Ported heads on ebay....360 hp secret

[SappySE107]

I recieved the heads a day or 2 ago, and flowed them and took pics. In a nutshell, this is what happens when someone that doesn't know what they are doing tries to port a head. Valves are nothing special, and they have the part numbers on them that look like the same type numbers the DOHC TRW stock replacement valves have. Springs are identical to stock as well.

No, I didn't buy them, but they were sent to me but the person that did so I could inspect and flow them. The rocker arms are the only tihng worth keeping off this entire setup other than the valves which would need some work to not suck so bad.

Click the pics to see the larger version (1024 width). Intake flow is down 8% average compared to stock, and exhaust is down 1% average compared to stock. I am comparing to the 94-95 type as stock, which is what these are.

[AaronGTR]

wow... just wow. That really sucks. Guess that really does show ya what happens when you give a set of heads to someone who's doesn't know what they're doing. Surprising though since they claimed they where ported by some speed shop blah blah blah... guess they didn't flow bench them?

[SappySE107]

They claimed they were flowbenched but there is now way. I can honestly say that my first attempt at porting was better quality than that. May have hurt flow but at least I knew better than to leave peaks and valleys all over the place. They didnt gasket match it either, which is fine I suppose but if you dont gasket match...what do you reference to make sure they are the same? They weren't the same...not even close. I didnt flow all of them though, i had seen enough from just 1 random cylinder.

[94Camaro]

Fuck Zigouras Racing

so i see that my 3400 heads finally turned up....well at least thats what i can surmise from this. or maybe its just matt trying to swindle someone again, either way... (pull up a chair this is a long read)

In 2002 I purchased, from another retailier, a set of 3400 heads complete with 1.6 roller rockers attached to them. i paid 50.00 at the time as the 3400 demand hadn't hit yet. i was intending on having them worked on then tossing them on with the 3400 plenum as an upgrade.

Matt, whos last name i dont remember, told me that he worked for Zigouras Racing. I had known him for 6-8 months and we conversed. He seemed to know something of engine building and said he worked in a shop. Everything was cool and I mentioned my want to get heads ported and polished. He said he could do them - and since he never did work on the 3400 heads before he would do it for free, being that I was a friend and he wanted the experience. He told me that if i paid him for the flowbench work (as i wanted port flow #'s to plug into DD2k) he would do it all.

Time passed and I queried every now and then about how the heads were doing. he would send me blurry photoshots of the valve area (CC) and then show me all the progress he was making on his turbo'd 3.4. (i have pics somewhere on my personal machine at home)

anyhow, a year passed and I started to get antsy. I asked him when i saw him how the heads were going and he started to come online less and less (i would talk via AIM). then one day he stopped coming online altogether. a few months passed and so i called him and talked to him on his cell phone. he was surprised to get my call as he had only talked to me on the phone once and didnt think i would call him again. he explained that he had been having family/money troubles and would get me the heads asap cause he promised them to me.

i said awesome and waited to hear back from him...a few more months passed...then around july 2003 i met a few more fbody owners that had moved out to cali just recently. one of them KNEW matt. he explained to me that matt was a bullshit artist. he never told the truth and always talked more than he would back up. i started to get nervous hearing this and sent an email...

two weeks passed with no response, so i sent another...no response...and i sent another 3 days later..no response. i got busy and it slipped my mind, until around november 2003 when i bent an exhaust valve in the 3100 heads i had (long story). so i sent another email...no response. I finally got him on AIM. talked to him - and he said he would totally send them out asap. i called him a few days later on his office phone to talk to him, and he was there. he told me he was just finishing up some stuff, and asked me for a mailing address and told me they would be there in two weeks. iwas like awesome cause i really need em. i have em and cant afford to get another set.

two weeks passed. a month passed - no response. i started emailing daily, to his work and home addy. no response. i called his cell again...

he had DISCONNECTED his cell phone!

i was furious. i realized at that point he had no intention of sending me back my heads. he never intended to port them or anything of the sort, he just needed money and liked what i had in mind (i had told him about the swap and how i planned to do it).

i called his work. his boss answered and explained to me that he had gone out on an errand and would be back in a bit. imlike fine. i explained the situation to his boss and in return was told that matt would be notified and i would get a call as soon as he got back.

two days passed. i called back Zigouras Racing - asked for matt. the owner, Paul Zigouras, said "one moment"...then like the dumbfuck he is, he put the phone to his chest and said to matt (never put the phone to your chest if you dont want people to hear what you are saying) "Its that Russell kid..you wanna talk to him? alright..."

he then came back on the phone "yanno what, matt isnt in right now. i thought he was at his desk but my guys are tellin me that he went home for a bit. ill have him call you when he gets back."

it was at this point i explained that if matt didnt give back my heads I would sue matt, paul, and the business and hold all of them personally responsible for this bullshit - and notify the BBB as well as several news outlets. he said it didnt have to come to that and i told him that ive been waiting a long time. he told me he would make matt call me.

another week passed and i was forced to order ANOTHER set of 3400 heads at a more expensive 110.00 (140 incl. shipping). i put them on and the car ran again...meanwhile i was still in email hell with zigouras racing. why you ask? because they had stoppped answering their phones altogether when i called. the receptionist always picked up the phone and matt and his boss were always out everytime i called...at the same time every day for a week in a row (highly unlikely). then i called the following week to find out that they had gone to a motorsports event and wouldnt be back for two weeks. i said that was enough, and sent them an email.

I CC'd everyone i could think of that would back me in a legal battle. i made sure to inform paul and matt both that i would take this matter to court were my heads not returned in two weeks time to the following address (gave my current addy in the email) and that i would expect that everythign be set right and would rather not have this go to court because i would purposefully post this story everywhere.

two weeks later i received a box on my doorstep. iwas elated to find that i had won!

i opened the box very happy, to find a set of 1996-pre Gen III Aluminum heads. ported/polished, and spray painted silver. stock springs. no rocker arms, and GUIDE PLATES. i asked the guy i bought them from and he sent me a picture of the heads he had sent (in my folly i had the heads sent directly to zigouras racing thinking that it would be quicker that way. in hindsight i wished i had sent them to myself, as i would have been too lazy to send them out again) and i got a pic of a set of 2000+ Gen III Heads.

I was furious. i spent two months battling with matt and paul over the phone. they finally informed me that they had sent me the heads back, and i had no way to prove (since i didnt have the heads directly sent to myself) that the heads sent to them were the 3400 heads (i do however trust the seller of the 3400 heads waaaaaaaaaaaay more than i trust zigouras racing because the seller was prompt and courteous and matt/paul were lying sneaks)

i never got back my 3400 heads. i do still have a set of badly ported Gen III aluminum heads with rocker arm guides and studs for 1.5 rocker arms. 1.720/1.430 valves. no bowl work. just smoothed runners. it was done to placate me. the only reason i ever gave up on it was because it wasnt worth my time.

I would venture that this set of 3400 heads that has now found its way to Ben was a) the set i originally sent to matt, or b) a set that was fradulently gotten some other way.

either way there has to be something that we can do to run this shop outta business cause they honestly are not giving the automotive world a good name.

[geoffinbc]

LOL sounds like a few stories I have herd before. LOL.

JBP rings a bell

[blackbombshell95]

[gboogie99]

damn homie

[GPXSS]

sounds like ben trying to get powder coated parts from me.


:P