What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

64 Vette….Rebuild 2.0

I've had good luck with the aluminum adjustable and loctite.

Depending on your balancer size sometimes they can't be installed or removed with the balancer on.

Though sometimes I just take a stamped steel one and cut a deeper notch in it for true TDC(about twice as deep as the factory notches) and it's cheap and it can't move either. Depends on the build.
 
Been on vacation…(away from home…:pimp:) for pretty much late May well into early July. Got things back to normal around the household again, the shop needed a new A/C unit, ordered one from Home Depot and had a buddy help me install it….needed the extra arm as I’m still rehabbing the shoulder. A/C is worth every buck in my book! Shop is comfortable at 65*!
That done, I got a little time on the 427 yesterday.
These DART PRO-1 heads sure leave some quality to be desired. The ports are pretty piss pour to be sending to a customer. If I’d have known they were this rough with casting slag, I would have gotten some CNC’d heads.
That said, the machine work seems pretty good. With the exception of the screw in stud holes. They were drilled and tapped, but a lot of boring material left hanging in the intake port on a 4 cylinders. Sharp edges hanging down into the ports. I Couldn’t take the chance of that breaking off and going into the cylinders, so I spent some time cleaning up the intake ports that needed it. A hammer, punch, chisel, and file cleaned the questionable shavings and casting slag off the intake walls. Running a finger through there isn’t hazardous anymore.
I stuck some paper towels into the port and packed it around the intake valve, then worked on removal of the offending metal, then tipped the head up and dumped out the ports. With the head at a downward angle for the port, I pulled out the paper towel, then blew the port out with air. Good to go now. The pic shows some of the metal bits I knocked out of the ports. 1/4-20 bolt for reference.
I Finally found the valve covers that seem to fit the build just right. Ive had orange covers on the car before, but thought the orange clashed with the red fenders, so doing that again didn't appeal to me that well. So Ive been looking for gloss black, but seemed like all that was available in these covers were krinkle black….not a fan of it, its hard to clean. Kept digging and found Pro-form has them in Liquid Black. Perfect! Heath set me up to pick them up from Lane automotive, about 50 miles from my home, but I was within 20 miles the day I called him about them. They had them in stock, so that saved some shipping expense, and Heath cuts a good deal too! Much appreciated @folkenheath ! Hope to get some more time in this week on assembling the heads and getting them on shortblock.

1EE0CDD5-EA11-4FD8-87B8-F6F4F56157BD.jpeg

EA65CF82-7964-423C-BFF2-845A68C47FB4.jpeg

0F550C3B-4965-4179-9D19-A7A45A63BF79.jpeg

1099B9A9-E3F3-44FC-A34F-007C82012632.jpeg

93453F2E-163E-4897-982A-B7E3B9BB31CE.jpeg

7A5F5AC5-E13D-46B7-8125-B155DAD36CDE.jpeg

EFD37ACC-ECFA-45A0-94B4-B7F09EDBBBFB.jpeg
 
Like they’ll give a shit?
Better off putting them on social media?
 
I'm kind of surprised the threads tap into the ports... :dunno:
Won't the bolt tips cause flow issues and such?
Just use shorter bolts and red rtv...?
How does that work without leaking and such?
Just seems odd to me.
 
Those are just regular bolts I was using to chase the threads….the rocker studs have a much shorter threaded section and shouldn’t protrude into the port.
 
Still, what do you use to seal the threads?
Have to be something resistant to gas I'd think.

Maybe they send the heads that way because they assume anyone spending that much, building an engine to that level, and NOT getting the CNC version, is intending on getting them ported :dunno:

Only thing I can think of.

I spend more than a grand on a single head I better be able to bolt it straight on or I'd be p1$$ed lol.
 
shady said:
I'm kind of surprised the threads tap into the ports... :dunno:
Won't the bolt tips cause flow issues and such?
Just use shorter bolts and red rtv...?
How does that work without leaking and such?
Just seems odd to me.
Click to expand...
Thats 100% normal for aftermarket heads. Also the first thing I do if I port cathedral LS heads is remove the bump.

You just need to use some teflon sealer on the threads like a wet head bolt. You just don't want oil getting sucked into there.
 
@folkenheath Yes, I know we talked about this all before I left your place, glad we covered it all.

