Home head porting info question

[Mike Van Veghten]

I know to many, this is a way to trash a good cylinder head.
But I've been moderatly carefully experimenting with the goal to make a Stude intake port flow well.
This work has gone on over the past year or so.

I've come to find many do's and don'ts.

There may be some of you that would like to have a head that flows over 210cfm...but don't want to spend $2500.00 (or so) on a set of heads.

If there is enough desire, Sonny over at the Stude Racing site is willing to put up a section or "sticky" for me to lay out what I've learned to try to let others know so they can do their own heads without the worry about hurting....flow OR the actual iron..!

It'll take a while to fully lay out and I want to make sure there is enough desire for this kind of info.

So...let me know...are you interested?

Mike

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

YES PLEASE!

Mike,

I've been following your posts on porting heads but you have never posted the flow numbers.(maybe I missed it)

At what lift are you getting that 210cfm? Inquiring minds would like to know! I've got a set of heads on my old 289 that I would like to do and would certainly give it a go with a good tutorial.

I've got the die grinder and cutters ready to go but need the polishing rolls to complete the job.

While you were experimenting, did you port different styles of porting chambers on one head then bench flow the different valve chambers to see the results?

My R2 heads have some mild "street" porting done and I should find and post the bench flow results on this thread if you don't mind.

Allen




1964 R2 GT Hawk

1963 Daytona Convertible
Oakville, Ontario.
Hamilton Chapter
See you in Cedar Rapids Summer 2009

[sals54]

Mike, I would also love to see them. I have done my own in the past, but would love to see what some of the new ideas are. These heads would, no doubt, do wonders for a turbo engine.

sals54

[r1lark]

Yes, yes, yes, YES!!

Mike, knowing that this will be a significant undertaking to lay this out, I for one appreciate very much your willingness to do it.

Sonny, are you listening?

Paul
Winston-Salem, NC
Visit The NEW Studebaker Skytop Registry website at: www.studebakerskytop.com

[55pres]

Yes!

Randy Wakefield
----------------------
1955 President sedan

"For the future that we wait..."

[allstateguy]

YES PLEASE, with lots of pix and why each step is done and what the results of each step are.
And THANK YOU for even considering sharing this valuable info!!

JohnP, driving & reviving
an early Lark

[Karl]

Yes Mike,If you post it I will try to copy it.And say thank when done[8D]

[StudeRich]

Yes, VERY DEFINITELY YES! I have been wanting to know the do's and don't for years, to try to make a better set of heads than the 537555 casting # heads with "312" Ford Intakes I have that were professionally ported in 1964. [^]


StudeRich at Studebakers Northwest -Ferndale,WA

[silverhawk]

Please, it would be really nice for a beginer, such as myself.

Dylan Wills

'61 lark deluxe 4 door wagon

[Ron Dame]

Got any ideas for an OHV 6 head? Even if you don't, get a sticky there. I need to get over there and see what is what.

quote:Originally posted by Mike Van Veghten

I know to many, this is a way to trash a good cylinder head.
But I've been moderatly carefully experimenting with the goal to make a Stude intake port flow well.
This work has gone on over the past year or so.

I've come to find many do's and don'ts.

There may be some of you that would like to have a head that flows over 210cfm...but don't want to spend $2500.00 (or so) on a set of heads.

If there is enough desire, Sonny over at the Stude Racing site is willing to put up a section or "sticky" for me to lay out what I've learned to try to let others know so they can do their own heads without the worry about hurting....flow OR the actual iron..!

It'll take a while to fully lay out and I want to make sure there is enough desire for this kind of info.

So...let me know...are you interested?

Mike

Ron Dame
'63 Champ

[jjones]

Please do--my gasket matching port job and R3 valves helped a lot but I'd like to know how to do it right.

Jeff


Jeff Jones
Tucson Arizona
1947 M-5

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

For those interested here is Mike's original post regarding head porting

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...s=Head,porting

quote:Mike Van Veghten
Commander Member

USA
1088 Posts

Posted - 01/18/2009 : 7:57:38 PM Show Profile Email Poster Reply with Quote
For anyone with a hand grinder, here's something to think about if your'e looking to make power and go fast.

I'll be checking these on a flow bench next week to find out which port is the best. They are all a little different.
Then hopefully sometime this summer...in a 299 Stude engine in my 54 Conestoga.

http://public.fotki.com/-Mike-/

Click on - ".050" move, Intake port"
Double click to enlarge.

Mike

P.s. - If you are interested in the flow numbers go to the "Studebaker Racing" site next weekend.

Mike has some excellent pictures on this post. Thanks again for posting Mike and I am looking forward to seeing the results from the flow bench.


PS. I found my results from the porting I had done on my heads and they are no where near 210 cfm but I would love to get close to that on my next set of heads.

Here's what I have:

--------------CCFM--------------CCFM
Lift--------Stock Head-------Ported Head

0.050-----------34.4-------------44.8
0.100-----------59.7-------------66.4
0.150-----------76.3-------------82.6
0.200-----------95.7------------100.1
0.250----------106.0------------117.6
0.300----------118.8------------137.3
0.350----------130.4------------151.2
0.400----------138.3------------167.6
0.450----------143.1------------180.2
0.500----------144.6------------188.9

It works out that at my .422 lift I'm getting about 25% better flow through my heads. Not great numbers but I didn't pay $1500-2500 for a set of heads either.

Cheers,

Allen


1964 R2 GT Hawk

1963 Daytona Convertible
Oakville, Ontario.
Hamilton Chapter
See you in Cedar Rapids Summer 2009

[gordr]

Mike, if you do put something like that together please let us know here when it's available.

Seems to me that head porting would be a real winner for a hands-on tech session at the upcoming national meet. Any chance you might be interested? And a video could be made of the demonstration, and sold to offset expenses.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[Mike Van Veghten]

Ok...had a long talk with Sonny this evening. Looks like this will happen.
While it won't happen over night, I will start working on it. It's gonna take some time.

I also may split the work into two "stages"...if you will. One for as much as one can "fairly" easily get out of a normal Stude head....and one for more moderate performance which will include the possibility of better gas milage and some increase in power.

For anyone that is privliged enough to have a set of R3 heads that doesn't mind "working" on them a little...everything I've done will work on the R3 head also.

As much as I'd like to add material to a coupla areas of these ports...no welding required.

This will sooner or later...be on Sonnys Racing Studebaker site.
I'll let everyone know when it's ready for human consumption.

gordr -

quote:Seems to me that head porting would be a real winner for a hands-on tech session at the upcoming national meet. Any chance you might be interested?

That would an interesting/fun feat. Not sure how I'd make something like that presentable to onlookers though. All the work is burried inside the tiny little Stude port. We'd need a small camera mounted to the tip of the grinder..!
I suppose a cut across the middle of a head to take the top of the head off would help make everything visable. But even that's not exactly on every shops desire to do list. I had one head cut up, and the shop owner was tearing his hair out when the blade ran into the water jacket wires and dulled three big band saw blades!

Mike