OK, firstly don't want this to go off track like the last post did and the chest beating of who done what or I did this back then so guys today know nothing, blah, blah, blah. It was this and other types of BS that I walked away from the trade at the end of 2003 as I'd had enough of know it alls, guys that read books from 20 years ago, mates telling them that you should be doing this or that (well what are you doing here, get your mate to do it then, then usually told to get your $h!t and far cough, was my usual reply to that question) time wasters (no money and wanted everything) and so on. Since leaving the trade I've still kept an eye on what's going on in the high performance world and love what can be done with Cleveland engines these days and the aftermarket parts that are always coming out for them. Things change so much and so quickly these days, that since leaving back then, a fair bit of what was great or the ways things were done is now so outdated, let alone 40 years ago. While I hold these guys from "back in the day" in a very high regard and thankful for what they did with the technology they had back then as they were the ones who were playing with these things when they were new and showed us which way to go or not to go and pioneered things that, in basic form are still in use today, although modified/redesigned to today's requirements for high performance needs. But to say what was done or the way something was done 40 years ago doesn't necessarily mean that it still stands today, if this was true and everybody in the performance game thought, oh well, they said that doesn't work or doing this does nothing, then we'd all still be amazed at the power of a flathead V8.
I was pretty fortunate that I got to do what I said I was going to do (as a kid and all through high school) and that was build racing engines for a living. It didn't happen straight after leaving school, but I was determined and driven to get my dream job and couple of years later I got the job I was after. The guy I did my apprenticeship under had not long moved from New Zealand and set up a shop and the best part was it was only 5 mins drive from home, lol. All though at times he was a bit of a dick to work for, the one thing I'll give him, that he was a brilliant tradesman and use to build Outlaw Sprintcar engines over there. He taught me so much and had me doing stuff in my first year, that guys at college were doing in their third or final year. Also he told me not to think like everyone else, including him and not to be scared in trying something new or different. I worked for him for eight years all up, until he went back home, he offered me to buy him out, but I didn't want that much debt at that time in my life, regret it now though (another for the list, lol) I worked at a couple of other places (mainly standard stuff) then a big high performance shop, but hated it as they just wanted you to do everything their way and didn't like any thinking outside the square, so to speak. Then I ended up working for a guy I ran into one day and started talking cars and engines. This was the guy that builds some of the best Ford small blocks around and was the guy that blew my mind on 4V heads, as I'd had some experience with them, but nothing like I was about too. One of the first things he told me was about flow benches. I still remember the first thing he said to me about them, get 10 flow benches with 10 different operators and the same pair of heads and you'll get 10 different sets of numbers. Another thing, a bench is a tool and don't be fooled by numbers. Flow numbers sells heads to the uninformed and there's a lot of other information needed to know when doing heads. He only used the bench to see what differences were made and sometimes nothing shows up at all, but it does on the track and vice versa. His philosophy is the same with dynos, only good for bedding the engine and make sure everything's right and to give you a baseline tune, the real dyno is the 400 metre black track. Another couple of years there really open my eyes and I was like a kid in a candy shop, lol. But after a while the hour plus drive there then back again was starting to get old, let alone all of the hours working and going to the track etc. I ended up going in partners in a shop, but he ended up being a slimey prick and with all of the things mentioned earlier, I'd had enough and that was it. My wife didn't believe me until the next day when I came home with most of my stuff (what he didn't pinch) I still did a few engines for guys I knew or really good customers I'd had for years, until it became less and less to where it is now where I'll offer my advice to really good mates and supervise them on their build. I basically do nothing now except my own stuff. I belong to few other forums and this one and one other (it's very small and very selective) are the only ones I really post on, let alone give any advice on and didn't on this one straight away until I saw how great everyone on here was, as there wasn't the almighty know it alls, (not knowing much except how to start arguments and trouble) on here as on a lot of other forums.
