Y-BlocksForever Forum / Y-BlocksForever! Forums 2006 / Aftermarket Cylinder Heads

Head Delivery Time Frame

slumlord444 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:47:50 GMT

Talked to John today. Looking at shipping heads out around the end of this month. Should work out because I should have my short block together by then. Should get cam and lifters form Isky in a week or so. Started installing crank today.

Aluminum head spark plug torque

Ted — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:55:39 GMT

This is for Marv. I’m having trouble with the private messaging so I’m posting the answer to your question here.

By the book and for aluminum heads, 8-12 lbs/ft torque for spark plug tightening. Be sure to use anti-seize on the threads.

Aluminium head availability

slumlord444 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:32:59 GMT

Does Mummert have these available yet? Talked to him a while back and he has my name and contact info but no word yet. No rush yet but would like to get a set when they become avaliable again.

Dyno results for a 343” Y with aluminum heads.

Ted — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:33:19 GMT

Here are the dyno results for a 343” Y using a set of Mummert ported aluminum heads. It’s a 343 incher by lieu of a 3.810” bore and 3.76” stroke. The compression ratio is 13.25:1 using Diamond popup pistons designed specifically for the aluminum heads. The camshaft is a symmetrical Isky grind with 263° @ 0.050”, ground on 108° lobe centers, installed at 106½° intake lobe centerline, and 0.592” lift. The rocker arms are Harland Sharp 1.6:1 roller tipped units assembled on Verne Schumann shafts. The carburetor is a Holley 780 cfm dbl pmpr which sits atop a 2” tapered carb spacer and a ported Mummert aluminum intake. Spark plugs are Autolite 3923’s gapped at 0.035” and using a MSD distributor and ignition. Click the link for the larger version of the dyno sheet.

Link to the dyno sheet

Anticipated power gains with the new aluminum heads?

Ted — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:32:06 GMT

[quote][b]tinymikey (1/4/2009)[/b][hr]Any idea what these new castings might be worth in power gains, say single four barrel versus a 6-71 blown drag engine? :smooooth:[/quote]

This is a new topic so I've taken this opportunity to make a new post with it.

John hasn't thrown any numbers or expectations out there yet. Testing will determine this but with improved out of the box flow numbers over the stock heads then an increase in performance is also to be expected. But raw air flow numbers are never the whole story as improved valve locations, combustion chamber design, and port configurations also play a large part in overall performance. With the combustion chamber cc’s being downsized to compensate for the inefficiency of aluminum in regards to heat retention, then at least the gains from the other improvements will not be offset or taken away by the use of aluminum. It will also make sense that for the anticipated increase in air flow for the new heads to be fully taken advantage of, the camshaft, intake manifold, ignition, and exhaust all must be upgraded to match. Just putting the new aluminum heads on a dead stock engine may or may not see any significant gains in performance but testing will help to quantify this.

Ported aluminum heads are tested on the 312 dyno mule

Ted — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 18:24:36 GMT

Had the opportunity to run the ported aluminum Mummert heads on the 312 dyno mule. I was already in the process or running a variety of iron heads in a single day on the mule engine in preparation of the ‘Exhaust test to end all tests’ and did manage to sneak the ported aluminum heads into this test session. The ported aluminum heads were conveniently off of the EMC engine to make molds of the combustion chambers for a new domed piston design so it was just a matter of bolting them onto the mule for a quick three pull test. Thanks to Randy Gummelt for spending the day in helping change out several sets of heads while doing the dyno testing.

The mule engine is the +060 over 312 with cast pistons that reside 0.025” in the hole and still retains the same Crower camshaft that’s been used in a multitude of other tests. 1.6:1 roller rockers are being used with Best Gasket head gaskets. A stock Mummert intake with 750cfm Holley carb atop a 1” spacer is also being used. 377HP with the EMC headers and 368HP with the Sanderson headers. Here’s the graph showing the ported Mummert aluminum heads on the dyno mule with both the Sanderson 1½” tube headers w/22” of 2½” collector extension/no mufflers and the EMC 1¾” stepped headers with mufflers.

Pump Gas dyno test

John Mummert — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:37:56 GMT

We just got finished dyno testing a 337 cu in Y-Block for a 1955 Crown Vic. Aluminum heads and High Rise intake were out of box units. Cam is one we designed with Isky for some crate engines we would like to do. 228 degrees @ .050" with .490" lift after lash with 111 degree lobe separation.

