rjgideon
Active Member
I sold my A-body last March, but I keep coming back to the site for updates on this thread. Go man, Go!
1964 Valiant "Get Runnin & Drivin"
- Thread starter RustyRatRod
- Start date
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Well.......A little back story on this cylinder head. I took it to a machine shop in Macon. Guy is a friend of mine. always been a real straight shooter. I wanted it milled the obligatory .100" to raise compression. He has an OLD Van Norman rotary broach. Yeah, it's not "the best" but it's nice and in really good condition. So......couple weeks later he calls me up. He's tryin to tell me somethin and finally I said "Just say it, dude". Seems one end of the head slipped out of the jaws on the broach when it was cutting. He stopped it and set it all back up but it ended up milling it crooked. He didn't try to sugar coat it. He didn't lie about. I respect that. He didn't charge me, either. So......here I was with a head that had a very noticeable difference to the nekkid eye to the chambers on either end of the head. Fast forward to now, when I need the head to raise compression on this 225 I'm fixin to put in Vixen. SO........I contact another friend who I know works in Macon at a smaller shop. Seems now he's working on the side after he gets off there in a race shop in Gordon.....like 6 miles down the road from the house.....and has one of the latest Rotler milling machines. Says if the valve cover rail is a machined surface......and it is, he can fix this head. Now, keep in mind, this head has already been milled at least .100" and probably more trying to get it back right. So he sets it up off the valve cover rail and takes some cuts. This is the result. Look how even those chambers are. ...and how small. LOL
I also sent my cam core to Ken Heard at Oregon Cam, today. Going for a modified #280 grind. .438/.444 lift, 230/232 @ .050 and he's going to try to get it on a 106 LSA so it will rattle um off. Slants have a 109 LSA so he is pretty sure he can do it. Low lift for low stress on the valve train and good reliability and a good bit of duration on a tight LSA to sound good. That oughtta be fun.
Man I ain't skeered of gears. I had a 65 with a very hot stock stroke 360 I drove on the street everyday back and forth to work WITH interstate time for almost four years with 4.30s under it. That car was an absolute hoot to drive. Never lost a street race......not that I did that type thing. My plans are at least a 235 60 15....or "whatever" the spare tire well will hold so I'll have some height back there. It's buzzing along now 3000-3500 at 60 with 13s so what's the difference? LOL
It just never has made sense to my why people puss out when it comes to gears. They make all the other changes, big cam, loose converter and then.........3.55s? GHEY. As HELL!
I talked to Richie last night. He said he had to take off another .055" off the head to get it straight. It already had "somewhere" over .100 off to begin with. I'll cc it when I get it here and see where it's at. With 230-232 @ .050 on at the very least a 108 more likely a 106, I don't think it'll have any problem with too much cylinder pressure. Oughtta be pretty snappy. THIS head is not getting larger valves OR any port work, though. It's funny though, it's EXTREMELY clean where the seat area transitions into the bowl, I mean freakishly clean. There are no ridges there whatsoever. Almost like someone's been in there already, but it's a stock head. I pulled it off the original engine it was on. A 65 170.
Is there still lots of deck thickness left in that head?
Yeah it's pretty thick. I haven't had hands on it since it's been milled AGAIN, but it had "only" .055" off this time and it was pretty thick before. I'll pick it up this evening and see.
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JDMopar
Well-Known Member
See if you can keep a straight face....and ask the machinist if he plans to cut the intake face so everything will line up right!
See if you can keep a straight face....and ask the machinist if he plans to cut the intake face so everything will line up right!
That's funny. Richie's a real clown too, so he'll probably like that. lol
I asked the small town machine shop guy about milling mine .08 and he said " Get the F*** out of here!"
Oh, I guess you wont like the 276 gears in my Slant then! But man can I cruise.
I like both sides of the spectrum. But for a car that rarely if at all sees long road trips, I'll slam a 4 series gear in it in a hurry.
Got the head back tonight. He did a great job on it. I know it's just millin a head....but.....
I CC'd each end chamber. Both are a perfect 34CC's. LOL That's SMALL. Pistons down in the hole .175 and compression still comes in at 10.2. I HOPE that camshaft grind has a pretty late IVC event. I may call Ken tomorrow and talk it over. We may need a "bigger grind". LOL
I CC'd each end chamber. Both are a perfect 34CC's. LOL That's SMALL. Pistons down in the hole .175 and compression still comes in at 10.2. I HOPE that camshaft grind has a pretty late IVC event. I may call Ken tomorrow and talk it over. We may need a "bigger grind". LOL
And yes, the head could probably go another .100 before things got too thin. I would guess the deck surface was around 5/8" thick before milling.
chinze57
Push Button tranny and a Slant 6 that'll never die
Rusty, for my own edumacation what’s the benefit of higher compression?
That head went from 90 pounds down to 50 pounds!!! Well, maybe I exaggerate!???
It will be interesting to see how this sucker runs after all these changes.
It will be interesting to see how this sucker runs after all these changes.
Makes the engine more efficient and produces more power. Rule of thumb is for every 1 compression point, power increases 3%. That's all other things being equal. With the addition of different camshaft, 4 barrel carburetor and bigger exhaust, those numbers increase.
I can honestly tell a difference between the non milled head when I pick it up.
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Heck yea, ya took off a quarter of an inch!!! I want mine milled a lot, not for just performance, just so I can lift it on and off the engine!!!
I don't know. I haven't measured it yet. I gotta find my dial caliper.
I caint find my dial caliper, dangit, or I could measure an unmilled head and compare. It'll turn up. Anyway, I had to back up and punt on the cam grind choice. My first choice didn't have a late enough intake valve closing event. DCR was up in the 9s. That won't work. So. Going with a different grind. .447/.447 250 @ .050 on both sides on a 106.....104.....however low he can get it and install straight up. I need the low lift so I can use springs I already have. It'll be all good though. Low lift=low stress and the FAT duration and tight LSA will make it sound really nasty. I honestly don't think it'll lose much on the bottom side, because the car is just SO light. I'm going to assemble the head tomorrow and get a better feel for whether I'll need shorter pushrods. It's gonna be close I think. They are around 54CCs stock. Now this one is 34CCs. That's a lot gone. Installing straight up if it gets cut on a 106 will put me at 8.02 DCR. I guess I could retard it 4* and that would get me like 7.9 DCR. We'll see how it goes together. Should be a fun build.
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chinze57
Push Button tranny and a Slant 6 that'll never die
Rusty I’ll get you the badges and pay for gas if you’ll take it to a caffeine and octane here in Atlanta and say it’s a Type R with a straight face lol
Ha! That's funny.
Well I got lucky. I assembled the head tonight with the springs I plan to use. Mocked up the head with head gasket and loosely bolted the head down with head bolts. Mocked up the rocker arms and shaft and snugged the shaft down. I installed two pushrods and adjusted .010 intake and .020 exhaust and I'm not going to need shorter pushrods. Amazing considering I had milled off at least .150". So I caught a break there. I'll go ahead and bolt and torque the head on down tomorrow afternoon after church.
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Oops. I forgot. I caint quite do that yet. I gotta wait till I get the camshaft back. Caint get the old lifters out and new ones in with the head on. Oh well, at least I know it'll all work. Yay me. LOL
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