Port/Polishing stock heads
01-23-2008, 03:40 PM
#21
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,144
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
Check out these two articles regarding the 3valve heads I thought I would postgood read imo.
In the secondarticleinteresting what they say about when comparing the 3V to the 4V.
ARTICLE 1
[hr]
Livernois Motorsports 3-Valve CNC Ported Cylinder Heads Make 40+ HP at the Wheels
by Nate Tovey
This is a summary of a complete technical story that was written to appear in the March 2006 of Race Pages.
Arriving at Livernois, we were immediately introduced to their aforementioned cylinder head guru, Rick Swain. And after briefly getting the formalities out of the way he showed us back to the room where it all took place. Laid out, awaiting our arrival, a pair of 3-valver’s sat in a partially completed state. Modifications appeared to be simple, with all the factory valvetrain hardware present and accounted for. As we would soon learn, Swain is the type of new-tech head guy that abandons most of the conventional teachings from the ‘bigger is better’ school of thought.
The CNC-porting was evident, but the ports weren’t huge. In fact, there were some areas where Swain had actually added in material. A three-angle valve job was certainly a part of the equation. Still we wondered where Swain’s monstrous numbers came from as indicated on his flow chart. Gains of over 50 cfm could be seen on the intake side at .600 lift, but what was even more impressive was the gain of 43 cfm at only .200 lift! Sure the numbers may be what you call astounding at first glance, but given the results, we’re sure you’ll agree that his extent of expertise is second to none.
THE DISECTION
“First off, I see the 3-valve architecture as having a huge advantage over the previous 2-valve GT head, mainly because the 3-valve provides more curtain area,” said Swain. “This is especially beneficial in low and mid lift scenarios, which is really what you’re looking for in a street car,” he continued. According to Swain, if you’re simply a peak numbers *****, the stock 2V P.I. head can be relied on for approximately 170 cfm on the intake side right out of the box. By comparison, the 3V stomps it to the tune of about 225, but as Swain pointed out, it’s really the lower lift numbers that a person wanting this procedure performed should be concerned with. “With this head and cam arrangement, I think airflow gains after around .450 lift are insignificant. The greatest gains to be made are those in the .050 to .350 range.”
To accomplish such gains, Swain puts great emphasis on a select few areas, those being mostly the unshrouding of the valves, reworking the bowls and short turn areas, modifying the valves to accommodate the better low & mid lift airflow. “The old adage is that bigger equals better, when in fact, that’s just a lot of old school theory,” explained Swain. “As it is the factory ports on these heads are almost too big. All in all, I only end up removing a couple cc’s worth the material from the intake runners by the time I’m finished—only in the critical areas.”
ON THE DYNO
On the dyno, Swain’s heads did exactly as Livernois’ claimed they would with almost 20 lbs. ft. of torque and just over 40 more horsepower to the rear wheels. The best part is that the curve is strikingly similar to stock, indicating plenty of useable grunt for the street. Now just image what these will be capable of once the aftermarket catches up!
Flow Chart-Ported 3 Valve Heads
Intake
0.200 - 188 cfm
0.300 - 237 cfm
0.400 - 253 cfm
0.500 - 274 cfm
0.600 - 282 cfm
Exhaust
0.200 - 98.5 cfm
0.300 - 138 cfm
0.400 - 165 cfm
0.500 - 176 cfm
0.600 - 182 cfm
Check out Livernois's website here
Check out the complete story in March 2006 Race Pages.
Subscribe to Race Pages Magazine/Become a Member here
ARTICLE 2
[b]
Now that we've explored the majority of simple, bolt-on parts for the S197 Mustang, the next logical place to turn our collective attention is to the inner working of the engine. And, no matter how sophisticated or complicated an engine is, the true art of making power is getting more atmosphere stuffed into the combustion chamber. For decades, head porters have been enlarging the passageways and smoothing the aluminum of cylinder heads to hasten the trip from outside the air filter into the engine. Those artisans have always had the most influential role in helping hot-rod enthusiasts create more power.
Ron Robart and his team of head-porting professionals at Fox Lake Power Products are at it again. Their efforts helped us pick up 28 rear-wheel horsepower and 6 lb-ft of rear-wheel torque while keeping good street manners intact.
