Are you going to blue the frame? Or Parkerize it? Or something else? Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
bluing or oxiding sounds like a great idea. Local hardware store has bluing die for guns. I've sandblasted some engine brackets, clutch linkage parts, dip them in die, and hit them with wd-40 or acrylic clear and they look really nice.
Oxpho Blue is good stuff. An old machinist friend turned me on to this bluing agent years ago. Great build btw! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Im in iowa for the next four days. Roger and i have had this weekend on the calender for some time. As delivered hot heads aluminium heads are the best heads for early hemis. With some minor port work they can really make some big power. What im going to do is show whats involved with taking a set of hot heads to the highest level of performance. I have a brand new set of heads just waiting to be worked on. First up is machining the pushrod holes larger for brass tubes. We do this for several reasons. We use large diameter pushrods and a .650 lift cam. The pushrod will rub on the head.This alone would justify the work. Secondly with the amount of port work that will be done its common to break into the pushrod passages. The passages will have a brass tube epoxied into place to cover up the areas that get machined away inside the ports. Its important to do this step first. The reamer can follow the pre existing hole right now. Its difficult to do after the porting is all done and some of the pushrod wall is gone. The cutter has a hard time going straight. Dowal pins are put in the heads. A head is put into the mill using the pins to line it up.Starting on one end of the head exhaust first the pushrod hole was indexed. I used a 5/8 end mill for the first .500 then i used a reamer for the rest leaving ,100 at the bottom for the brass tube to rest on. Just like putting in a cylinder sleeve. The other 15 holes were done in a similar fashion. Drivers were made out of aluminum for the seats. The guides received attention so they will go in smoothly. In the morning i will pick up five pounds of dry ice. Roger should have the heads in the oven warming up when i get there. Thats it for day one. View attachment 3476656 View attachment 3476658 View attachment 3476660
Day two is now complete. We got alot done. This morning i picked up some 5/8 brass tubing for the pushrod tubes. The heads were heated while the guides and seats were put on dry ice. Its cool the way the parts jump around when put on the ice. They settle down once they get cold. The guides were installed followed by the seats. I did the final guide honing after that. The id shrinks after being pressed in. The heads then had the seats opened up for the big valves we run. This alone adds 100 cfm plus of air flow. Next up was another round in the mill. This time the spring seats were opened up. This area requires attention so larger diameter springs can be installed. Stock the hemis dont have the room for big diameter springs or 2 inch installed heights for all out perfprmance or nitro racing. We address both issues. We use .100 long valves to gain extra height. There is also another benefit to this. The longer valves with the hot heads/ missle rockers correct the valve train angles. Up to fairly recently this was always a problem. The springs used are larger diameter both intake and exhaust. This opens up more spring and cam choices. The final thing tonight was laying out the way the ports need to be ground. I brought one of my old heads with me. The scribe marks could still be seen. I transfered those to the new heads. Roger is one of the best in the country doing this kind of work to hemi heads. A pair of hot heads prepaired the same way recorded a et at 5.83 in the front engine dragster. Alan johnson copied these heads making them out of solid billet. They dont flow better than the original hot heads and they can't use water. tomorrow will be a shorter day due to having to get home so i can dig out after the snow storm. Roger will do the porting and blending. The heads need to be decked due to the seats sticking above the deck. Then the receiver grooves can be cut in for the o- rings. When all of the work is finished the heads will flow in the upper 350's on the intake side and upper 250's on the exhaust side. Thats as far as you can go. Thats big block chevy numbers right there. There are only a few shops in the country that have the expertise to get these kinds of real flow numbers. The machining processes outlined here can be performed by any competant machine shop. Your engine will see huge horsepower gains.
