Highest flowing sbm heads?

[92b]

A flowbench tells you way more than flow if you know how to use it and what to check. Perfect example would be the doctor J head witch I have had on my bench. And the first Bloomer head which I didn’t have on my bench. Port cc is important but you can’t just get in there and remove area wherever you choose.

I agree. If I gave the impression that flow benches aren't useful that wasn't my intention. I have heard Darrin Morgan say that flow benches will lie to you. I also heard Jon Kaase say he doesn't use a flowbench much anymore. I also heard Warren Johnson say he has never seen a flow bench that was built properly yet. I don't see these comments as meaning flow benches are not useful. I can't speak for any of these guys (that's an understatement) but I think that they have learned some of what they know from years spent on a flowbench, dyno and at the race track. Even if the flowbenh tells you that a gain has been made in flow by changing a port in an area but the dyno and racetrack tell you it's worse that to me is useful information and may give you a better understanding of how a port works. My opinion is that flow benches have been a net gain in the industry as a whole.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I agree. If I gave the impression that flow benches aren't useful that wasn't my intention. I have head Darrin Morgan say that flow benches will lie to you. I also heard Jon Kaase say he doesn't use a flowbench much anymore. I also heard Warren Johnson say he has never seen a flow bench that was built properly yet. I don't see these comments as meaning flow benches are not useful. I can't speak for any of these guys (that's an understatement) but I think that they have learned some of what they know from years spent on a flowbench, dyno and at the race track. Even if the flowbenh tells you that a gain has been made in flow by changing a port in an area but the dyno and racetrack tell you it's worse that to me is useful information and may give you a better understanding of how a port works. My opinion is that flow benches have been a net gain in the industry as a whole.

My ears although getting bad can tell me a lot. I’m on my third flowbench and I built it the way I wanted it. I can flow up to 36 inches of depression so I can really push things if I’m struggling with an issue. At 28 inches I can flow up to 460 cfm. I’ve bolted down heads just to take airspeed readings in a port. The Doctor J head (Airwolf) was one of the jumpiest heads I’ve ever had on my bench. My digital meter rolled 10-15 cfm at some lifts

 

[Mean416]

Engines are fundamentally air pumps. I know there are other factors at play. But, fundamentally, from a pure energy conversion standpoint, the ability of an engine to make power is directly correlated to it's ability to efficiently convert the energy of fuel to combustion. A gallon of gas has a certain amount of energy waiting to release. That gallon of gas requires a certain amount of oxygen to convert to energy. The RATE of burn is directly correlated to how fast you can deliver oxygen to the fuel.

BURN RATE=HORSEPOWER. And that is absolutely driven by airflow.

If you don't believe this then next time you fire up a charcoal grill, get out your blower and feed the fire with a blower. You will see. It's all about airflow.

You must move a certain amount of air to RAPIDLY convert fuel to energy, period.

You can play with compression, swirl, very good combustion chamber shapes, bore and stroke combinations, oil control, low tension rings etc. These are the small things. The big thing in the first place is still airflow.

 

[Mean416]

...The Doctor J head (Airwolf) was one of the jumpiest heads I’ve ever had on my bench. My digital meter rolled 10-15 cfm at some lifts

Can you please elaborate a bit on this?

 

[pittsburghracer]

Can you please elaborate a bit on this?

My first flowbench was digital but tests were done at 10 inches of depression and converted to 28 inches. I loved the simplicity of this bench but I was to limited So off to Columbus Ohio I went to buy a 400 pilot bench with two liquid manometers. Very complicated bench to keep calibration as the weather affected it real bad and the conversion factor at every lift was all lost time. I could see movement on the liquid manometer but it was slow and unpredictable. So I build my bench exactly how I wanted it to be. Now imagine all electronics and taking readings. Have you ever noticed the numbers moving around on a digital electrical test meter. We’re on my bench at different lifts the electronics move and if they are jumping big time (Airwolf head) airspeed is so high the port can’t control it. You can hear it and with electronics you can see it. Quiet is good, noisy is bad. With Edelbrock heads and copies the short side sucks azz from
The factory and lowering it makes things worse. Don’t get me wrong you have to lower it to get the needed shape but not to gain area (cc’s). With electronics I have never had to measure a port. My bench will tell me by probing and checking airspeed where the port needs work. Hit the pinch, then hit the shortside, check here, check there. Back and forth till I’m happy. With the Airwolf head we tested as delivered and one port my buddy touched up. My buddy’s port was calmer but still not great but to fix it would require putting material back into the head. I will see these heads in action probably next year. Sorry that rambled on.

