RAMM wanted to know about this 451..............
But to be fair, by the time you were done with those heads they just said Edelbrock on the ends. They were basically a Max Wedge port size correct which is why you used the Indy intake? So there was a lot of work done to those heads. Around that same time frame Dulcich showed up with a set of prototype Chapman Stage VI heads and blew everyone away. Those were a high port head and they really cooked but of course they didn't last long on the market since the cost was so high and Chapman went under during the big recession. If there was a standard port rule engine contest today I think the Trick Flow 240 head castings could be reworked into a high port version with some grinding and filling. I think they would work as well as the old Chapman heads but it would take some porting skills to make it happen. Not my cup of tea but I bet someone does it at some point.
Fair? Now that is funny. I shall explain why.
But first, perhaps we should go back and explore why we even entered the 2009 contest?
In the 2008 Mopar Muscle Magazine Dyno Contest we were not included in the field. I didn't send in an entry because, well, I don't think I knew about the contest. Then I picked up a magazine and noticed an interesting fact. The spec cylinder head in 2008 was the Indy 440 SR.
Guess who was invited......
Indy Cylinder Head! They were letting the people who made the cylinder head enter the contest! Do you think Indy was going to chance getting beat? No way comrade Andy! They even moved the valve locations in the heads and moved the bores to get big valves to fit. How much time they spent on the flow bench and dyno prior to the contest I'm afraid to guess.
Care to guess who won in 2008? Yeah, Indy!
The 2009 spec cylinder head was the Edelbrock RPM.
Why did we enter in 2009? These years later the truth comes out. One reason. We wanted Indy! After letting them enter their own head and compete, we hoped they would run an Edelbrock head the next year, and we were gunning for Indy. Then.....they were not in the field.......damn.
I can now think of multiple reasons why it would not have been wise for Indy to enter in 2009, but at the time they just didn't occur to me.
Fair in 2009? You are correct, it wasn't. With our cylinder head abilities, and after planning at the beginning for Indy, letting us enter in 2009 was just as unfair as letting Indy compete in 2008 with their own head. Not fair, not fair at all.