The exhaust ports also get a full CNC treatment. Keeping up the efficiency on the exhaust side promotes good airflow through the head.
It is no great surprise that Ron Robart, chief head porter and owner of Fox Lake Power Products, immediately went to work on the new Three-Valve heads. He had experimented extensively with the Three-Valve head in late 2003, when Ford launched the new F-150 powered by a modular engine carrying the same head design that would show up on the S197 Mustang in 2005. Those experimental attempts have paid off in spades, as Fox Lake has quickly jumped to the forefront of new Mustang-head modification.
We recently had a chance to follow along as our guys at MD Motorsports swapped out the stock heads of a customer's '05 Mustang with a set of Fox Lake CNC-ported Three-Valve heads. Reports of 20-35 rear-wheel-horsepower gains from test vehicles made us want to know firsthand what a head swap would do for the efficiency and power production of the newest small-block Ford.
Fox Lake prefers hand-blending the combustion chamber. Too much work here can dramatically affect the performance and longevity of the engine.
Our head swap
In the secondarticleinteresting what they say about when comparing the 3V to the 4V.
ARTICLE 1
[hr]
Livernois Motorsports 3-Valve CNC Ported Cylinder Heads Make 40+ HP at the Wheels
by Nate Tovey
This is a summary of a complete technical story that was written to appear in the March 2006 of Race Pages.
Arriving at Livernois, we were immediately introduced to their aforementioned cylinder head guru, Rick Swain. And after briefly getting the formalities out of the way he showed us back to the room where it all took place. Laid out, awaiting our arrival, a pair of 3-valver’s sat in a partially completed state. Modifications appeared to be simple, with all the factory valvetrain hardware present and accounted for. As we would soon learn, Swain is the type of new-tech head guy that abandons most of the conventional teachings from the ‘bigger is better’ school of thought.
The CNC-porting was evident, but the ports weren’t huge. In fact, there were some areas where Swain had actually added in material. A three-angle valve job was certainly a part of the equation. Still we wondered where Swain’s monstrous numbers came from as indicated on his flow chart. Gains of over 50 cfm could be seen on the intake side at .600 lift, but what was even more impressive was the gain of 43 cfm at only .200 lift! Sure the numbers may be what you call astounding at first glance, but given the results, we’re sure you’ll agree that his extent of expertise is second to none.
THE DISECTION
“First off, I see the 3-valve architecture as having a huge advantage over the previous 2-valve GT head, mainly because the 3-valve provides more curtain area,” said Swain. “This is especially beneficial in low and mid lift scenarios, which is really what you’re looking for in a street car,” he continued. According to Swain, if you’re simply a peak numbers *****, the stock 2V P.I. head can be relied on for approximately 170 cfm on the intake side right out of the box. By comparison, the 3V stomps it to the tune of about 225, but as Swain pointed out, it’s really the lower lift numbers that a person wanting this procedure performed should be concerned with. “With this head and cam arrangement, I think airflow gains after around .450 lift are insignificant. The greatest gains to be made are those in the .050 to .350 range.”
To accomplish such gains, Swain puts great emphasis on a select few areas, those being mostly the unshrouding of the valves, reworking the bowls and short turn areas, modifying the valves to accommodate the better low & mid lift airflow. “The old adage is that bigger equals better, when in fact, that’s just a lot of old school theory,” explained Swain. “As it is the factory ports on these heads are almost too big. All in all, I only end up removing a couple cc’s worth the material from the intake runners by the time I’m finished—only in the critical areas.”
ON THE DYNO
On the dyno, Swain’s heads did exactly as Livernois’ claimed they would with almost 20 lbs. ft. of torque and just over 40 more horsepower to the rear wheels. The best part is that the curve is strikingly similar to stock, indicating plenty of useable grunt for the street. Now just image what these will be capable of once the aftermarket catches up!
Flow Chart-Ported 3 Valve Heads
Intake
0.200 - 188 cfm
0.300 - 237 cfm
0.400 - 253 cfm
0.500 - 274 cfm
0.600 - 282 cfm
Exhaust
0.200 - 98.5 cfm
0.300 - 138 cfm
0.400 - 165 cfm
0.500 - 176 cfm
0.600 - 182 cfm
Check out Livernois's website here
Check out the complete story in March 2006 Race Pages.
