Update on the making of a cylinder head

Hats off to you sir. Takes some talent and courage. Keep going and I will keep being amazed!

 

The cam is from Bill Stipe I think he called it a 320.

 

I will post the finished head, and one when it is on the engine, with its home made intake and headers.

 

I have been planing in my mind for a long time. Even when you plan you run into things you over looked. This head with all the water pockets and ports, you really have to go slow so you do not mess up. I do not like putting metal back in. I never made much scrap and I do not want to start now.

 

Ultra cool stuff! Nice work without a DRO, I still do it now and then using the dials. My first job in a shop I went to in 1981 was on an old Van Norman universal mill and the dials were .250, not the usual .200, so counting cranks of the handle was dicey. The buggers did it to me on purpose to see if i could do it.

Lots of set up there, indicator and edge finder work as well, all forgotten and underappreciated skills, you the man! But its your dojo and you have complete control and no inspector to deal with. In the end, if it works, it works.

Are you doing any of the design on CAD? That has to be a 150-190 chunk of aluminum you started with, no pressure, no pressure...

Bob

 

Here are picture of O ring grooves for head bolts and push rod holes.
Also for you CNC guys a picture how we put on radius in the old days.

 

Really coming along. Thanks for the updates!

 

Looking better all the time!

 

I know what you're saying George, I started in shops in 1958, countin' turns, dividing heads, rotary tables, turret lathes, all the old way. I got soft tho', got a read out on my B'port now. scrapiron in Virginny
I did get some MOOG time back about '65,,,,

 

Looking good! we have a machine like that at work. Gives me a lot of ideas...

 

This is rad. I wish i had a mill or even knew how to use one

 

Man I just bought my first mill, very excited to start using it, and this thread just makes me more excited.. although I know I probably won't ever get as good at manual milling as you are.

 

It's been over a year since I've had my Bridgeport used for anything other than cuting stock to size, locating, drilling and/or tapping holes. Time to get something with a challenge bolted to the table. Thanks for the inspiration and I'll definitely be keeping up with your curreent project.

Frank

 

One thing to remember if you get blue chips you running the spindle to fast. That will wreck your tool bits.

 

Nice work!!! How did you make the curved slots for the o-ring groove?

 

Speachless!

 

Wow, Blue chips running aluminum, George your amazing.........

JK I know blue chips are from Steel... Now I've turned some Copper/Bronze alloys purple... HOT Hot Hot. When they're that hot and you use WD-40 as a cutting fluid it smells like cotton candy.

George, you make me wish I could go back 10 years and work in the mold shop again. My First job was squaring mold halves on a Horz. Kearny Trecker, No readout and the dials were worn so bad you couldn't trust them. I used a mag base and a 0-1" dial indicator for every thing.

My next big perchase will be 220 to the garage and a Mill.. I've got some Ideas that need to be put into metal.

Jeff

 

This is something you learn fast. I have a coolant system on my B'port, so machining steel is not a problem.

Bob

 

The grooves around head bolt holes and push rod holes, I used a boring head with a groove tool in it. The long curved slots I use a 1/8 end mill and free hand it. That means turning both handles at the same time.

 

Yes I use a 1" travel indicator also. For the 220 I use a 5 hp 3 phase motor on 220 single phase. It will phase 3 phase for all your motors if you don't use more than 5 hp at a time. You have to start the motor some how before you turn the power on to it. I get mine turning with a small motor with a belt going form the small one to the big one. At one time I used a pull starter from a small engine. The down side is you loose about 1/3 of your HP with this setup. But I have all the power I need for my lath and mill.

 

Wow, Blue chips running aluminum, George your amazing........
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You got me, But when the alum sticks to the cutter you know you are turn to fast, of course with coolant you can run fast. Funny thing I use WD 40 also.

 

Amazing. Truly amazing.

 

Have you ever considered buying a Variable Frequency drive (VFD)? A 5 hp model will be realtively cheap, and will convert 220 single phase into 3 phase. Plus you get better RPM and Torque control with out the power loss. I use numerous VFD's at work on test fixtures as most of the motors we have are 3 phase, and it is just cheaper and easier to install the VFD then run a new 3 phase line.

 

George,
get your hands on some high speed semi finish roughers if you can.You could be taking most of the stock of in one pass.

 

Amazing.

 

I couldn't presume to know about George's setup, but my J2 isnt anywhere fast enough to run high speed bits. And watching this project go together is even more amazing if you have done much hand work on a big mill.

Very impressive!