It is NOT a time issue. Never said he was too busy to post. Just said he was busy, period. I don't appreciate you calling BS on one of my Friends. There are reasons best left alone as to him not on the site. Keep posting. We'll keep reading.
Gary, Thanks, but I didn't. I got some decent advice about unshrouding the valves from my machinist, at the time I never realized that Buick did the same for the Stage 1 valves in a secondary operation at the plant. I'd never seen a Stage 1 head, so kudos to him for the recommendations. I don't know what you mean by finding a "perfect vortex". I had fun working on these 430 heads over the years, and I battled the cracks around the rocker pedestals that happens often, especially when a cam requires higher spring pressures. These heads got welded at one point, brazed at another. They survived another mishap, a severe overheating that dropped two of the hardened exhaust seats. Catastrophic piston failure to boot. Took the heads back to the shop even though I'd not seen them in twenty years. Owner said "here you go, fixed up but you should retire them". I took that to heart. Later bolted on a set of Gessler's TA heads. Devon P.S. Thanks to some guys in Flint around '88 I got to see what the chamber of a production Stage 1 head looked like. In '90 I got to hear about the process from a guy who was responsible for the work at Buick from the quality control side. Nobody was happy when the heads came down for the bigger valves, it was out of the ordinary for them. When tooling got worn, it wasn't something that got a lot of attention, if you get my drift.
re: cylinder head porting, I've been building engines and hot rodding cars for 35 years...one thing I learned really quick: you're WAY better off just buying a new set of aftermarket hipo cylinder heads, that already have larger ports and valves and flow the numbers, than spending a ton of time and money porting factory iron heads. just about any head can be improved by raising the roof, widening the port and straightening it, and put in larger valves. the aftermarket heads already have all that stuff, as cast/machined, ready to bolt on the only time porting iron heads makes sense, is class racing where rules require stock heads
Amen to that! With the Buick 350 we had no choice but to port iron heads to go fast, but now wih the TA alum heads coming out it will be a no brainer to use them in anything looking for big power gains over stock... My last set of ported iron 350 heads cost about $1300 by the time they were done, and that was not a max effort port job. Another statement I agree with is the fellow who said that boost can make the hp.... This is so true! Even with close to stock iron heads almost all engines can make enough power to find the limits of the stock bottom end when using some boost... Here is a mild 350 that features iron heads ported by a 16 year old.... It wakes right up with a few psi! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zktYYQhCtqU
Devon, by reading the biggest names in the industry of cylinder head development work and port and polishers, That is their findings on the dyno and track. This guys would literally take off their cyl. heads and try something different in their ports! To me that was ballsy! My Uncle that was at the Buick engine plant as a learning in process person, witnessed these process and wrote a lot of that stuff down as notes. He told me they needed to be layed back more, I asked him what needed to be layed back more? His response was this " The Combustion Chamber walls and a bigger relief one on the unshrouding especially on shallow end." , When I recently called him on that he said this, "Look at aftermarket heads and you'll see what I mean." Most of my work has been by reading and trial and error .
I have disagree, I have seen some cast iron heads work better then aftermarkt heads. Yes, it was not a full race engine but a semi-mild build ( meaning not stock and not mild either just a gas saver and little over stock power) But, on that note, I can not afford $1500.00 for aftermarket heads and I do have the tools to do valve inlargement and full port work without a flowbench. I have worked wonders with stock cast iron heads. Anyone that can get close to 1000 horsepower with cast heads is pretty good and I have in the past. Yes 650 hp isn't really close but for heads that make Buick heads look like aftermarket heads and make them breath is a challenge not a go buy your way to high hp. My point is this, The very first thing I'm building is a 455+ Cubic inch bb Buick with stock parts except cam, rockers, intake, pistons , and carb. My goal is atleast 750 hp from all my notes that I have collected and received . Yes, it will be a high compression and definitely a roller cam that will be custom made to my build. After that, I'll be collecting aftermarket heads to see where it takes me. Sooner or later I'll have to sercome to a TA Tomahawk block. When that happens, I'll be either spraying a ton of nitrous or having to team up with Mike Moran of Moran Motorsports to do a full blowin twin turbo monster. That's why I'm waiting on the new heads to see what they look like and what they can do! I love doing challenges and my plate is full and I want to add more but can't for now.
