Hey John!!   WOW!!!   Thank you for not giving up!!   Also thank you for coming on the site and sharing you vast knowledge, that's what is so wonderful about this forum, everyone willing to share so we can all learn!!!   God Bless you and your family--   Eddie

Eddie

Lake Forest, Ca. 92630

John - I am a retired wood and metal patternmaker who spent over 30 years in a very large foundry's machine shop.   I fully appreciate the magnitude of your undertaking in developing and improving new parts and making them fit an existing application.   Prototyping in the industry used to take several years, and we had the full co-operation of the foundry at our disposal.  Many preproduction samples were cast and then sawed up for evaluation before small runs of castings were even machined and assembled to run on test engines.  It takes time and a great deal of perserverance to work through all the issues.  Can't imagine what it would be like to fight all the normal issues and then have to deal with the problems of a struggling foundry.

We went through the learning curve of programming CNC machines.   Tons of programs and software companies are available.  All are good, some are better.  Only bit of wisdom I can give are to start with a major provider of software, and not get overwhelmed with all the bells and whistles.  Learn how to do the minimum required for the task at hand and in time the advanced features will come in to play.   Large software suppliers have tech help and instructors who come to your shop.   They want to make you happy so you stay with them!   Every programmer has their preferance of software and controllers for the mill.  Many vocational and tech schools also have programming classes.  Several of our pattern makers/machinists also worked part time to assist other small shops (or had their own) to help the learning curve.  Perhaps there is a machine shop in your area you could get help from.  

Its a huge investment, not just in money, but time and energy as you well know.

Keep up the good work!

J

Joe, thank you for your insight. The particular machine we have has a Centroid controller. Although it is not the most common we wanted it for 2 reasons. First, it is "conversational", which means it has has a fill in the blanks type format available as opposed to being G-code and M-Code only. It can be programmed in G and M code for the people that are familiar with it. I am not.



Secondly, it is the same controller found on most CNC porting machines. I don't know if we will ever get to the point where we can afford one (135-190K) but if so we will be familiar with the controller.



The downside of this controller is that there are very few in the area and the closest rep is 120 miles away.



We did cut up the first head shown in the pictures. There were areas that needed to be changed. I think these problems have been addressed. I'm quite happy with the shape of the ports etc, all the issues now are in gating and risers. I think we have found the source of the problems with the last 2 castings. The foundry has ordered 10 sets of cores which should be in next week. Unfortunately, the foundry is only able to make cores in heated aluminum core boxes while mine are wood/plastic.



I'll post some updates if we get to cast a head or 2 next week.



John

http://ford-y-block.com 

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

I have to second all the that.



Having some machine and casting knowledge; I have a slight clue of what John is going thru.

One would think it is easy just to copy the stock heads and put them on the market. Oh no this is not same animal as a sbf or a sbc head.

John has basically re engineered this animal.

Playing with the gating system is an art form in itself.   The latest solid modeling software makes it much easier, but an experienced patternmaker can usually solve the problems. So many things are going on at the same time when pouring metal, it was always amazing we got what we wanted !!!!   Several of our smaller parts needed the gating design changed for summer and winter!  Iron doesn't flow the same when the mold is cold in winter as it does in 140 degree sand in the summer.   Same for AL3.   We cast small compresser parts for Fridgidare and the Detroit Diesel truck I6 and V8 blocks.   Lots of other parts in between with volumes measured in tons/hr.  Good old days, and I'm glad I'm retired!!!

DON"T GIVE UP

J

I hope John is reserving some time on the porting bench for those who want the max from the new heads.

I noticed from recent HRM article (pub. library), that 427 SOHC aluminum heads are now being made (an engine that never even came in a production car). Maybe if Y-Blocks had not been such sturdy survivors, more people would be looking for repro parts to recreate them too? Quite a conundrum.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Are the SOHC blocks any different than the regular blocks? If they are the same, then it sorta makes sense. There are a lot more FEs around than Y's.


Lawrenceville, GA

Different, but still interchangeable. Even the blocks with DOHC specialty machining are available in alum. though.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Finally lit a fire under the local foundry. Basically, told them I wanted to take the head project to another foundry. I was quite serious and still will if all doesn't go well.

So they cast another head. Another disappointment. w00t:

I happen to remember something Frank R had mentioned in a conversation last year. He said that some patterns cast better upside down. Mentioned this idea to the foundry owner and they tried it. We now have 4 castings that look good.

So now the head is being cast with the deck surface on top instead of the rocker stands. This seems to have cured the problem of the water jacket core breaking loose and floating up. The sand core is now under compression and can't go anywhere.

Because we will be holding the head in a totally different manor than Ford originally did, building the fixture to hold the new casting will be easy. What will be difficult is attaching a factory head to the machine in the same location to pick up gasket surface heights. I've made a sketch of what I think will work, just need to get started on making it.

Things are looking up. Will post updates as work progresses.

http://ford-y-block.com 

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