The rules change yearly.  Was that also in the 2015 rules?


Lawrenceville, GA

The cylinder head rule for 2015 and 2016 for the Vintage Engine class were for the most part ‘unlimited’ as long as the heads being used were originally designed for the engine that was being entered.  This allowed Jon Kaase in 2015 to completely re-engineer the Mummert aluminum head from a stacked intake port orientation to a side by side port layout.  For 2016 I was using the stacked port heads on a smaller cubed Y and made higher peak HP numbers to boot which simply proved that the stacked port design was not so bad after all.
  
For 2017 the rules have been revised such that only OEM heads belonging to the engine being used are allowed.  That means a SBF head cannot be used on a Y even if it’s a factory OEM head.  As Joe brings up in regards to the 2017 rules, only one intake and exhaust repair per head.  This cylinder head rule change was to help level the playing field as the Y engines up to this point were the only engines being entered that capitalized on the aftermarket aluminum heads that are available.  There are some aluminum heads available for some of the other vintage engines but those simply haven’t come to the forefront in this competition during the last two years.  As a result, the rules have changed so that only OEM heads originally designed for the entered engine can be used in the Vintage Engine class.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

So I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that maybe the Y-block port design is the "right" way to do an intake port in the first place.

In short an intake valve is what about 2" wide at it's head?

On a 1955 265" scruby with the intake port that is perpendicular to the valve seat and head you are taking an air column that is about 1" wide and 2" tall and rushing it in and flipping it at the very last moment to pass the valve seat.

Now like anything that goes against conventional wisdom a fella scratches his head and goes why? Why did the Ford engineers flip the intake ports on their side on their very first OHV V8?

There were plenty of so called conventional engines around by the beginning of the Y-block. I have read that the "stacked" port design came from the idea that the engineers wanted the largest possible port volumes for the available area.

Anyone who had taken a look at 239 cylinder heads knows that large ports were NOT part of the equation.

In my humble opinion the Ford Y-block was designed with stacked ports because the horizontal centerline (which represents the largest cross section of intake charge) is parallel with the valve seat thus eliminating an abrupt transition right before the charge enters the cylinder.

While we may yearn (myself included) for a better short side radius on the lower port there may be less of a need for conventional thinking on a port that is completely unconventional.

Finally I find it very funny that an engine that did not get much respect from many in the performance community has come out so well in an actual engine competition.

Shouldn't the Old's, Caddy's, Buick's and Studebakers have completely dominated this competition by now? You would have thought so since so many Flatheads were pulled and replaced with those brand x boat anchors.

It's even richer knowing the rule change is coming because the Ford Y block has such a talented following that there are excellent aftermarket heads and intakes that can put up numbers when carefully built by our Y block enthusiasts.

Based on their popularity shouldn't the Olds and Caddy have figured into the mix here? I'm pretty sure the Olds has an aluminum head available.

Considering all that he rear end kissing the hot rodding community slathers on the Gm engines of that era you'd think there'd be at least a couple choices for each one.

Another advantage to the stacked port layout not commonly mentioned is it permits the intake manifold plenum floor under the carburetor to be level for both planes.  This allows the torque band to be maximized in that the intake runner lengths can be more equalized.  On engines with a more conventional intake port layout, the factory supplied dual plane intake manifold ends up with a stepped plenum floor which makes four cylinders running a different torque band than the other four.  There are camshafts now available for the main stream engines with two sets of intake and exhaust durations to help equalize this stepped plenum intake runner length nuance.  The Y engines is one of the few engines out there that has a level plenum under the carburetor while still maintaining a true 180° or dual plane runner configuration.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I like the  new  rule  Let the chips fall were  they may and we will see the best stock as cast head in Vintage Class!  Who will win

According to James Eickman's 1984 book on the Y-Block engine, Allan Cleveland was primarily in charge of combustion chamber & upper end design. I wonder if he ever recorded in anyway the reasons for the stacked intake setup? It would likely make very interesting reading if he did.. 


Paul

As cast is not a good way to win.  The only way for the 292/312 heads to really pick up performance is with porting and larger valves.  The flow as cast is dismal even though you CAN make just over one horsepower per cubic inch with them.  Also, a portion of the combustion chamber is out of the cylinder bore, and that is not the greatest way to improve flow or power even though they were trying to tumble the air into the cylinder.  JMO, but please don't put a bug in anyone's ear about as cast, you would kill the EMC with poor outcome of dyno results.  Allowing the engine builders to modify and tweak is the whole idea of competition using a set of guidelines that will bring the builders skill into the equation.  Joe-JDC



JDC

Is that only ONE repair of modification on all of the ports or just one spot in one port?


Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Here’s the excerpt from the 2017 Vintage Engine class rules regarding the cylinder head modifications.  Without further clarification from the rules people, I’ll take it to mean ‘for each head where two heads are being used’.
 

 
 
Here’s the link to the complete set of rules for the 2017 Vintage Engine Class.
http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2016/06/2017-engine-masters-challenge-vintage-class-03012017.pdf

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

      If all the engines were restricted to as cast, I would  bet they would all be close, Non of the heads  from vintage engine were what I would  call spectacular For the  engine size!