According to the poster, they have the tooling, machinery, the software and the knowhow,,,,,,,,, how exactly isn't it cost effective? I would agree if they had to farm out the machining/R&D,,,,,, but in this case, its just time.
You have to remember that the users of 6 cyl flat heads are few and far apart. Much different than the four or the V8 $750 seems excess to those buyers as that is about 2 weeks work My first set of edelbrock heads cost me 37.50 per head, but that just happened to be 50 hours work at that time. I made 65 cents and hour! So it is fairly comparable to what the 1940 hot rodders had to pay. Friend worked at the Ford Dealership as mechanic and labor cost at shop was $3 per hour, of which he got 40%! I could get a fender banged out in a body shop for $5 including paint matching! And my brother painted cars , furnishing paint , for $15. Different times for different folks. traderjack
I fear that everyine is ***uming facts not in evidence on this one. This is 'my cousin and I playing with machinery', not 'let's go into business'. It is entertainment, not a business case. So there is no amortization, no distribution, no pricing, no marketing angles. My cousin and I share a p***ion for tools and machinery, and he has some big CNC equipment, and he has a honking big slab of metal, and I have a desire to whittle something out. The biggest obstacle is time as he and I live somewhat apart geographically and we both work our ***es off at our day jobs. I appreciate the good ideas and the good wishes and the good advice, and if we were thinking about anything like that, it would be a different story. This is just 'fun' and you don't put a price tag on that (at least, I don't). Since I started this thread I have come into possession of a couple of extra heads (bought a couple of parts motors) so I do have a stock cast iron unit to use as a guide. I am amazed at how basic the design it: there does not seem to be any heavy duty science in the way that the water p***ages are laid out.
That's right. It is entertainment; our alternative to watching football on the tube. Time is also the bugaboo, but once we can get it together, we will do it.
I also want to comment on this part of your posting, as you make some good points. The biggest reason I want this is for: appearance. LOL, yes, it is true. Look, these are 97 hp tractor motors. You are just not going to get that much out of them, and even if you were to take care of that (induction/camshaft/valves/compression/chamber design/CR/exhaust), you are still dealing with a four main bearinbg engine with chicken bone connecting rods and a piss-poor oiling system. Why not just jack up the radiator cap and slide in a Jaguar XK six? Would be a whole lot easier. To me, the engine sits too low in the engine compartment and it is too dark in there. A taller aluminum head with nice fins would do wonders. You can also clean up the design some, getting rid of ground cables and throttle linkages (route around the back of the motor) and bracketry. Maybe we would pick up a little in the CR department, but that would be about it. I would consider spacing the plugs equally as this would look better but I don't think that that is feasible given the way the bore spacing is laid out. The head could definitely be thicker for bigger water jackets. This would also add height, and with a two-piece unit would give us more to work with. I can envision the head being half again as tall as the stock head. The stock heads are nominal two inches tall, so maybe around 3" tall overall. Some of this extra height would be the fins. I am putting my motor back together with the stock head for now. The head will be black and the block dark brown. I have already obtained chrome hex fasteners with chrome AN washers from Gardner-Westcott to replace the nasty stock head bolts. Here is a look at the stock head bolts, chrome GW bolts, and the repop units sold by VPW.
Just like these guys, I'm designing my AL head for one reason: because I want to. The thought of selling them for profit isn't even a factor in my decision to take on the project. As was stated, the market isn't big enough to support anything more than "just for fun" production.
Thanks A HAMBer half way across the US had it, it's originally off a '54 DeSoto but was a direct swap onto my '55 Ply. It's just about the coolest thing ever. Now that I have it, I don't know how I ever lived without it. Every now and then, I get up to 60 mph without it activated, and I think to myself "wow, I really used to drive it like this ?!?"
Ironic that Tattersfield, Fenton, Sharp, and Edmunds all made aluminum heads for these things and there is still a need for repops from Edgy and perhaps more. Who would have thunk it for a little old flathead six mopar engine fifty years later?
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