Homemade heads?

Has anyone just fabricated homemade heads? I'm brainstorming about homemade/fabricated heads and fabricated intake. The amount of time spent on "factory" castings to port/ polish etc, seems like you could get a good start on just making some. If I have seats installed, milled flat, and bronze bushings installed, what would be the difference if it were in factory cast iron, or fabricated with mild steel? Am i completely crazy for even considering this?

yes, crazy, I built an intake and that was enough work, you have to decide when your time becomes worth to much

That looks stout.
I am curious if anyone has fabricated heads mainly.
I have haven't seen too many pictures of intakes, yours looks like it's well made.

bw68d100318 said:

That looks stout.
I am curious if anyone has fabricated heads mainly.
I have haven't seen too many pictures of intakes, yours looks like it's well made.

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it worked really good, dyno showed that it picked up power but not enough to make it worth it to me, not for the amount of time I had in building it

At some point, every cylinder head on earth was a hand-built cylinder head.

Sure, you can do it. If you're good enough to beat what's already out there, you can make enough money to buy instead of make, though

You could machine some heads out of solid blocks of aluminum, if you had the machinery and talent. It is being done by top engine builders, but the price is way out there. I can't say I've ever seen heads made from weldments. I believe the combustion pressure inside requires amuch more robust construction than a bunch of smaller pieces welded together. Along with the intricate shapes of the passageways inside, (don't forget, you have air/fuel running thru them besides water and oil passages!) plus allowing for room for the valves and all the hardware that attaches everything... it isn't a job any novice, or even most experts is going to be able to handle.

A guy CNC'd an entire slant head over on slantsix.org. cooling isnt that difficuly, just bore the largest tunnel you can in the head and cap and tap the ends. hemi head would be easier to cast as its runners can be straight in a cross flow head. You could make a flathead head with a 4" slab of metal. Not worth it unless you have the CNC and the time and the know how.

Give R&J Performance a call. They have machined cylinder heads out of billet before and they specialize in Mopar and especially cylinder heads.

R & J Performance Enterprises
Address: 4611 Hudson Road, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Phone319) 988-3595

I guess I'm just wondering why no one/few fabricate their own heads, not out of a chunk of aluminium, but pieced together. I understand it would take a lot of planning and time, but heads are what make an engine, cams move the torque curve around, but the curve stays a similar shape, I believe because of the heads. I might pursue this idea and document the process here.

bw68d100318 said:

I guess I'm just wondering why no one/few fabricate their own heads, not out of a chunk of aluminium, but pieced together. I understand it would take a lot of planning and time, but heads are what make an engine, cams move the torque curve around, but the curve stays a similar shape, I believe because of the heads. I might pursue this idea and document the process here.

Click to expand...

A fabricated head is going to have a lot of potential failure issues that a head machined out of a solid piece of metal isn't going to have. First off is strength, the cylinder pressures are significant, and the head will also have to withstand being torqued down to the engine without catastrophic distortion. Those are not small things. The distortion effect is probably more significant, even the stock heads distort when torqued. Not saying it can't be done, but that will take some serious thought. Next is the number of potential leaks. If you're fabricating a head, every joint and seam is a potential leak, whether it be water or vacuum. Vacuum is a pretty high standard when it comes to containing leaks. I'm sure its been done, but I can't recall any constructed heads on anything in recent history.

And of course, time and money. Your first effort probably won't be successful, so that means doing this more than once. And that may include rebuilding your test engine more than once, depending on what isn't successful the first (or second, or third) time around. With the relatively low price of aftermarket heads, even people that are capable of pulling it off don't bother. Again, not saying it can't be done. But I'd bet that when you're done, you'll have spent far more money than you would have on a set of heads that's already on the market. And given the capabilities of those heads, the bar is set pretty high if you're going to make a better head.