Not mine
Wasn’t someone looking for a W2 intake.
- Thread starter pittsburghracer
- Start date
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Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
I remember someone had the wrong one a couple of weeks ago.
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
Professor Fate
Push the button, Max...
I remember someone was looking for a "cast iron W2 2bbl." manifold- couldn't quite make heads or tails of that one.
What's your opinion of this intake?
Sorry I never touched one. I ported a W2 Victor for my old engine and loved it. She ran 9.80’s on pump gas with a .520 Racer Brown solid lifter cam.
W2 setups are so freaking cool if you really think about it. The fact that Mopar stayed dedicated to supporting racers to that level even throughout the smog era is awesome. And how capable a W2 setup really is, is impressive too.
What's the NA power capacity of these, ported to practical levels? Anyone know?
What's the NA power capacity of these, ported to practical levels? Anyone know?
PRH
Well-Known Member
We had one of those for a circle track engine about 30 years ago.
It was kind of a sham.
It was nothing but a pre-EGR 360 2-bbl intake with relocated bolt holes to line up with the w2 mounting holes.
Still had the standard size and shape intake ports, and came with an instruction sheet that basically said, don’t worry about the ports not lining up…….it makes no difference.
I wanna say it was like $450 back then.
Something fishy going on there. He joined that page and posted his for sale item the same day. I messaged him and told him that I was in KC and could bring him CASH today and he never responded.
Practical porting? A bit broad of a description but I’ll take it from this angle. The MP porting templates I have and I took them to a set of ported W2 heads I purchased from a member here. The templates fit in perfectly like the previous owner used them. The heads went 300+.
Charlie Servidio hand ported my race W2 heads and he found 323 cfm. It was not a find everything porting job. Charlie said he really liked the head a lot and found it easy to get 300 and it wasn’t much work finding the rest.
Charlie and I flowed tested the race heads as cast, the Econo heads ported and the race heads ported. You can see some results on his channel here —> https://m.youtube.com/@servediocylinderheads
look for W2 in the titles.
I don’t remember off hand what the head peaks went on the as cast, but *I Think* it was 279 cfm. That should make 558 hp as cast without getting crazy on the engine.
MoPar stated [email protected] & he found more flow at higher lifts.is lifting the valve to .650/.700 practical? IDK?!?!
The templates produced a tick over 300. The templates are a basic bowl porting and short side radius reshaping. You have to figure on how wide the short side needs to be and a FWIW, it’s not a lot.
300 cfm is 600 hp without getting crazy. But it’s going to be fairly stout. No wimpy cams and soft compression & dual plane intakes.
The race heads were a little more than the template porting and I wouldn’t call this a job and rookie or just anybody can do since you’ll have to understand what needs to be done in order to find another 23 cfm to get the 323 cfm Charlie got.
Charlie did say this is about what is practical and going beyond this would probably be approaching excessive for the displacement of the engine without getting crazy on the ports like Bill Glidden did back in the day. It would work well with the intakes keeping the stock port size and shape. He felt going beyond this would be bad since he doesn’t know the head and would have to cut one up to see where he could go. He predicted if the metal was in all the right spots, it could support enough air to run in the low 8’s and on a big displacement. Think 434/440 small block in a race setting. In which he didn’t know it but he was right.
Back to practical porting……. 300 cfm is your EZ to get number.
600hp is obtainable. More is available if you press the issue.
BAMMM!!!!!!
Thanks, that's exactly the commentary I was looking for. Appreciate that.
I have definitely seen some crazy looking W2 ports. Very large rectangular ports. It's actually pretty wild how much can be carved out of these. But that's not the realm I was interested in. Definitely cool, but way beyond what would be reasonable to invest in a set of cast iron heads, unless you happened upon them, already modified.
Pretty cool that ootb heads can essentially be pocket ported to 600 hp capability.