Alright now for the porting side of things,Paul of Mo as you clearly show, on the bench the heads clearly made gains, but to say the porting of them did nothing at all is not totally convincing either as there are so many variables such as, intake, carb, camshaft, ignition and the big one, exhaust. The change in technology of exhausts is unbelievable, even in the last 10 years let alone 40. It wasn't that long ago where you'd be told on a high performance 4V you'd need at least 2 inch primaries, nowadays even a 1 7/8in is considered to be as big as you need and even a tad big by some. Heck even Ford Australia in 72 made 2 1/4in primary pipes for the (to be outlawed) XA GT-HO Phase 4. Even in Fords own testing by using these pipes and machining around the intake valve that lessened compression a tad, but really improved airflow, the engine lost a little overall horsepower, but torque increased everywhere and became a fairly flat torque curve, using the basic same engine as the previous XY GT-HO Phase 3 (Boss 351 cam) with only those mods done to it, which is what they wanted for racing, especially at the Bathurst 500.
I've personally done a comparison with stock 4V's and when I gave them a bowl job. It wasn't done intentionally but a mate of mine was doing work on his XY when money permitted, plus he wanted to get use to drag racing for when his big engine was built. I did them the way I was shown how to do a nice pair of street/strip heads by the guy I mentioned who I worked for previously. There wasn't a whole heap of grinding needed to make them into,really good heads, probably a 3-4 hours all up. Anyway he decided to do them while we had the engine out to make sure everything was right. It was just a standard stroke, 302C rods, flat tops and pretty sure it had a Crane F246 Solid F/T cam in it with all my usual oiling mods. On top it had my old ported torker I sold him cheap, 750 DP and pretty sure MSD dizzy and 6AL and pretty sure Pacemaker 1 7/8in 4 into 1 with 2 1/2 dual system into a X pipe. The engine was just refreshed with the porting the only difference. The car used to run around the mid 12's and went 12.1? First run out and picked up a few MPH. He even said after we first got it running that the car felt a lot stronger and thought straight away it was quicker. Like I said, I'm not doubting you saw no change with the ported heads, but as I said just way too many variables too say it makes no difference at all. Also nobody disagrees that in standard form 4V heads are a terrific piece of gear, but with minor work can be made to be even better.
As I said previously I hold all of you guys that preceded us in the highest regard, as it was you guys doing the hard yards at the beginning and helped get high performance engines where they are today. There are probably a few others if I really think about it, but my mates XY sticks in my mind as I had to nurse him through everything from maintainance to racing the car, but it was such a beautiful car and fast when we put the 3V stroker in it, that he even regrets selling it. I didn't want a pi$$ing contest of who can do what or what I've done or I know of someone whose done this. Just wanted to tell of my experiences of mildly ported 4V Cleveland heads. I'm in no way a professional porter, but I can do a decent set of heads and if anyone ever wanted a full on set of heads, I've always sent them out to be done by the pros and for the last 14/15 years there's only one guy I trust and rely on to do them. Another thing I saw a pic of the 4V heads with the exhaust side milled and and the alloy high port plate in their place. Well I don't know in this day why anybody would use such an outdated technique. I don't know of any professional head guy here in Australia that uses those things, as a matter of fact I can't remember anyone doing that way over here since maybe the 80's. I asked my guy one day about this mod and he just laughed about it, then said, it's the best way to ruin a set of good 4V heads as over time with heat and the vigours of racing, all they'll end up doing is cracking. As for flow he said haven't seen anything that would make them any better than having the exhaust side done properly anyway. Also those port plates sold in that link, I don't think I'd have a piece of tin plate to act as the port floor (another thing that maybe great on a bench, but on a running engine?) The port plates sold here are a solid piece of alloy that's connected to the port floor with "glue" and held in with grub screws and the exhaust plates are about 1/4in plate. I've worked with these port plates quite a few times and the results are terrific.
Anyway sorry about the long winded post, but just to let people know of my background and that I'm not just someone who's read a few mags or something, but someone with real experience with real engines in the real world.