Now granted these ports could use some work, but also the airflows boundary layer created by the rough surface will help airflow through the port and suspend the fuel mixture better right?…right? tell me I’m right…:whistle:Isn’t the more critical part of the port the valve guide intrusion and seat angles?
They did some nice work on the seats…

E5AB6C28-4520-481E-8337-AF476A3EEFEB.jpeg
 
76zimmer said:
@folkenheath Yes, I know we talked about this all before I left your place, glad we covered it all.

Now granted these ports could use some work, but also the airflows boundary layer created by the rough surface will help airflow through the port and suspend the fuel mixture better right?…right? tell me I’m right…:whistle:Isn’t the more critical part of the port the valve guide intrusion and seat angles?
They did some nice work on the seats…

View attachment 508835
Click to expand...

Ruff is good for Atomization for sure.
 
76zimmer said:
@folkenheath Yes, I know we talked about this all before I left your place, glad we covered it all.

Now granted these ports could use some work, but also the airflows boundary layer created by the rough surface will help airflow through the port and suspend the fuel mixture better right?…right? tell me I’m right…:whistle:Isn’t the more critical part of the port the valve guide intrusion and seat angles?
They did some nice work on the seats…
Click to expand...

Those heads will work great Dave, no they aren't CNC level heads but those were a lot more money too. We looked at those CNC227 Darts and you decided to spend that money elsewhere, considering you may already get kicked out of the track that's probably best. ha ha

If it bothers you too much we could always hand port them, or even have Dart CNC port them.

The rough vs smooth debate has been going on forever, theoretically it can offer better fuel suspension, or it can trap fuel in the rough spots and pull it out of suspension, which one actually happens who knows, I have not tested that myself. Richard Maskin of Dart actually setup a wet flow bench to see how the fuel acted, so he was a pioneer on that and you have his head design.

I saw a test on the Weingartner channel where he just hand smoothed a CNC ported head, trying not to change its shape, and it picked up power. But I think it depends on each individual head whether it helps or hurts.

If I am just cleaning up a head port I typically smooth some of it with a carbide burr, and blend the bowls, remove casting marks, etc. Dart already does some of that in the bowl area, which is the most important part where it transitions from casting to machined valve bowl.

I also do the same in the combustion chamber.

I usually do not sand the port smooth, because its debatable whether it's better or worse, but sometimes I do just because it can look better.

Some people actually polish the exhaust ports, I have not taken the time to do that, I think its a lot of time for minimal or no gain.
 
Last edited:
I remember, from a long long time ago, my dad testing intake port work. I do not remember the numbers, but the higher the speed of the flow, the more it liked smooth. So, for a low RPM engine, the rough helped with the fuel attomization. At high RPM, the attomization did not matter as much because of the air speed. So the smoother ports were better then.

His flow bench was a BBC on a self made dyno at Bill Thomas Racing. He did this in 1973, when he was trying to get maximum HP/TQ numbers for gas and propane. So I was 9.
 
ktmoutfront said:
....but the higher the speed of the flow, the more it liked smooth. So, for a low RPM engine, the rough helped with the fuel attomization. At high RPM, the attomization did not matter as much because of the air speed. So the smoother ports were better then.
Click to expand...

That makes total sense Wade and could believe that to be true. Higher velocity results in more friction on the rough walls and potentially less flow with rough as well.

If budget allows I usually get a CNC ported head, check the valve job and spring heights, and run it.

I do hand porting, but I don't really like do it, especially sanding. Because I hate metal dust, at least with the carbide burr its chunks you can sweep up. With the sanding you got to wear a dust mask and then it still gets past it seems. And aluminum is not good for us at all. I am in the process of building a metal dust collection system into my shop for that, I have collected most of the parts.

ktmoutfront said:
He did this in 1973, when he was trying to get maximum HP/TQ numbers for gas and propane. So I was 9.
Click to expand...

You are 10 years younger than my father. They stuff they used to build when you couldn't buy much for performance was awesome.

When I took 4 mufflers and made two custom Y pipes to put dual 3" mufflers in parallel on each side of my car a few years ago. My father said, I did that in 1969 with my 63 Nova, I put 2 mufflers on each side to keep it quiet but not choke it down. It only lost ET by the weight of the mufflers, no power loss. It's funny you are doing the same thing 5 decades later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom