Agra Engineering Dundee

[CubanGav]

Anyone ever used them to have head work done on the K?

Gav.

[Gourlay83]

Gav, use Stu Pollock (on here) in livingston. I have a visitor this weekend who could probably take it down and I could collect it next week.

He's done heeeeeeeps

Alan

[robin]

Assume you're talking about skimming rather than porting, etc?

I know Stu will skim the heads ... I don't think he does porting ...

Cheers,
Robin

[CubanGav]

Both would be prefered but I fear a skim is necessary.

Its booked into JD Motor Engineers in Insch in May to pull the head and check where my coolant is going. If the head is off I figured I'd enquire about a 'quick and dirty' port ala Dave Andrews website. I'm up and down to Dundee every week so thought it'd be easy to go there. Google suggests a lack of companies that can deal with it up north. JD say they can deal with getting a skim but a not a port.

Does Stu port? Stu you there?

[robin]

If you have the time, I would get KiwiRog or DVA to do the job. They have a huge experience and will likely give you back a head that won't suffer repeated HGF.

The key thing is that if it's suffered HGF you should get the head peened before it's skimmed to compress the metal on the surface and minimize the effects of porosity in the casting.

Of course there are others out there .. pretty sure Dan has popped up in the past saying he can hardness test and peen the heads and some people on here must have used his services to that end.

If it were me I would get larger inlet valves fitted; it adds ~200 to the job but makes a big difference. A standard 118 car will make 145-150 with bigger inlet valves, some port and chamber work and otherwise standard manifolds, etc. If you also clean up the manifolds you're more likely to be at the upper end of that range, but you'll notice the difference anyway and the car will continue to function on standard cams, standard ECU just fine.

Cheers,
Robin

P.S. you also need to measure the liner standproud ... i.e. the height that the liners are above the block face when the head is removed - ideally they will all be 4 thou. If any are flush with, or below, the block face you will need to get the block "decked". If you don't, you'll just get repeated HGF.

[CubanGav]

"P.S. you also need to measure the liner standproud ... i.e. the height that the liners are above the block face when the head is removed - ideally they will all be 4 thou. If any are flush with, or below, the block face you will need to get the block "decked". If you don't, you'll just get repeated HGF."

Roger - will do. I've done a fair bit of reading and JD were very reassuring when I ran over what I was after on the phone. Liner heights were mentioned as was hardness testing but I'll reiterate this when I drop it off.

There may be other developments meantime *strokes beard*

[Gourlay83]

Power bug Gav? All to over take Cheez at KH.

[CubanGav]

Nope - Makes sense if it's in bits to give it a tickle is all.

[Corranga]

Do a search. I seem to recall hearing they used to be fairly handy with Rovers/Minis (well, Ks and As) not sure about more recently.

[rossybee]

Agra are highly regarded precision engineers, and I see no reason to think they've experienced the K in the past.

I know John Fyda and know him to be a very accomplished engineer

[Mikie711]

Agra are quite well known for their work on the Lotus TC engines, they have been at the engine tuning business for years. I used them to balance all the parts for my S1, quite reasonably priced as well. For porting my preference would still be Dave or Rog but you will have to wait for them, not an overnight service and much will depend on how busy they are.

[campbell]

Another vote for Kiwirog here. Robin will tell you the spec of head he did for me, might have bigger inlet valves but std exhausts however the architectural work Rog did is impressive.

Agra did Paul G's Elan engine rebuild, if it's good enough for Paul it's good enough for me

Wasn't John Fyda a racer?

[CubanGav]

I would have went straight for Dave or Kiwirog but as the car will be sitting in JDs garage during the time its off I cant accommodate a lengthy spell. Don't think they would be too happy having my motor taking up space for a couple of weeks.

I may be getting the chance of another head which could change things. Once I know more I'll probably need to check if its compatible with the standard K - so another question may be fired up at the time.

Many thanks for the input folks.

Gav.

[allyrennie]

Gav, use Stu Pollock (on here) in livingston. I have a visitor this weekend who could probably take it down and I could collect it next week.

He's done heeeeeeeps

Alan

Whats Stu's user name?? Stu, if you read this ( or someone points you this way ) can you please drop me a text on 07856 086 259

cheers!!

Ally

[neil]

Whats Stu's user name??

Stu160