We tried 2 carbs, a highly modified 650DP, modified to 700CFM with choke horn removed and down leg booster venturi's. Next we tried one of the new Summit "Autolite" style 600CFM vacuum secondary carbs. Power was identical. The only problem we had with the Summit carb was the fancy chrome fuel line leaked and couldn't be used. Summit supplies a 1/4" thick insulating gasket with open plenum and we used that as a spacer.

We only made 5 pulls since the engine did more than expected on the 1st pull. Timing was set at 33 degrees, no jet changes. Headers are a cobbled up set I made out of some 351 Cleveland headers, 1-5/8 to 1-3/4", runners are 34-40". Rockers are stock 1.54:1. An MSD distributor and new billet steel damper were also used on this engine.

Peak torque was 420 @ 4100, peak HP 392.7 @ 5400. Tests were stopped at 5500 rpm.

In search of a mummert or blue thunder intake

Brian_Check — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:48:35 GMT

anyone have an intake for sale? please call me at 262 443 0436

thanks Brian

Aluminum parts

John Mummert — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:39:09 GMT

At the risk of making a commercial post I just want to say that we do have thermostat housings for cars and trucks, no T-Birds.

Valley cover pattern was damaged during last run of castings so it will be a while before there are anymore. Also looking for someone else to cast them. Waiting to see how the foundry does with the timing cover before commiting any more projects to them.

The shortened timing cover pattern is close to finished but again I want to see how things go.

CNC ported aluminumheads

John Mummert — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:12:48 GMT

Although most of the orders for the new heads have been for out of the box units there are a number of people who have asked for them to be shipped with port work done. There have been enough infact, that it will be difficult for us to supply them in time for this years racing if we continue to hand port them.

For that reason we are going to have them CNC ported. About 40-50 hours have been spent porting an upper and lower port along with an exhaust port and chambers. This has allowed us to spend more development time on the ports than would be possible on a head to head basis. The head has been delivered to the shop that will do the porting and they will be starting on the fixture, then capturing data from the head we provided.

The final cost will likely be less than the cost to hand port with quicker delivery time.

Let me know if you are interested since we may need to do up to 10 pairs to keep the price in line.

Latest update?

yehaabill — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:42:17 GMT

Y-Guys What's the latest news on the heads? Frank-Ted-Jim????

Bill

Intake manifold testing on the new heads

Ted — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:08:38 GMT

Before removing the Mummert aluminum heads from the dyno mule engine, a morning was spent in trying several other intake setups on the heads. Final conclusion is that many of the early intake designs are going to be a bottleneck on the aluminum heads in the upper rpm ranges. No surprise there as I see this also on ported iron heads. For many of these intakes though, the low end torque values were still very strong which is a credit to the flow properties of the new aluminum heads. The Mummert aluminum single four intake is still by far the best overall performer of all the intakes tested to this point and compliments the aluminum heads nicely.

[hr]

[quote][b]Pete’s Panel (6/3/2010)[/b][hr]Ted, do you think the performance of the Cain manifold will improve with the alloy heads???[/quote]

The Cain 4V intake was tested at the tail end of this particular session and although the horsepower numbers with the Cane intake were stronger than the 3X2 and 2X4 setups with the aluminum heads in place, the torque curve still remains on the low side and lazy. But compared to the last time the Cane intake was tested, the overall torque curve is much higher with this engine combination than as tested before. The use of long tube headers in this recent test versus the short 'two tube' design used in the earlier test possibly accounts for most of the torque improvement. Regardless, the open plenum and runnerless design of the Cain intake just isn’t conducive to making good peak torque numbers even when experimenting with a variety of carb spacers. Here’s the graphs showing the Cain intake manifold’s best performance on the aluminum heads versus when it was used previously on a set of highly ported iron heads on a similarly sized engine. Camming and headers were different on the two different engines being tested so it’s not an apples to apples test.

Aluminum head Update

John Mummert — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:44:19 GMT

We picked up a few heads recently with revisons we felt were required after Ted's dyno sessions and porting the EMC heads. Some easy to fix flow improvements were found during testing that we felt should be incorporated into the production heads. These changes have been made and the first of these new heads have been machined. We are very happy with improvements so the order for the first full production run will be placed in the next 2 weeks.

The core shop requested that we make some changes to the core boxes to make their life easier. These changes have be made so it looks like full speed ahead.

More as soon as we know more.

Testing results with ported Mummert aluminum heads

Ted — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:03:56 GMT

The ported Mummert aluminum heads have now been dyno tested on the 375” EMC engine and after the noise abated, was rewarded with a 52HP increase over the ported iron 113 heads that were used in last years EMC competition. Both sets of heads were tested on the same day to keep weather variables out of the mix. There’s still a bunch of tuning yet to do but this was a nice improvement for just a head swap and minimal tuneup work. Total timing for the iron heads was 39° while the timing for the aluminum heads is 32°. Distributor curve is currently the same for both heads but in looking at the data, the aluminum heads look to prefer something different in how the curve is applied. This will be worked out when testing starts back up. Shop temperatures were in excess of 100°F so consider this race day tuneup stuff. And remember this is still a street engine that’s running on 91 octane gasoline.

In the mean time, here are a pair of graphs which do more in telling the whole story in lieu of just typing out a bunch of numbers.

Rocker arm and intake manifold testing on the new heads.

Ted — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:06:46 GMT

These graphs are specifically for Geoff but others can feel free to comment. These show the results of some dyno testing with the aluminum heads where both the rocker arm ratios and the intake manifold was being experimented with. All this took place on the EMC engine combination using last years 824cfm carburetor. This years carb of choice is making more power but was not included in this round of testing due to waiting for another pair of metering blocks to show up for it.

Looking at the scores for each combination that was tested, the 1.6/1.6 rocker assemblies with the modified plenum intake is 19 points better than the next best combination that was tested. Each manifold was tested with both rocker arm combinations so there was a total of four different combinations in which to evaluate. The scoring was only figured based on the 2500-6500 rpm range and does not take into account any activity that’s taking place above 6500 rpms.

Comparison of Mummert Heads to Original Ford Castings

Oldmics — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:16:10 GMT

Gentlemen

Can this thread compare the engineering differences between Mummerts heads and an original stock set of non posted "G" heads.

I have gleamed some of the differences by reading the existing posts in all of the topics but thought a dedicated post for comparing might be helpfull for quick references.

Also any porting suggestions ? Isnt that terrible :w00t:

All that work and were just waiting to grind em up :hehe:

Oldmics

Compression Ratios

Ted — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 07:17:47 GMT

Paul. Your question is a good start for a new thread.

[quote][b]PF Arcand (6/30/2010)[/b][hr]John: Possibly this has been covered before but I've not seen it. If your new heads are installed on a 292 or 312 with stock pistons (lets assume the block is not over bored more than 0.020 thousands) in a non decked block, what will the approximate compression ratios be? Thanks.[/quote]

9.09:1 static compression ratio for a 292 with 0.020” overbore and pistons in the hole 0.025” with the Mummert aluminum heads (60cc). G heads at 69cc’s on the same engine will have a cr of 8.22:1 while the 113 heads at 72cc’s will lower the cr even more to 7.97:1.

9.65:1 static compression ratio for a 312 with 0.020” overbore and pistons in the hole 0.025” with the Mummert aluminum heads (60cc). G heads at 69cc’s on the same engine will have a cr of 8.72:1 while the 113 heads at 72cc’s will lower the cr even more to 8.45:1.

Deposits are now being taken for the next run of aluminum heads.

Ted — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:36:10 GMT

John Mummert is officially taking deposits for the aluminum heads. If wanting in on the next production run of heads, then now is the time to send in a deposit. The number of deposits received by John will dictate exactly what the foundry order will be for raw castings.

[quote][b]John Mummert[/b][hr] With regard to pricing ect. We plan to place an order for head castings around the 1st of June. The more deposits we have, the more castings we will order. Deposits of $1,000.00 received before we order castings will result in a final total price of $2049.00 (1000 + 1049) for 2 assembled heads. Orders received after we order castings will be at a higher price.[/quote]

First round of testing of the new aluminum heads is now complete.

Ted — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:55:32 GMT

The wait is over as the new Mummert aluminum heads have now been run on an engine with the following results. 56 horsepower increase over the stock heads!!!!!! In their first day, a total of 24 pulls were made with the aluminum heads to test a variety of timing, carburetion, carb spacer, jetting, and exhaust changes. The aluminum heads themselves were tested as delivered and used in the ‘out of the box’ configuration with no porting being performed.

The engine used for the test is a +060 over 312 with the cast flattop pistons 0.025” in the hole and stock G heads that had only a good valve job with hardened seats installed and a 0.025” mill to clean up the deck side of the heads. No port work. The compression ratio calculates to be 9.2:1. The engine is running the factory 1.54:1 rockers, Mummert single four intake manifold with a two inch four hole spacer, and a 750 cfm vacuum secondary carb. The camshaft is a Crower Monarch grind ground on 110° lobe centers, 280° advertised, 238° @ 0.050”, and 0.430” lift at the valve after the lash is set. Prior to the head test, a 465 Holley, a modified 600 Holley, and a 750 Holley were all tested and the 750 simply shined above the rest. The 465 just gives up earlier and the 600 fell in behind the 750. These same carbs were used with the aluminum heads with the performance order being the same but much more pronounced.

To keep the tests reliable and truly comparitive, both the iron and aluminum heads were ran back to back and on the same day. The engine was ran first in the morning with the iron heads to get some baseline numbers. The dyno numbers for the G heads are 286.1 HP @ 5300 rpms and 336.4 lbft torque @ 3400 rpms. Although there was a 290HP number on one of the pulls, it was disregarded due to the water temperature being on the cool side. These are still respectable numbers for stock unported G heads.

It took just a bit over two hours to swap out the iron heads to the aluminum versions. The engine was then started, heated up, stopped, and allowed to heat soak. At this point the valve lash was rechecked. As an FYI, the heads grow about 0.004” from ambient to hot so setting the valve lash at 0.015” initially nets 0.019” hot. After a series of dyno pulls to determine what the engine preferred for new ignition timing and fuel mixture attributes, the numbers for the aluminum heads are as follows: 340.6 HP @ 6100 rpms and 357.5 lbft torque @ 4400 rpms.

The new heads do like leaner fuel mixtures and considerably less total timing. They are definitely more efficient. Whereas the iron heads liked 38-40° total timing, the aluminum heads are happiest with 32-33° total on this particular combination. Intial testing shows an Autolite 3924 spark plug being a good middle of the road spark plug to start out with. Spark plug gap for the tests was at 0.035”.

With the 2” four hole carb spacer, the aluminum heads outperform the iron heads at all rpm ranges. With the 2” tapered carb spacer and below 2800 rpms, the iron heads are only marginally better in torque than the aluminum versions, but after 2800 rpms, the aluminum heads simply run away from the iron versions with the best peak horsepower numbers.

With ‘out of the box’ aluminum heads and no port work, 1957 supercharged performance is now available without having to use the supercharger. There is still some more dyno testing yet to be performed after which point the heads will be pulled off of the engine and disassembled.

Mr Mummert's web site

stuey — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:27:04 GMT

Johns website has been updated i've been droooooling all morning

go see

stuey

Recommended Coolant in the New Al Heads

Oldmics — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:37:19 GMT

I would assume a 50/50 mix using distilled water?

And a good ground on the radiator/block to reduce the potential for electrolysis :D

Any other suggestions?

Oldmics

Request for head count for aluminum cylinder head purchases

Ted — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:07:00 GMT

Assuming the aluminum heads for a Y can become available from John Mummert very early in 2009, it’s being asked just how many individuals would commit to purchasing a pair from the first production run for their Y-Block powered vehicle? While the heads will have an improved air flow over the stock heads, they are still essentially being designed to be a direct bolt on with no special parts or modifications being required to supplement their installation. New bolts are highly recommened though in lieu of using the stock items.

With the economy taking a downturn, there is still quite a bit of investment yet to be taken to get these heads completed and to market and the question is being asked “just how many heads can be sold initially?”. A ballpark figure for a completed pair of heads ready to install is projected to be $2000-$2100. Exact pricing is still being worked on though and will depend upon to some degree how quickly the initial investment can be recaptured. Although John has received a large number of calls inquiring about the heads, there is not a solid feel for exactly how many heads can be sold in the initial sales push. Another consideration in this are the casting foundaries themselves which are going out of business at an alarming rate. Although the casting foundary that’s currently involved with the Y heads is still in business, long term propects with it are not promising which means potentially getting a different foundary up to speed and a delay on future production runs.

So if you think you’d be a serious purchaser of a pair of first run heads, simply post here so a preliminary head count can be taken. Here’s the link to the DESIGN FEATURES. I’ll start this off by saying “put me on the list for a pair”.

