Blast from the past! - Ardun Heads For Flathead Fords article - from the Oct. 1947 issues of 'Popular Science' magazine. Mart3406 ====================
Interesting! It makes me wonder: Was the Ardun conversion developed especially for use in trucks? Was the design influenced by the Auto Union GP cars? To what extent was the Chrysler hemi influenced by Ardun's design? Any other companies make an ohv conversion for Ford flathead V-8s?
Yes, I have an article here somewhere, where the two brothers describe the overheating problem in trucks, and this conversion was designed to solve that.
Actually, the Ardun head was probably influenced by the Chrysler Hemi Tank engine research/development program during WW II. The engine never made it into production for Tanks, however it did make it into production for Chryslers cars...
What two brothers? I understand that these heads were designed by Zora Arkus-Duntov. I think he encountered problems with porosity in the castings and may have sold the rights. Can anyone fill me in? I'd like to add; the magazine writers come off sounding rather unenlightened when the caption reads "with head removed" when in reality it is the valve cover or head cover that is removed.
A quick look at my book "Zora Arkus-Duntov The Legend Behind Corvette", the authorized biography by Jerry Burton; Ardun Mechanical Corporation was a wartime contractor, and after WWII reorganized for peacetime and turned to making performance available to the hot-rodders that rivaled exotic makes. He borrowed ideas from Auto Union and Talbot Lago. It goes on to explain that the heads were too wide for most cars, except "open cowled" rods, and it seemed the key to sales was to market them for trucks, which had larger engine bays.
Zora had a brother named Yura. They both escaped Europe and were both engineers. Yura got out of the business, and went into engineering research.
The same book mentioned says it appears the Ardun heads had "a littany of problems, D. Randy Riggs, in an Automobile Quaterly aticle on Ardun wrote: "It's cast-steel pushrods weighed the same as a connecting rod, and valve seats came loose from expansion differences of the aluminum and bronze materials. The stock Ardun valves were too heavy. Exhaust manifolds were constricted and head gaskets were a common failure. The coke bottle shaped lifters were originally made from Buick components and had a tendancy to gall. Valve springs were inadequate. The two intake manifolds had no balance tube between them and were poorly designed. The spark plug tubes were a menace and the stock Ford ignition was not up to the task."" It goes on to quote Ray Brock who said the heads did nothing to fix the age old overheating problem that Fords were known for.
I read an article by Zora to the effect that a 241 Dodge hemi head was a direct copy of his heads, except for spacing for 5 mains instead of 3. Chrysler's first hemi was a 2220 cube 16 cylinder aircraft engine. It only flew in a P47 test plane. The war ended and jets were the big news, so it was dropped.
In the original Ardun jnformation pamphlet that I have, the Test results graph is dated Feb 1, 1947. Mick
Duntov said he had a ride in a friend's new 37 Ford V8 in Hungary. They got it up to over 100MPH down a long hill. Later he calculated the engine was making 7000RPM. He was impressed, and surprised the engine didn't blow up or throw a rod. He filed the information away for later. During WW2 he and his brother designed the Ardun heads in London England. They tested them on a fleet of garbage trucks. Remember, during the war civilian cars were off the road due to gas rationing and there weren't that many V8 Fords in England to begin with. They probably figured the garbage trucks gave their motors a workout, and would turn up weaknesses faster than in a car. The head design was similar to what was used on European sports cars and racing cars adapted to fit the Ford block. I believe they had in mind, high performance, sports car and racing use. Duntov was a sports car guy from way back. You remember he ended up running Corvette engineering at Chevrolet.
The boys had a odd home life as their mother had 2 men living with her at the same time. The brothers so liked both men that they adopted the hyfinated name of Arkus - Duntov. This info comes from articles and stories told by Mr Duntov.
These are facts that have been known for years. One of the, apparent, myths is that they were designed for trucks. Evidently the trucks were used as test mules since they would give the new heads a good, real world, workout. Zora was a high performance, race car guy and, I doubt he cared one whit about garbage trucks
It is no secret that Ardun heads were designed and made in England. They were even stamped Made in England. The garbage truck story came from Duntov himself and is well known. Later...... some internet sites indicate the Ardun heads were first made in New York and later produced in England.
My Dad's set has Made in England tags on the valve covers, and the water outlets are the later type. They don't say New York on them. My little brother is the one who's up on the history. Hopefully he'll chime in.
Head design and initial production occurred in the US. Later production occurred in England, likely to support Allard. No evidence that they were ever actually installed into large truck applications, despite initial marketing materials.
Because this seems to be operating in two threads, I have quoted and posted this response here as well. Regarding designed and tested in England in garbage trucks during WWII:
The Jalopy Journal
