Looking for Advice....
I have been in contact with several Cylinder head porting companies and Lost as to which one I should go with. I am currently leaning twards DPR due to the time and attention they have spent on my design and set up. Alaniz and Portflow work looks Good and they also carry a good reputation, but I am still unsure of what company to go with. Any help is useful.....

 

I don't think you can go wrong with any of them, all good quality, I think the combustion chamber will be the big design difference with the dpr head--but I am preety sure all of them use the same valvetrain componants(Ferrea)I think it would come down to who makes you feel the best about doing your head, on here your just going to get a crap load of "take your head here", "take your head there" follow your instinct it never lies.

 

I have not had any work done at DPR or Portflow to directly compare to but I had Joe Alaniz perform most of my cyl head work. It went pretty well, I was pleased with the work and Joe was really nice to deal with while talking about my plans.

I agree though, I don't think you can go wrong with either of those choices.

 

Stay away from DPR.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=626410

Portflow and Alaniz are all good.

 

Thanks for the advice.... I read your post and it sounds awful.

I was looking at his cams also, and I read the warning on the site

!!! Warning Race Use Only !!!
Due to the aggressive profile of these camshafts, we recomend that they are only tuned by a Professional Engine Tuner that fully understands their limited cam timing adjustment. Failure to comply with these limits may result in Engine Damage or Failure. Please contact us for additional information.

So I contacted him about this warning, His engine builder explained that due to the lobe separation when install at 0 and 0 they can only be separated a max of 5 degrees off of center, before valves collide.

After knowing this and reading your post, I have a few questions as to who is actually at fault.........

Let me get things strait
- The engine was running perfect
- Dan clearenced the pistons and clayed the motor to ensure proper clearence
- Dan set the cam timing
- Your Mechanic Finished the installation
- The timing belt came off due to inproper installation,
- Everything checked OK and the Engine sounded strong
- VTEC Solenoid Worked before and Doesn't Now?
- Mechanic forgot to plug in or mixed up VTEC solenoid plugs!
- Engine never ran in VTEC while Dan was present? For $9000
- Then never ran the Motor until race day to make sure VTEC was working!

I have a couple of thoughts on this..... I am not taking sides, but I am used to watching my ***. I would have paid an extra $300 for Dan to catch a later flight until I saw a Hot Lap. Second It sound Like your mechanic is not very competent. First not setting the tensioner properly, and Second not plugging in, or crossing plugs to the VTEC Solenoid (It wasn't bad.... the motor ran perfect before Dan).
Third if that was my mechanic and he made minor major mistakes like that, there is no way I would let him near the cam timing.... Especially with the sensitive nature of the DPR cams. Say for instance he advanced the intake One degree that could have been enough to send valves colliding. I don't know who to blame but I have blown up motors in the past myself and usually the final finger gets pointed back at my self. If I were you I would start with a new mechanic.

 

I had a horrible, horrible experience with DPR. Dan acts real nice on the phone but he is just lying. He had my head for 8 months when he told me 3 weeks. I called him all the time, and the lucky times I got in touch with him he said "oh this week, next week" for 6 straight months. I will NEVER use them again and will steer people away from them everytime I get the chance.

Summary:
DPR is horrible. Overcharge, take too long, and no better than what other companies are doing for cheaper and faster. He put a chocolate bar in my box when I finally got the head back. Oh wow, a chocolate bar! That makes up for the 7 months of waiting for sure! I don't even like chocolate bars.

 

There was not a later flight available and another day meant another $500 plus flight charges.Also, you could se the other complains, not only mine. All the tunning and timming was done by Dan, so any mistakes had to be done by him.
I just gave you an advice, I would go with Alaniz or POrtflow because they have proved to be very good.
Is up to you.
Jay