Optimizing the New Heads

Don Woodruff — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:21:34 GMT

It is becoming obvious that in order to really benefit from the money spent on the new heads we need to rethink some of the currently available parts for the "Y". Primarily we will need high (.500 + lift) camshafts, revised piston configurations, distributer curve modifications just to start with. We have to realize we are a very limited market but we need to develop sources and templates.

I personally am looking for a source for a camshaft ground to specs similar to the Ford racing parts M-6250-A332 except ground on 112 lobe centers and 214(in) and 220(ex) durations and close to .500 lift. I have yet to work out piston configuration, still working out stroke options. Nelson cams may be a possible source of cams, they ground a 214/214 cam with approximately .5 inch lift for Royce Brechler.

All of this can be done by individuals but are Ted and John going to introduce some of these items to hit the market in conjunction with the new heads?

New Aluminum head pictures.

shadowman — Tue, 18 May 2010 23:30:17 GMT

Here are a few more pics of the new aluminum Y-block heads.

GOT MY Y BLOCK MAG TODAY

aussiebill — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:17:49 GMT

I got my Y BLOCK MAG today and see john has all the specs and cost of the new aluminum heads listed. I realise the final testing and elvaluating is still happening on them but good to see them completed, now its time to back up all his work and buy them!. Congratulations for huge effort.

Edelbrock Up for Sale

Oldmics — Thu, 13 May 2010 10:49:16 GMT

Hope this does not reflect on the new heads.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474585

Overall look of the head

Ted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:20:17 GMT

Appears to be two trains of thought here. One where the head is cast similar to the originals with casting lines and roughness. The other where the heads are actually smooth on the exterior finish and potentially can be emblazoned with the manufacturers logo on the ends. Smooth works okay for myself. What’s the general concensus here?

Initial Aluminum Cylinder Head Testing Protocols

Ted — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:28:57 GMT

[quote][b]Grizzly (4/13/2010)[/b][hr]On Dyno testing this is obviously a testing ground where they can show thier worth. I for one would be interesed in seeing a milder street engine tested as well as a hotter race engine. Obviously not every application can be tested but this would give a reasonable range for customers who would be interested.

Also on reliability is a set of heads going to be tested on something that is regularly driven. Obviouly racing shows how they will perform (last) in the high temp high pressure environment that racing is, but daily driving has it's own set of extremes. Multipule warm up and cool down cycles, traffic, lugging loads I can see that these heads could be used in many applications, as many as there are Y block interest groups and be used in T birds, F100, trucks, a range of passenger cars from rods to full size cars. I'm wondering how reliability will be tested? [/quote]

This first pair of aluminum heads will be tested on the 312 dyno mule which is currently a 9.2:1 engine with a Crower street cam, 1.54:1 rocker arms, Mummert single four intake, and a prepped Holley. The mule engine currently has a set of stock and unported G heads and that will be the basis for the comparision difference. This particular engine has been selected for the initial testing as it is very representative of what the mainstream enthusiast would be typically running.

The heads for the EMC engine will be a different set of heads fully prepped with that competition in mind. The heads being used for the mule engine test and for publicity purposes have intentionally been left as what I’ll call the ‘standard fare’ heads without the additional stages of port work that would be done for an all out performance engine.

At the conclusion of testing on the dyno mule, the heads will be disassembled and thorougly examined for any premature wear characteristics. Barring any issues in that area, they will then be reinstalled on a 318 cubic inch Y buildup designed around these heads. This is a customers engine and will be run on the dyno before that engine is released for street driver use in a ’56 Ford Club Sedan with a five speed. Once this engine is in the car, then a longer term evaluation will be taking place.

ALUMINUM HEAD SPECIFICATIONS

John Mummert — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:06:07 GMT

Here are specifications for the new head

SPECIFICATIONS

VALVE SIZES: 1.94" intake 1.54" exhaust 11/32" stem

VALVE MATERIAL: Stainless steel, hard chrome stems, hardened tip.

VALVE LENGTHS: 5.110"

VALVE SPRINGS: Single spring with damper, 1.250" diameter, intalled height 1.750". 110# Seat @ 1.750" 280# @ .500" Seat pressure 85# with +.050" keepers.

STEEL SPRING CUPS

Hardened keepers with 1 piece steel retainers.

