ScottY, I've put you on the list for port work.

I hope you've got good parts in that short block!

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Sounds good John,let me know when they are done,& ship them directly to Ted.

Hi John,

           Scotty here from Australia, I placed and paid a deposit for a set of your heads, back when you asked for the first lot, I said at the time i was not in a rush, and still prepared to wait some more, as I would like to put my hand up for a set of the CNC,d heads please, as I plan to be using them with a roots blower set-up. These things just keep getting better don't they guys, WOW!

"MY TWO BOBS WORTH!" (Twenty Cents AUD)

Y-BLOCKS ROCK!!!!!

Keith, since you were asking for ported heads we are figuring to do yours as part of the CNC run.

The porting shop is taking data off the sample head now. We expect to deliver the partially machined castings to them sometime next week. I'm not certain exactly how fast they can finish their work but it sounds like no more than 2 weeks.

It appears that we will need to do the CNC ported heads 10 pairs at a time. This means that after we run this initial batch through there will be some lead time until the following batch.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

Sounds like a great idea John.When do you think the first batch will be ready?

THis is Keith Cornell over in NY.

CNC porting has been around quite a while and adds consistency to port work. Hand port work is done line of sight with a only few measurments that can be taken. Invariably some ports turnout a little better than others. The Y-Block lower port is so particular to the shape, height and drop off of the floor to the valve seat that consistency is difficult.

Why not incorporate these changes into the castings? Ted is 100% correct. We need to be able to sell the heads to any Y-Block owner, even if they only want them as replacement heads for a stock 55 T-Bird 292. One size fits all just won't work. The ports in the standard heads are small enough to work on a stock engine and are still capable of 400+HP on a well built engine. CNC porting is for the people who are going to race or just want more than everybody else.

Theoretically, we could make a second set of core boxes  incorporating the modified ports but then we would have standard head castings and race head castings. This would cost 1000's of dollars and there would be a limited-run premium on the race heads anyway. Plus, how many of each to order? Worse yet, what if the the foundry gets confused and casts heads with race exhaust and standard intake ports? Race upper, standard lower port?

With regard to various levels of porting it isn't as easy as you might expect. A head must be ported to that level, upper, lower, exhaust and chamber. The information must be captured with a digitizing probe. The program must be massaged to remove excess information and to join the information from the intake gasket side and the valve seat end of the port. No probe can can get the entire port from one end. So, other than the fixture work and some basic dimensions, its kind of like starting over.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

At this point it may not but if there is enough demand, perhaps another set could be street ported. The setup on the CNC should be the same for either port job with the only requirement being that the program has to be changed and depending on how fancy the machine is, it may not be a big deal at all. It would take less time on the CNC and should cost hardly anything to switch the program even if it is only for one set. Automating the process will free up time for John and if it works out to be cheaper than hand porting, it's win win.


Lawrenceville, GA

Regarding port sizes and/or finish, what works on a race engine isn’t necessarily what’s best for a street motor.   Cubic inch of the engine also falls into all of this.  There’s not a single ‘fit all’ when it comes to doing a single port design for the heads.  For the race engines, ports are typically increased in size for upper end power but this comes at the expense of low end torque which is what is needed for low rpm running.  If an overdrive transmission is being used, then that 1800-2200 rpm driving range becomes increasingly important and heads with ‘race ports’ will not be happy in that rpm range.

 

I’m glad that John is offering the ported versions for those of us that are racing the heads but for those of you that are interested in driving the engines on a daily basis, you’ll be much happier with the aluminum heads as they come out of the box.  Although offering different levels of porting would be nice, it's just not cost feasible.  If you’re on the drag strip or in a road race where the engine will be operating in the upper rpm ranges, then ported heads will shine assuming the rest of the engine is upgraded accordingly.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Maybe I'm missing something, but why wouldn't the castings be designed for max flow to begin with? Then any smoothing work needed could maybe be accomplished by some kind of extrude-hone machine? Or, is the foundry process not yet developed to the point where traditional type porting work could be moot?

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

John,

I don't know if it's a novel approach to use CNC to conduct port work but one that I have never heard of before (not that I know anything). I must say the theory is brilliant.

The objective of porting is to remove castings and other marks or to enlarge or reshape ports to a desired outcome. To increase flow. Where this would be difficult is in getting even consistent results by hand.(even with an experienced guy) The CNC would produce the same result time after time and not have to answer the phone or talk to a customers or get tired etc etc.....

It's a logical next step for people who want just a little bit more. Mass produced porting. Henry Ford would be smiling. Production usually means a reduction in price? Right  

A question (always a question) Once you have the port (and head) dimensions you could offer different levels of porting (two or three) by just removing more material?  I can imagine a range of porting requirement by customers.

Just a suggestion.    

Cheers

Warren 

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)