 

[rmchrgr]

You have to quantify the things you do somehow. A flow bench can help predict an outcome but as everyone knows it's not a confirmation, it's just a measurement.

 

[Killer6]

Anybody who has used a flowbench, especially a home-built one, has experienced the manometer "dance", it's amazing how bad some heads are as they transition from predominantly peripheral flow to crossflow through the valve/seat area. And as a home-bench guy, You're like, wtf do I write down at this lift...avg. the spread???
Back to the Ironmike thread, where He took His heads to "Tom", pgh area racers know who Tom is. He stated the heads sounded good on the bench, even tho' the numbers seemed a tick off, the curve was smooth and consistant. As it turned out, iirc, they were not the problem. The bench is only a tool, but a very useful one, if one uses a torque wrench for a hammer...don't expect the best results.

 

[Brian Hafliger]

My ears although getting bad can tell me a lot. I’m on my third flowbench and I built it the way I wanted it. I can flow up to 36 inches of depression so I can really push things if I’m struggling with an issue. At 28 inches I can flow up to 460 cfm. I’ve bolted down heads just to take airspeed readings in a port. The Doctor J head (Airwolf) was one of the jumpiest heads I’ve ever had on my bench. My digital meter rolled 10-15 cfm at some lifts

And yet...the AW heads make power!

 

[pittsburghracer]

And yet...the AW heads make power!

Give me some examples please. And I’m not talking 10 second passes because that’s easy.

 

[rumblefish360]

And yet...the AW heads make power!

What about those CNC Big Mouths?

 

[B3422w5]

Give me some examples please. And I’m not talking 10 second passes because that’s easy.

this is from a post on the “ other” forum a few years back.
I know Mopar Billy went 10.30’s at 128. Don’t remember what his car weighed. Don’t remember it being light


Hi All,

For those interested, I got my Airwolf/ Bloomer combo going after a few years of gathering parts!

The engine was built by Marcus Giobbi at Bullet Race Engineering in Adelaide, South Australia. They do a lot of high-end billet stuff so in comparison to all that, my engine is a bit agricultural.

After all this time and effort, I've got to say I'm pretty happy with it, and the engine builder was really impressed with the quality of the heads and the crank.

The only real issue we had was with valvetrain geometry, and associated spring to rocker clearance, but that was fixed pretty easily.

“Anyway, long story short - combo is as follows;

360 +.040
Bloomer 4.25 crank with 11.7 comp
98 Octane fuel
Air Wolf heads
Solid Roller Cam - 257 duration @ .050 .645 lift
1050 Quick Fuel 4150 Carb

Dyno'd at 625hp @ 6100 with peak 597ft/lbs of torque at 5100.

Torque was 580 from 4200”

 

[pittsburghracer]

this is from a post on the “ other” forum a few years back.
I know Mopar Billy went 10.30’s at 128. Don’t remember what his car weighed. Don’t remember it being light


Hi All,

For those interested, I got my Airwolf/ Bloomer combo going after a few years of gathering parts!

The engine was built by Marcus Giobbi at Bullet Race Engineering in Adelaide, South Australia. They do a lot of high-end billet stuff so in comparison to all that, my engine is a bit agricultural.

After all this time and effort, I've got to say I'm pretty happy with it, and the engine builder was really impressed with the quality of the heads and the crank.

The only real issue we had was with valvetrain geometry, and associated spring to rocker clearance, but that was fixed pretty easily.