It’s been a long time since I flow my old stock W2 heads but they flowed real good real fast then fell off. I mean like [email protected] then dropped off rapidly. It’s no wonder they ran so well with the small cams we ran back then. And then as it says above with a little work easily went over ever with the stock 3/8 valve. What a beautiful short side they have. It’s probably one of those what if moments I still have thinking I wonder what I could have gotten out of a set with a 11/32 (2.08) valve.
This became a bit of a long winded reply. Apologies.
If you’re interested in doing a set of W2 heads, look for them used. Hopefully with the rockers. The rockers I picked up for the Econo heads are Harland Sharps. While the W2 parts are more expensive than a standard LA set up, it’s not a huge amount of money and the return on the heads out weigh the cost vs the LA parts.
I see this as the same for any head that is beyond the LA layout. But the thing is, are you going to take advantage of what is offered by the head or not? The LA offerings for cylinder heads these days IMO top out with the TF head. This is a case of the available head flow X’s 2 as a basic idea of what could be possible & the willingness to go there.
This basically will require a pretty stout build and a sizable camshaft. If your not willing to go there, stay with the LA head designed heads and just decide on the cam to perform in the RPM range of the performance window your looking to do.
While the MoPars do not have a selection of heads like the Chevy and Ford crowd does, the bases are covered. Without porting for a example;
Stock to mild power could be the OEM head or an as cast Edelbrock
Hot street/light drag - Edelbrock, Brodix & Trickflow
Street beast/Drag - W series heads most notable being the W9 & a Victor head.
The first two selections can be ported to the next level up at a cost that many don’t think about that could be counter productive money wise when the next level of head should have been purchased to start with.
While porting the lower power potential head and rocker gear could be cheaper overall, so is the potential power output while the machining maxed out the heads potential the next level head still has a higher ceiling. If your paying for the work to be done, this is expensive.
Think twice, leap once.
This what I did on the wife’s car. A few have said I under utilized the TF head and to a degree, I agree. However, for the price paid against what others considered to be a more reasonable and better “Fitting” Edelbrock head, the TF is offering better flow OOTB rather than paying a fella for porting the Edelbrock head to match it or exceed it.
Price check both heads, check flow rates of the head at the cam lift intended on being used, check your local porters pricing on adjusting (porting) the heads to match the next level head, add up the cost.
Price check isle you!
Pittsburghracer ports his own heads and until you can match his learned skills, the piper must be paid. He has shown what can be done to the heads for power improvements and his really very good time slips showing 9 second runs is an awesome testament. His shown flow bench results show a hefty improvement.
As an enthusiast entering the power game and trying to make enough power to duplicate John’s cars performance (or anyone’s for that matter) while paying for the work yourself, start with a better head and go from there.
Always! Get the best cylinder head for the job to start with to get to the target power level sought.
I recommend this tongue in cheek because what we are sold isn’t what we are getting. Indy heads don’t flow the advertised number and a head I really promoted, TrickFlow has proven to be inconsistent. One good port, two bad ports. I can’t tell you how many Chevy head I’ve found to be way off on advertised flow numbers. It’s a shame.
To add to this the top of the line W7, W8, and W9 heads are basically a raw casting with terrible flow numbers much like a big block B1 head.
True to both statements.
To NBT’s statement.
No one makes a perfect head OOTB with ports flowing equally and never will. This we know, many don’t realize.
To Pittsburgh’s statement;
Very true on the W series heads. MoPar states there W9 is a 300 cfm head OOTB, but that OOTB requires everything. I have not personally seen any OOTB flow numbers on the W7-8-9 castings. Just final results afterwards.
To NBT’s statement.
No one makes a perfect head OOTB with ports flowing equally and never will. This we know, many don’t realize.
To Pittsburgh’s statement;
Very true on the W series heads. MoPar states there W9 is a 300 cfm head OOTB, but that OOTB requires everything. I have not personally seen any OOTB flow numbers on the W7-8-9 castings. Just final results afterwards.
mopar65
Well-Known Member
Here is a set of indy W2 heads to go with this intake. I found them on marketplace yesterday.
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