Since this is a cylinder head thread,yes it's about porting! I have a dilemma that needs explanation!Everyone knows about the 1000+ horsepower 548 cubic inch TA Performance Tomahawk Buick that has Stage 2T.E. cylinder heads, but there is 455 cast iron GM block engine that was built by Automotive Machine & Performance that had the Stage 2 T.E. cylinder heads too on that engine. Here is the difference now, The 548 has the best of everything and 93 Cubic inches bigger than the A.M.& P 455 but, both shared the same exact Stage 2 T.E. cylinder heads. Yes,one was done differently then the other but, usually having damn near a hundred cubic inches more will net more then 200 horsepower difference! Here is another Question now, is the Stage 3 cylinder heads not as good as the Stage 2 T.E.'s? How about the Stage 4's over both of them? Are the port designsbad or not enough material in the cylinder heads to make them flow or as I say, do their job? I don't mean any disrespect to either of these great establishment's nor TA Performance. I just like to know what is wrong with this situation ?
I can't guarantee anything but, from the information I have received on here, nothing is impossible !
Why not start with a ta block? It seems like a waste Of money to try to make a stock block and rods work at high 750 hp.. You could still do the iron heads on a ta block if you wanted to try to break records for iron head hp...
By going with a Factory block versus a TA Proformance Products aftermarket block is simple. The aftermarket block does not move around because of all the structure bracing while the factory block will move around and is not stable by far. Ya it seems a waste of money because eventually something is gonna go south but, from my studies in here and in real world machine shop experience , I believe I can make it live longer then most people think and get a bit more power too. I learn from peoples past mistakes and use to my advantage
Why do you think an aftermarket block will eventually go south and therefore makes it a waste of money? If you think you can make a cast factory BBB cope with 750hp with what you have learnt, surely a stronger block will be ultimately the smarter and more cost effective way to go? I bought a TA block more for the durability than anything else, and am glad I did. To have all the power I have and feel comfortable revving it, is a great feeling. I will wait with great anticipation, to see how you will keep a 750hp cast BBB engine together. Cheers
OK here's the way this works; I have a guy ask for a 1000 hp engine. I spec out and port a head according to a 565 BBC. Pk hp @ 6800 rpm, pk tq. @5800 rpm. The said head delivers the right cfm and fps to accomplish the goals. You tell the custy that he needs a slip collar distr. to fit the aftermarket mess he's dealing with. He's tired of spending $$$. When he posts a vid to FB with no oil pressure, due to a factory dizzy, who do you think is thrown under the bus? Many of us know what it takes to make these things live beyond the norm, with supervision, aaaaaand at the end of the day....You can listen to all the advice on the 'Net and build it using your $$$ and time or trust, or in someone else to do the same...Your custy says, "Yeah, I can make it live longer and get away with,,,,,,,,,,blahblahblah...in reality, you're trying to getaway with a $$$ goal...... ad infinitum...what really is your question here....? The best advice is to write the check....if you want to do R&D work, it's on you... There are some folk that I just hand the check back.........right? Curious where the thread is going????
Just wondering how many TRUE 750 hp stage 1 iron headed buicks there are out there??? I cant think of many.Will be curious to see what ya come up with on your build.
No, i ment to say the GM cast iron block will eventually go south not the TA block. Yes I do believe it is a big waste of money on my build but I love engineering challenges. I will be doing a ton of work to the block like 3/4 fill, deburring the whole block inside out, having a lot of oil mods done, full girdle, crank high speed balanced at my spec's, rods done by me, Pistons will be aftermarket (by whom, I haven't decided yet.) But fully balanced any many more mods then I care to talk about. The cyinder heads will be reworked beyond your belief . Now the intake will be made by Marcella manifolds and the cam will be custom done too.. Remember this folks, nothing is impossible on a buick...
The above engines were max effort engines nothing to do with cash, so why is there a big difference in power when there is almost a hundred cubic inch difference ? Dang, just by adding a jesel belt drive adds 20 to 30 ponies, the flow was monstrous but was it not doing its job of air and fuel delivery ? I'm curious on the difference . besides, adding 93 extra cubic inches usually adds a few more power too, the size difference is what I'm getting at here. Remember not enough cylinder hrad for a particular engine thing...
Can a 350 Buick crank fit in the 455 Buick block? I got a crazy idea! First I most know if the 350 Buick crank fits! Then I'll explain to all of you what I might do for a third engine combo. Can you say destroked 455 Buick but , bored back to a 455 Buick!
Has anyone destroked the Buick 455? It doesn't matter if it was the cast iron block or the aftermarket block! The reason I ask is the ease of ability to get more rpm and better fill the cylinders with the current cylinder heads available . Or is this a pipe dream?
