Why not mill the intake surface of the head to match?

 

You can, but only to a point. It’ll make the valve cover rail pretty thin there.

 

"Not sure why you wouldn’t just Dyno the engine to get a good baseline instead of investing months of tuning, but that’s your decision."

I have a number of baseline tunes available to me from others in the industry, running combinations pretty close to my 488. I'm not going to spend the money to dyno the engine, as I already know what it is essentially going to do. Instead of spending the money on dyno time, I will put it into a replacement set of pistons instead. I am going to load a program that is very close into my Holley Terminator system, then let is do a little bit of self-learning. Once the baseline is established on gasoline, I will tune to suit for E85. Here is a video that helps:


"And not sure why you would’ve ordered pushrods before your final mock up was done but again, your call.

You have to remember this is not a mock up - this is a live running engine already. I have been running Crane 9.200" 3/8 pushrods (Crane roller), which have been allowing too much oil up into the heads. Because of this, I have ordered in a set of replacement 3/8 hardened specialty pushrods that are oil restricted to back off the amount of oil going upstairs. I did this well before becoming aware of your CNC porting services...

"We’ll need to mill approx .090 off to get to 69cc." "Yes, you’ll need to mill the intake approx the same amount."

No deal. I will get another set of pistons. I believe a different piston top contour will work better with your chambers from what I am seeing in the images you have provided (more quench area). Once I mill an intake, it becomes a bastard child specific to that engine - been there, done that, prefer not to again.

Also, have you looked at doing anything to improve the oil drain backs in the heads on these Speedmasters? I have considered getting busy with a die grinder to open them up / smooth them out some. Your thoughts?

Regards -

Paul

 

Gotcha.
Yes I’ve watched that video before. The problem with doing it that way is it’s not always a 30% multiplier for example. E85 will effect the tune in different amounts at different points.
You’ll most likely need custom pistons to get where you want to be. FYI, everyone is 4-5 months behind right now.

 

I knew that round two of "Project Cabrone" was not going to happen quickly, so I have two other 455 engines in progress to roll with this summer. Even our production here at Hydratech Braking Systems is sitting at a 90-120 day lead time (that irritates the hell out of me). Getting material for machining, Aeroquip, Bosch, parts in general has been a real PITA. I know tuning for E85 is going to be a bit challenging, but I'm plenty up to the challenge. As far as pistons, I had a suspicion all along that I was heading in that direction, so it's no surprise to me. I am going to be selling off my Eagle stroker crank, and may as well add the pistons to the listings - it will be easy for anybody to source the Eagle 7.100" rods, so I don't think it will take me too long to find the right buyer for the crank and pistons, those funds will then go into the replacement custom pistons...

Either way, I'm looking like I'll be getting my heads on their way over to you in a couple of weeks. Do you require full payment up front? 1/2 down, or?

Let me know - looking forward to having you work your magic on my heads

Paul

 

Don't know why this was never answered? Possibly thinking to swap out my 1970 F heads for these and do a nice hyd cam of sorts? But for me, I doubt a .030 over Olds 455 with 10.5 comp, these heads, hyd cam and a W30 inake would break 500Hp? Now 450 possibly but doubt these heads would push it that far?

 

Canadian Olds: Whats your opinion/thoughts
on this post above?

 

You got Olds engine questions-ask Dale, Canadian Olds, although I've butted heads with him on Real Olds, that doesn't mean I don't like his builds, and he track tests his builds as well. He's a real asset to this forum!

 

You’ll approach 500 with the combination listed, and headers. If you’re going to run manifolds be prepared to lose 30-40hp/tq. Those will be your choke point.
And 28* timing is pretty conservative. 34-35* is typically best with a combo like this.

 

for the second guy I would be disappointed if I couldn’t make at least 500. Should be able to make a lot more than that with those heads…but the center divider in the intake has to go.

or as tall of a spacer as possible if he doesn’t want to touch the intake