"Look Ma, it fits"

Discussion in 'Race 400/430/455' started by Jim Weise, Dec 15, 2017.

  1. Jim Weise

    Jim Weise EFI/DIS 482

    These are the pictures of the first A body fitting of the KB Wildcat Billet heads, intake and valve covers.

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    The "founder" of this performance feast, Mr Ken Betts.

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    Bucy, Betts and the new owner, Guy Parquette, all taking pictures with a telephonic device.. these fine shots were captured on a old fashion camera.. :eek::cool:

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    Fit was better than expected, may be able to use his old TA slip fit headers, with a wedge plate, later heads may have the exhaust port exit angle changed, to match existing headers.

    Look is a subjective thing, but I would say it looks really awesome, with the spread port intake.

    We are progressing with this project, the ports are now fine tuned, flow is up everywhere, and we will have the first motor on the dyno this spring with them.

    JW
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2017
    Grandpas67, gs66, Julian and 6 others like this.
  2. moleary

    moleary GOD Bless America

    GEENARLY !
     
  3. GS Kubisch

    GS Kubisch THE "CUT-UP" BUICK

    Great stuff JW. Thanks for sharing !
     
  4. Gallagher

    Gallagher Founders Club Member

    Awesome. Thanks for posting the pics.
     
  5. 1972Mach1

    1972Mach1 Just some M.M.O.G. guy.....

    That looks amazing, fellas. Beautiful work.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2017
  6. OHC JOE

    OHC JOE Mullet Mafia since 2020

    Man ken those things look sweet buddy.
    It's been a long time in the making
     
  7. ken betts

    ken betts Well-Known Member

    Wow! Two of the most awesome cars you will ever see in the same garage. A single four barrel will fit under the S2 Hood scoop! I met a great company of profession people while I was in town. Most were either hard core Buick racers or super impressed Machinists. We actually had better flow numbers than a set of Big Chief heads with CNC"d ports.
     
  8. BuickGSrules

    BuickGSrules Gold Level Contributor

    Wow, just simple Wow!
     
  9. StagedCat

    StagedCat Platinum Level Contributor

    Looks awesome....
     
  10. Philip66

    Philip66 Well-Known Member

    Looks amazing!! Really!!
    Kinda makes those Dominators look small...
     
  11. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

    Whish I would have taken more pics but my smart phone was being dumb. You win Jim! IMG_20171213_144434.jpg
     
  12. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

  13. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

  14. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

  15. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

    Don't know how you got it done Ken, Jim, Mike. But thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

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  16. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Holy crap, that is one SWEET setup! Well done to all involved, taking on a project such as this, seeing it through, and then getting good results to boot is an absolutely stellar achievement. You guys are really doing something outstanding in our little corner of the automotive performance world, you should be very proud.
     
  17. skierkaj

    skierkaj Day 2 Street Screamer

    This project is, "out of this world cool". Looking forward to seeing it on the track!

    Oh, and, what kind of flow numbers are we looking at here?
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2017
  18. Briz

    Briz Founders Club Member

    How many years out are the heads for production and sale to the public? Need to start saving now.
     
  19. Jim Weise

    Jim Weise EFI/DIS 482

    Whose the fat guy in the gray sweatshirt? :eek:

    I am going to tape that picture to the refrigerator door, I swear..

    Briz, I am pretty sure Ken intends to have everything ready for sale later this year. Head, intakes, valve covers, rockers ect, those parts already exist, I have them for Guy's motor, and Ken's test engine.

    John,

    I will let Ken make the decision on when to release the flow numbers, he is excited to get the first motor on the dyno with them, and may wait till then to talk about head flow. I think he wants to stay away from the hype.. provide some dyno numbers to go with air numbers, and then track numbers to round things out.

    What I can tell you is that my longtime porter, Brian Hanson over at R&R did the fine tuning on the ports.. He did one cylinder for Ken, all kinds of clay was involved, was quite a development project for him.. It was on the flow bench 33 times, fine tuning that one exhaust and intake port. As usual, his work was outstanding, providing an average increase of 18% on a very good head to begin with.

    As Ken mentioned, Brian showed us a flow sheet for a set he had flowed on his bench,....CNC ported Big Chief heads, from a major vendor.. and Ken's head is right with it, actually better at some lifts, so it's right there with what has been the "benchmark" for performance heads over the years.

    So all that work is done for you now, and pointing Ken in the right direction for this work was my small part in this project so far, going forward I will be building both Guy's and Ken's motors, to dyno test these things.

    Ken is really working hard to develop this head/intake program, to not only make it work as well as it can, but also to make it as cost effective as possible. That's why he spent a considerable sum this summer, on this port development work.. that one set of ports will be now digitized, and incorporated into every new cylinder head produced.

    He was just in town for a visit, to meet with all my vendors, he is currently looking for a more business friendly environment to base KB racing.. apparently California has some crazy laws that are driving small business out by the thousands.

    After meeting with him and spending 4 days together, I can say I have absolutely no problem vouching for both Ken, and his products.. he's a good guy here, and is working now with folks in the Buick community to actually produce these parts. He says his goal is to make Buicks as fast as any other make, and I believe him. He's retired and "has made his money" so he had no ulterior motive here.. he just has always wanted to do this, so he is.

    He also has some great stories about Kenne-Bell, when he ran it back in the mid 70's.

    JW
     
  20. HotRodRivi

    HotRodRivi Tomahawks sighted overseas

    May I please have an update.
     
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