Subscribe to Race Pages Magazine/Become a Member here
ARTICLE 2
[b]
Now that we've explored the majority of simple, bolt-on parts for the S197 Mustang, the next logical place to turn our collective attention is to the inner working of the engine. And, no matter how sophisticated or complicated an engine is, the true art of making power is getting more atmosphere stuffed into the combustion chamber. For decades, head porters have been enlarging the passageways and smoothing the aluminum of cylinder heads to hasten the trip from outside the air filter into the engine. Those artisans have always had the most influential role in helping hot-rod enthusiasts create more power.
Ron Robart and his team of head-porting professionals at Fox Lake Power Products are at it again. Their efforts helped us pick up 28 rear-wheel horsepower and 6 lb-ft of rear-wheel torque while keeping good street manners intact.
The exhaust ports also get a full CNC treatment. Keeping up the efficiency on the exhaust side promotes good airflow through the head.
It is no great surprise that Ron Robart, chief head porter and owner of Fox Lake Power Products, immediately went to work on the new Three-Valve heads. He had experimented extensively with the Three-Valve head in late 2003, when Ford launched the new F-150 powered by a modular engine carrying the same head design that would show up on the S197 Mustang in 2005. Those experimental attempts have paid off in spades, as Fox Lake has quickly jumped to the forefront of new Mustang-head modification.
We recently had a chance to follow along as our guys at MD Motorsports swapped out the stock heads of a customer's '05 Mustang with a set of Fox Lake CNC-ported Three-Valve heads. Reports of 20-35 rear-wheel-horsepower gains from test vehicles made us want to know firsthand what a head swap would do for the efficiency and power production of the newest small-block Ford.
Fox Lake prefers hand-blending the combustion chamber. Too much work here can dramatically affect the performance and longevity of the engine.
Our head swap
01-23-2008, 06:03 PM
#23
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,144
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
ORIGINAL: UrS4
From another forum, there is a thread on an 05 manual with the following mods:
LTs
hi flow cats
Stock mufflers
stock intake
stock TB
stock cams
CAI
87octane tune
UDPs
55,000 miles on the block
charge motion plates still in place and functioning properly
put down 305whp and 319wtrq
Port and polish on the heads with addition of manley springs
put down 340whp and 346wtrq
wonder what the numbers would have been with 1mm oversized valves and 93 octane tune?
From another forum, there is a thread on an 05 manual with the following mods:
LTs
hi flow cats
Stock mufflers
stock intake
stock TB
stock cams
CAI
87octane tune
UDPs
55,000 miles on the block
charge motion plates still in place and functioning properly
put down 305whp and 319wtrq
Port and polish on the heads with addition of manley springs
put down 340whp and 346wtrq
wonder what the numbers would have been with 1mm oversized valves and 93 octane tune?
01-23-2008, 06:06 PM
#24
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: CA
Posts: 1,313
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't explicitly listed in the post but a few posts after my question regarding new valves, they said it was only 1mm oversized valves on either the intake or exhaust but not both, I forget with side.
01-23-2008, 06:09 PM
#25
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,144
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
ORIGINAL: UrS4
Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't explicitly listed in the post but a few posts after my question regarding new valves, they said it was only 1mm oversized valves on either the intake or exhaust but not both, I forget with side.
Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't explicitly listed in the post but a few posts after my question regarding new valves, they said it was only 1mm oversized valves on either the intake or exhaust but not both, I forget with side.
01-23-2008, 06:14 PM
#26
4th Gear Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,144
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
ORIGINAL: UrS4
Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't explicitly listed in the post but a few posts after my question regarding new valves, they said it was only 1mm oversized valves on either the intake or exhaust but not both, I forget with side.
Yeah, sorry about that. It wasn't explicitly listed in the post but a few posts after my question regarding new valves, they said it was only 1mm oversized valves on either the intake or exhaust but not both, I forget with side.
01-23-2008, 08:29 PM
#28
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: TX
Posts: 4,897
RE: Port/Polishing stock heads
That was a good read TJ. I've heard several times that the 3V head will support 700hp and can easily outflow the 4V with some work. I'd heard the limiting factor on the stock heads are the weak valvesprings which cause valve float (and can crack) above 6.5k rpm...
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