COMBUSTION CHAMBER: 60cc +-

BARE MACHINED CASTING WEIGHT: 24.5#

DECK THICKNESS: .625"

VALVE GUIDES: Manganese Bronze alloy

STEM SEALS: Positive type

Can someone Post a pic of these heads

2DRHRDTP57 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:50:31 GMT

Anyone got a picture of these heads, the scan / pic in an earlier thread seems to have died???:D

YBM Alum Head photo's

yehaabill — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:15:44 GMT

Y-Guys Just got my new YBM and WOW!!!! They have arrived(Heads)

They look great but, the clearance around the plugs looks the same.

Will this be enlarged to give the plug socket more room or is this the

pre-production set? Can't wait to see flow results and dyno run....

Bill

Combustion chamber cc variability

Ted — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:12:58 GMT

[quote][b]DANIEL TINDER (12/17/2008)[/b][hr]Ted,

Just a point of curiosity:

Are you familiar with the type of tooling/procedures used by FoMoCo factory/foundry in the 50s? I have to wonder why there was so much variation in my ECZ-G chamber volumes (3 CCs +) between cylinders on the same head. Was the final machining done in Cleveland, or were they delivered to Dearborn as raw castings? Unless done freehand, it is hard to imagine that even 50s era automated equipment could be that imprecise?[/quote]

Daniel. This answers your question that was under the heading “YBM alum head photo’s”. It’s a new topic so I’ve taken the liberty in starting a new thread with it.

A 3cc variation is still normal even in the newer oem castings. Combustion chamber size control or variation by the oem’s hasn’t changed much in the last fifty years. A case in point is the combustion chamber volumes varied so much on the FE’s when they were first introduced in 1957 that it forced all FE heads for the first half year of 1958 car production to have the combustion chambers machined until the casting techniques became stable enough to permit the combustion chambers to be used as cast. I just recently did a set of new 502 BBC (scrub) aluminum heads and there was a 3½ cc variation from end to end on one of the heads and a significant difference from head to head. Needless the say, the customer was not happy but the heads were easily fixed with a little time and perserverence. Some (not all) of the aftermarket heads are surprisingly close so the control is there if need be but many of the oem heads still exhibit a combustion chamber cc variability that would appear to be excessive.

In summary, the same core shifting that occurs with the cylinder walls of a block is also present when casting cylinder heads. Where this core shift is in regards to the reference points in starting the machine work on blank head castings ultimately plays a large part in what the final combustion chamber cc’s are going to be. On a performance build, I will cc each chamber of both heads being used and then correct as deemed necessary so all chambers are sized the same. More often than not, the combustion chambers will be progressively larger in cc’s from one end towards the other. In these cases the calculations are performed so that the heads are angle milled end to end so that one end is milled heavier than the other which in turn allows the combustion chamber cc’s to be more equalized over the length of the head.

Instruction sheet for new head installation

Ted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:12:09 GMT

Definitely needs an instruction sheet. How many times have you purchased something only to question what the manufacturer wanted because no literature was included? Some items to include on an instruction sheet would include:

Head gasket recommendation.

Torque specs and tightening sequence.

Spark plug recommendation with the heat range.

Pushrod length if different than stock.

Head bolt recommendation with part numbers.

Any warnings – ie. “DO NOT USE ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT HEAD BOLTS!!!”, “USE ANTI-SEIZE ON SPARK PLUG THREADS BEFORE INSTALLING”, etc.

Feel free to make corrections or additions. This is just a start.

YBM ad

yehaabill — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:41:57 GMT

Y-Guys Mummert's ad says he may have "THEM" in August.

Will there be any at Columbus to "Dream" over? Any other

specifications and PRICE....( I know, if you have to ask

you can't afford them!) See Ya'll soon...Bill

Additional information regarding aluminum cylinder head production

Ted — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:43:31 GMT

Here’s some of the information that’s been passed on to me regarding the aluminum cylinder heads for the Y. I’m keeping this post separate from the one asking “Who’s serious about purchasing a pair of aluminum cylinder heads?” to keep that particular post from being a discussion about the heads themselves and easier to get a head count of potential head purchasers. New posts or adding to this one regarding specific questions are always welcome.

The aluminum heads are still being planned as a direct bolt on for the run of the mill Y engines. Standard design features will include the factory bolt and gasket patterns for intake manifolds, exhausts, and rocker arm setups while having improved out of the box air flow over the stock heads. The valve covers will still sit in the stock locations which seems to be a valid concern. The heads will include stainless steel valves, retainers, springs, and locks and are essentially being planned as a simple bolt on without the need for special parts. The external texture and markings on the castings will be such that the heads can be painted to look like stock heads if so desired. These heads will use the newer style washered 14mm spark plugs which are commonfare at this point on most of the other aftermarket heads that are now available. The exact spark plug recommendations will be available by the time the heads are ready to hit the market.

Dyno testing is at the top of the list before the heads are released but just as soon as this testing validates that the heads are indeed ready to go, the heads will go into production and start being sold. That means not much fanfare or publicity before the first production run is sold out. Which brings up the original question in the other post, “How many people interested in first run heads” which will allow for an estimate for the intial number of foundary castings to be determined. Keep in mind that with the aluminum foundaries going out of business at an apalling rate, that second run may take awhile depending upon which U.S. foundaries are still around after the smoke clears and how long it takes for one of these to come back up to speed making quality castings. On my end, rebuildable large valve head cores are getting hard to come by so the production of these heads will definitely alleviate this shortage and with the heads exhibitting better than stock air flow characteristics, then all the better.

Click here to return to “Request for Head Count Posting”.

Aluminum or iron for the head material?

Ted — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:39:24 GMT

There are options in head materials. Aluminum is lighter but has more heat going straight to the water jacket and subsequently not being turned into energy (horsepower). But improved air flow as well as a compression increase can compensate for this. On the other hand, iron heads would be good too especially if the flow numbers are increased and even if the combustion chambers stay at the stock 69cc ‘G’ size.

I’m assuming that the head manufacturer will have final say in the material being used but will be nice if the heads are designed around the material. I’d personally hate to see another fiasco like the Edelbrocks for the Fe where there’s a drop in performance using the aluminum head over the factory cast irons only because there was not an accompanying increase in air flow and compression ratio to go along with production of them in aluminum. Referring to out of the box and unported of course.

How about new Y-Block engine castings?

Crippled_Eagle — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:13:07 GMT

[b]After I finished High School, I took some College courses as well as some trade school courses. While I was learning to machine things automotive, I was fortunate to be taught to use a boring bar. One of the engines I practiced on was an old 292. I bored it out almost to 4 inches and was planning on seeing just how far I could go before I hit the water jacket. I was hoping to be able to enlarge the bore enough to put sleeves in it to give me a 4 inch bore and ultimately to give me a displacement of 352 cubic inches.
Now never having cast anything, a new block capable of being machined to a 4 inch bore might not be a possibility or the cost might be so high to make it that it would never be made. But, think of it, a new Y-Block casting with improved webbing, perhaps a main cap like the 427s had with cross bolt mains. Improved cooling, better rear main seal, improved oiling system and other improvements.
Ideas anyone, Am I crazy? :)
Marvin[/b]

Prerequisites in a replacement head design

Ted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:22:24 GMT

Some thoughts on some of the standard design features to keep a replacement head marketable to the masses would be:

Must accept current Y-Block intake manifolds and gaskets.

Must accept current Y-Block exhaust manifolds, headers, gaskets.

Must accept current Y-Block valve covers and gaskets.

Must accept current Y-Block rocker arm assemblies.

If spark plug location is revised, must be able able to use with current exhaust systems.

14mm spark plugs. Lots of these available in the various heat ranges.

Available ready to run with valves, springs, retainers, etc.

If aluminum, then heli-coils in the rocker stand, intake, and exhaust bolt hole threads.

Open for discussion. If necessary, just start a new thread for the topic you have in mind or add to this thread any additional standard features.

½” Head bolt capability

Ted — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:35:57 GMT

Heads need to be able to use ½” head bolts. Stock factory heads can be drilled without hitting water so that ½” head bolts can be used. Likewise should be the same with any aftermarket replacement heads. One idea is for the head bolt holes to be ½” except for a shoulder at the top to accommodate a 7/16” head bolt. If using a ½” head bolt, then the shoulder is simply drilled out. This feature is already on a variety of the SBF aftermarket heads so the heads can be used on either 302’s or 351W’s.

Valve lengths

Ted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:17:25 GMT

Longer that stock length valves would be nice. This allows some additional flexibility in port design and when using higher lift camshafts. Drawback is that the supports in the heads for the rocker stands will have to be higher to maintain proper rocker arm geometry. This then makes the valve cover rail higher and in turn and the valve cover sits higher. Is this a problem for those of you with a power brake booster?

Raising the rockers would also dictate longer pushrods. Instruction sheet could include a recommended length for a starting point but this is something that might be varied depending upon the brand of rocker, deck or head milling, etc

Feel free to add thoughts.