“Anyway, long story short - combo is as follows;

360 +.040
Bloomer 4.25 crank with 11.7 comp
98 Octane fuel
Air Wolf heads
Solid Roller Cam - 257 duration @ .050 .645 lift
1050 Quick Fuel 4150 Carb

Dyno'd at 625hp @ 6100 with peak 597ft/lbs of torque at 5100.

Torque was 580 from 4200”

One for comparison

.030 over 360 stock crank
Flat top pistons
Open chamber 195 cc Edelbrock heads
.620 lift roller cam
750 alcohol carb
727 transmission
4.10 gears
3200 pounds
Ran 6.54 not once but 4 times
Here’s a conversion chart for you.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Maybe Don will come back and call me a liar again. Or maybe he’s busy on the car lot waxing someone’s wheels. Lol
Wish I had a 10 second 4.125 inch stoker.

 

[B3422w5]

Maybe Don will come back and call me a liar again. Or maybe he’s busy on the car lot waxing someone’s wheels. Lol
Wish I had a 10 second 4.125 inch stoker.

lol…. Just posted about the only data I have ever seen on those heads. Wasn’t much actual track data on them
i don’t have any financial interest in anybody that produces heads. Your stuff runs great, don’t think a single person on here has ever said otherwise.
guess I don’t understand the smart *** comeback

 

[Brian Hafliger]

Give me some examples please. And I’m not talking 10 second passes because that’s easy.

That engine we did for Mopar Billy was just a 408, 11:1, solid FT cam, and those heads...SV intake and a 950 or 1000 carb. My point is a noisy intake port without the intake manifold on is not really the best way to rate a head for power.

 

[fishmens67]

One for comparison

.030 over 360 stock crank
Flat top pistons
Open chamber 195 cc Edelbrock heads
.620 lift roller cam
750 alcohol carb
727 transmission
4.10 gears
3200 pounds
Ran 6.54 not once but 4 times
Here’s a conversion chart for you.

View attachment 1716003440

I'd really like to see what you could do with an unlimited budget.

 

[rumblefish360]

Contact him after you win lotto!

 

[Dmopower]

Did this thread ever get to a consensus as to which heads that fit a stock block flow the most air? Only asking because I'm waiting on Victors to come in stock and wondered how they rated here and if anyone has bought them and flowed a set?

 

[rumblefish360]

Did this thread ever get to a consensus as to which heads that fit a stock block flow the most air? Only asking because I'm waiting on Victors to come in stock and wondered how they rated here and if anyone has bought them and flowed a set?

I think, AFAIK, they all fit and work on the stock block. All the W heads do. The Victor and Indy heads are the top of the heap aftermarket head and they work on stock block.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Did this thread ever get to a consensus as to which heads that fit a stock block flow the most air? Only asking because I'm waiting on Victors to come in stock and wondered how they rated here and if anyone has bought them and flowed a set?

Did you have to pay up front to order your Victor heads. I was told this when I called Edelbrock to report our issue with the Victor340.

 

[33IMP]

Are they even making the victor small block heads? I saw some at the edelbrock tent at the winter nationals about four years ago..... and never since. They looked really impressive, but I understood the power and airflow wasn't there.
Edit: did a google search, guess they are making them. I just hadn't heard much about em. Oh well....

 

[B3422w5]

Are they even making the victor small block heads? I saw some at the edelbrock tent at the winter nationals about four years ago..... and never since. They looked really impressive, but I understood the power and airflow wasn't there.

they flow good and are capable of huge power..easily over 800

 

[Dmopower]

Did you have to pay up front to order your Victor heads. I was told this when I called Edelbrock to report our issue with the Victor340.

I didn't actually order them. Waiting on them to come in stock, I was told any time now.

 

[Dmopower]

I didn't actually order them. Waiting on them to come in stock, I was told any time now.

I DID order them today through Hughes engines. They aren't sure when they will come in, just sometime soon but one set has my name on them. Super stoked.

 

[justinp61]

they flow good and are capable of huge power..easily over 800

Don, do you know anyone making that kind of power with the Victor?