

Looking for a bit of information on this one.

I have an AMK engine and may have the opportunity to get an AGU head for not a lot of money.

I understand there are differences when it comes to VVT and cable/DBW throttle.

Is it easy enough to swap everything from my AMK head on to the AGU head then fit the AGU head to the AMK bottom end?

Is it worth putting the head somewhere to get refurbished/re-conditioned prior to fitting? What are the costs of this?

[rockmonkey69]

It's worthwhile getting it rebuilt, but does cost a lot if your having someone do the rebuild, typically about £10 per valve to grind and if they are to dismantle and fit the springs for each valve then that's another £10 a valve, £5-10 each valve stem seal, £40 head skim and chemical wash. Over £600 for the job and they won't normally work on the head until you've removed the vvt tensioner and cams first. I just had mine done and it is a time consuming process and the design of our heads make it more difficult to work on than jap heads, the valve stem seals are much smaller and most companies will not remove them for you, the intake side is even worse for space than the exhaust valves so it's more annoying to work on, but I managed to do a bit after work in the evening.
The rebuild is worth doing, just grinding the valves will ensure proper seating and good compression which helps power and economy, I also port matched the inlet while it was apart.

[Yohan]

Very helpful post, thank you.

I too think it would be worthwhile getting it rebuilt for piece of mind.

Are the AGU ports much larger than the AMK ones?

Can you get the AGU head ported further for even more flow?

[Toby]

Yeah get the agu ported aswell biger bore

[rockmonkey69]

As above agu is big port head vs amk which is a small port head. If you get it ported make sure you take it somewhere that knows head porting and not just a garage with some carbide bits, it's easier to harm the performance than to improve it.

You might just be able to see in one of the pictures above, before the valves were fitted of how large the valve throats are, mine is an AUM - small port head just to give you an idea.