Todays fun began with roughing in the seats. I left a little material just in case the seat gets hit during the porting. I did a second cut to remove some material from under the seat. This work will allow roger to blend in the bowl alot faster. Roger will wrap up the final valve depth and valve job. Before i left roger pulled out the blue prints of the valves we use. The intakes are hollow stem stainless and the exhaust are severe duty inconel. The valves we use are a key part thats makes this all work. Several years worth of refining this combination are shown here. Untold hours and dollars spent went into this developement. This combination has a proven track record spanning several seasons used on one of the nations fastest front engine nitro dragsters. There have been alot of tricks of the trade shown here with rogers permission. Pm me if you want to get ahold of roger to take your hot heads to the next level.
Brian, great write up on the heads. After talking to ya I have decided to sell my 331 hemi, and look for a 354. It will be awhile but I have to build one. I think its crazy that you guys are giving away secrets like this. Tony
tony during your search for a 354 if you come across a 392 crank buy it. a 392 crank is easy to fit into a 354. bored over .060 give you 392 cubes in a lot lighter engine. if the 354 turns out to be a marine or industrial block its ok. hot heads offers the parts to use it. they are identified by a timing chain bolt at the 12 oclock position. good luck on your search.
The chassis was treated with tool black from the firewall forward today. It goes on in a three stage process. There is a acid wash followed by another acid that provides the color. Its like parkerizing without heating the part up. Then a sealer goes on for rust protection. Rooman and jim recommended this along with other chassis builders. Parts are starting to pile up so i started to put some back on the car now that the first section of the chassis is done. Im splitting up the chassis into three sections. It will be easier to manage this way. After putting the frontend back on i polished the wheels and wiped down the chrome parts. Any chrome parts that have threads need to be chased first or they will lock up on assemble. We didnt have time to finish all the parts last year. Most of them were done but not everything. Standing back and seeing it all finished was cool. Its kind of over the top with all of the chrome and polished parts but thats what i like. All of the planning and trips to the polisher and plater over the last few months were worth it.
I've used LPS hardcoat on detailed spindles I wanted to keep appearing "bare". Could work well on your frame. http://www.lpslabs.com/product-details/614
It's like a cosmoline, but the surface dries to a tack-free finish. Very little discoloration and can be removed with solvent should you want to do repairs/updates in the future. It doesn't take much thickness to block moisture or air.
Thanks for the reply. With the amount of brake cleaner we spray over the course of a season i dont think that will hold up very good. I have off today so im working on the back of the car now. Im not going back in the house until the rear end is back in the car. Cleaning the frame and going through all three steps is not easy or fun.
In home built acft and tube chassis I have used lindseed oil in side the tubing ,to keep it from rusting from the inside out. Awesome build .
I thought i would get only the rear of the car done today but i just couldnt stop. You just dont know the kind of fun you can have with acid dripping on your scalp or getting in cuts i didnt know i had. Twelve hours later the car was back on the ground. I still need to do the inside of the car. With the car back on its wheels i can move on to making the zoomies.
yea Im told that on a regular basis here. im ok with that. now if I was to drive the blown altered wheelbase dodge a few thousand miles round trip doing drag week with no trailer that might put me in a whole new category of nuts. does this sound like anyone you might know? I think we have the pot calling the kettle black. that's why we get along so well.
thanks guys. I agree it has a all business look. too bad the natural chromoly finish didn't last. I can reproduce the look if I only do one application of the second step. I just don't think there would be any protection from the elements. I have to do the interior later on. I need time for my hands to heal up. the chemicals are rough on them. I tried using gloves but they kept tearing. that's ok because I cant wait to do something fun like building the zoomies this weekend. on a totally different topic I confirmed the order on the new 38 foot gooseneck trailer. its a vintage brand made to my specs. that should help keep some water off the chassis helping to preserve the finish. that excluding drag week of course.
One of my first road trips in my Chevy II was to the drags, which got rained out, and it rained like crazy on my way home, there was several inches deep water running across the road. Wet is a way of life with my "race" car! Everything that didn't get painted completely on mine, has a bit of rust on it now. At least it doesn't grow over time, like it would up there.
The Jalopy Journal
