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”.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I'm definitely interested.  The dyno results will determine if I want to spend the money.

Is the dyno testing going to involve stock and, possibly ported stock heads so that we can see precisely where the new ones stand?

Lawrenceville, GA

I’ve already offered up my dyno for testing purposes and currently in the process of prepping a +060 over 312 with a mild camshaft that will be used as a dyno mule for head testing purposes.  The plan is to get some baseline numbers using a basically stock set of big valve heads with a Blue Thunder intake and then just swapping out the heads for the aluminum pieces to get a good comparison.  The idea here is to get an idea how much of an increase the aluminum heads are worth in regards to output when installed on a typical mildly modified Y engine.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Hello Ted, all sounds promising, good!  my question is; in the event of the heads being a finished product with the initial 1st run of heads, are you or someone recording our names like an order list so that we are actually in line to get them and not be told the 1st runs sold out and you,ll have to wait for next lot, as you mention the uncertaintity of casting places etc. I am assuming if we get to production stage a deposit will be requested from the people on the list? I know it sounds like i,m jumping the gun but just a thought that crossed my mind. thank you, best regards aussie bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Bill.  There’s no list being compiled for the time being as the request for now is to simply get an idea of how many raw castings are being needed for the first run.  This is a substantial investment on John’s part and he’s wanting to minimize actual cash outlay before seeing a return on his investment.  Once the heads are close to going into production, then the call will go out for potential buyers to step forward at which point I suspect a deposit will cement one’s place in the purchase line.  A deposit is not being asked for this early in the process.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)