Massaged Cylinder Head

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Greg Bryan
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Massaged Cylinder Head

#1 Post by Greg Bryan »

I recently got 3 heads similar to this one in a stash of parts that came with a 912 I bought. What would you do with them? (be kind!)
head 1.jpg
Has been ported to the nth degree - big enough to throw a cat through
head 2.jpg
8mm intake guides - maybe the seat is larger than stock, too, but I didn't measure it
head 3.jpg
Allard - presumably the firm that did the porting work - name is on all three of the heads
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Steve Harrison
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#2 Post by Steve Harrison »

Send em to Vic or someone with a flow measuring machine and see what it does.
You’d be able to get info as compared to stock and known good modifieds.
Mighty be worth it just to see how something like that does or doesn’t do.

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Adam Wright
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#3 Post by Adam Wright »

Chuck Allard is known engine builder on the East Coast, might want to check with him.
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Wes Bender
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#4 Post by Wes Bender »

That ought to slow the flow down quite a bit. Bet that's why they aren't on an engine now......
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

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Vic Skirmants
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#5 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Killer ports; not very streetable. High rpm range only.

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C J Murray
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#6 Post by C J Murray »

They have some unusualness to them, even for race heads. Maybe the pictures have distorted but it looks like relatively large exhaust valves. He likes sodium filled exhaust valves I guess but modernized the intake stem size. The chambers don't "look right" and the ports look too big but all opinions are meaningless when the guy cruises by on the race track. Maybe it works on a race track but Vic's warning about street performance being poor is almost certainly true.
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Jacques Lefriant
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#7 Post by Jacques Lefriant »

Hi Greg
show them to Brian Pauter at Pauter machine i will introduce him to you.
jacques
 

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Greg Bryan
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#8 Post by Greg Bryan »

I think the exhaust seats are stock size but not sure about the intakes. I have valves that came with them and I'll measure them to see what they are.
I don't know much, but I know enough not to put these on my putting around 356 motor. Probably breath pretty good at 7000 rpm. though. Not sure what to do with them - maybe I'll put them on the classified and see if someone can use them. They appear to be nicely done ...
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Greg Bryan
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#9 Post by Greg Bryan »

Thanks, Jacques. I really enjoyed the tour of your shop last week - it was overwhelming!
Regards
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Jacques Lefriant
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#10 Post by Jacques Lefriant »

my pleasure
 

Martin Bruechle
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#11 Post by Martin Bruechle »

Greg, take it to
Rick Kemph Cylinder Heads and ask him.
He has been doing heads for a long time, started with VW Porsche and I heard
he is doing TRD Nascar now. Near Channel and Gaffey.

Address: 771 W Battery St, San Pedro, CA 90731
Phone: (310) 831-7759

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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#12 Post by Greg Bryan »

Martin - I had no idea - 2 miles from my place ......
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#13 Post by Ron LaDow »

C J Murray wrote:...The chambers don't "look right"
I thought so, too, but it looks like (outside of the relief around the intake valve head), the quench surface was saved. But it also seems the conical cut was ignored when the sealing surface was cut, meaning that worthless 'peripheral chamber' is still there.
C J Murray wrote:but all opinions are meaningless when the guy cruises by on the race track
Agreed. If it works, well, it works. But it may not be a result of what we're seeing.
As a hot-rod kid, an acquaintance was protested after winning in Altered drag class. He would allow a volume test of his engine (a 348 Chev), but forfeited the win by not allowing a disassembly. What ever he was doing to make a 348 run like that was his business.
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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#14 Post by Martin Bruechle »

Greg Bryan wrote:Martin - I had no idea - 2 miles from my place ......
Either did I till about a month ago. He did some type 4 VW heads for me around 1990,
I have a friend with a shop on Battery St that told me he was up the street. I'm over by Torrance Beach
and work on the docks. Rick was in Carson then Signal Hill for decades.

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Re: Massaged Cylinder Head

#15 Post by Chuck Allard »

Holy cow! I haven't seen those heads since the early '80s. I was building and racing a Convertible D (which I later traded to Tim Berardelli) from 1977 to 1981. Knowing nothing about tricks for racing, I spent a lot of time talking to and most of my money with Robert Overby of E-Production SCCA National Championship fame. I would buy his prior year development parts for my Regional efforts. I wound up joining his "Camshaft of the Month Club", used his Cosworth recommended pistons and finally bought a set of his "D-Port" heads. Since I couldn't spell flow-bench, I trusted that his parts were state of the art at the time. Also, since his heads were VERY expensive and Visa had cut me off, I decided to try my hand at porting more heads for my spare engines. I used Overby's pair of heads as the model and did my best to match their measurements and contours. No empirical testing was ever done by me. In those days, we had to run the stock connecting rods and crankshaft so my racing range was 4000-7400 RPM with never a failure. No low end torque and with a 2B, A, E, 3C gearbox, getting out of the paddock to the track was tricky.
When I moved from racing 356s to 911s, I worked a deal with Tim and another fellow who was racing a 912 for all of my 4 cylinder parts. Both myself and Tim were successful with our Convertible D and Tim went on to race it for about 10 years. The 912 guy, not so much. With the 911 that I raced, I had full use of an engine dyno and began to learn how much I didn't know about induction. I only wished that I had had an opportunity to test the 4 cylinder engines. Each year, Overby claimed an increase in HP; 165, 180, almost 200 and a shorter lifespan on his engines. Today, I hear that with different cranks and rods, some of the 356 engines are turning much more than 8000 RPM and producing gobs of HP. I'd love to see what those heads look like! Perhaps Tim can share how those heads that I had engraved with my name came to light again.

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