Gang,
Some of you know I am working on a new head for the 2.0 motor I plan to put in the car. I am going to give you some history on it and the current state of completion.
I bought the casting from Glen Smith some years ago. I wanted to have it done in time for SDAC 13. The various machie shops and such that were to finish off the thing kept it on the back burner. The head was partially machined and still required the following: Valve guide holes, spark plug holes, valve seats, a combustion chamber, cam towers relieved, valve spring seats, and the intake/exhaust bolt holes.
The head is unique in that the coolant passage behind the exhaust guide was filled in during the casting process. This is a major hurdle in getting the exhaust port to truly kick tail. I roughed them out, but all the ports were layed out to be 1/2" taller than the production position. A good friend and a guy who helped tremendously with advice (JS) did one like this, but his required a great deal of additional welding. The head then had the port floor on teh exhaust side welded up so the finished floor is the 1/2" higher that I mentioned previously. The intake port roofs were also welded up inside the valve cover area.
To date, I have the following completed:
Cam towers relieved. We had to do this to allow access for tooling and the valve springs.
Guide holes done and Hemi guides installed. These guides are sunk into the standard 2.2 spring seat area and thus I have a stronger support for the guide. The guide tops are also a wee bit lower than factory so as when a higher lift roller stick becomes available, I will have no clearance issues. I cana lso use a metal clad Viton seal on these guides. They also take up less room on the port.
Spark plug holes are drilled an tapped. I will be using a colder plug from the SRT4 family of plugs.
The remaining work will commence Saturday. We have to manufacture some of our own tooling as what I need isn't available to cut the spring seat I need. I may use Manley's new springs for the 5.7 & 6.1 Hemi motor, but I am still undecided. The support around the guide is dictating what I can and cannot use.
We will be making our own Beryllium/Copper exhaust seats and found an intake seat that will work. Once the seats are in, I will put in the combustion chambers. The short turns have gained .300" more than what they had stock. The ports have a much straighter shot to the valve.
If this doesn't work, I have a ported SRT4 head under construction.
Steve M.