Big Boys Heads
 

How many of these heads were produced and did they come with studs? I'm interested in buying some and slapping them on the 8ba I have but would like to know more about them. I read a guy that was producing them passed away and his shop was in bakersfield California but other than that I have no idea about these heads. Whats the compression on these heads?

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

A little more info here.



https://www.stromberg-bulletin.com/rare-flathead/

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...5&d=1605941879

SEE > https://www.stromberg-bulletin.com/rare-flathead/

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...6&d=1605941879

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Yeah good article thanks dudes. But does anyone know the compression of these heads and do they have ports for water temp?

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Swarm, if one of the two larger holes just below the center water outlet go through too water should do the job for a temp sender .

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Be aware, that if you fit these heads with studs in a fendered car, you'll not be able to remove them. I had some similar 'fat' heads and after buying 48 Model A studs realized what I've said above. Then bought 48 'Caterpillar' bolts [these have the 11/16 AF heads].

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I just hope to find some lol

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Look to Tony Baron. He makes similar heads. These seem a little ridiculous how thick they are. Clean out the block right and that extra coolant isn't needed.

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These look a little like the late Tom Hutchinson's heads. His said "Ford Speed Parts" on them, not many were made but the tooling must have gone somewhere.

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I personally do not know much about these heads, but my brother has a set, still new unused. he may have some info on them. he may see this thread and answer some questions. he goes by Flatrod here on the Barn, and Flatrod 17 on the Hamb

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Look to Tony Baron. He makes similar heads. These seem a little ridiculous how thick they are. Clean out the block right and that extra coolant isn't needed
I looked him up online and couldn't find anything, does he have a website?

These look a little like the late Tom Hutchinson's heads. His said "Ford Speed Parts" on them, not many were made but the tooling must have gone somewhere
Yeah maybe I should have some tooling made up and cast my own heads, I have an idea but I need to figure out how to start the process

I personally do not know much about these heads, but my brother has a set, still new unused. he may have some info on them. he may see this thread and answer some questions. he goes by Flatrod here on the Barn, and Flatrod 17 on the Hamb
Hopefully he sees this, I might just send him a message

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Yes I have a set of unused Big Boys, and my brother, Alaska Jim has Tony Baron heads. I bought mine from Paul years ago, I do remember talking to him when I got them, but don't remember much else.
I can compare the two if you like, I do know the Baron's are around 92cc, I don't think the Big Boys are that big chamber wise.

Thinking about it I think I do have some paper work somewhere, I'll look for it and report back.

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posting pics

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Personally, I do not like the shape of these and see no need for the "extra" amount of water. They are just big and bulky to me. I have a set of Tony Baron's heads - my version is designed for a big pop-up piston. They are quite large as well, but a lot nicer looking head than the 'Big Boys' (obviously, just my opinion!).

While I tend to run Edelbrock heads on most of my recent builds, I still love the design/shape of the 39-48 Navarro heads - I like the way they taper down at the bottoms - similar to original 39-48 Ford heads.

All my Navarro heads were manufactured by "Barney" - I've heard a few comments about some of the ones from H&H having manufacturing inconsistencies - but I have no first hand knowledge of this. If I was going to be buying a new set, I'd check them out for any chamber size/machining issues - and if they were not to Barney's quality, I'd not be running them. Buy Hey - I'm a perfectionist!

PS: Tom Hutchinson was a good ole' flathead friend to me when I was growing up around flatheads - spent quite a bit of time with him and my first SCoT blower setup came from him - NOS. I paid $400 for it . . . was a lot of money for an 18 year old kid! LOL

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Awesome thanks you Flatrod

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I wish I could find a set of those heads for sale as well. Maybe I should just make my own heads

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B&S, there is no comparison between the Big Boys and Baron heads!! We have both, Other then thickness two different worlds! As you know.

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It is possible to make your own heads (out of billet aluminum) - if you can produce 3D CAD models, can generate the toolpaths and have full CNC milling machine equipment.

You have to make them as a "clamshell" design (two halves) - with water jackets milled out of the interiors, then use an o-ring material to seal all the various stud and plug hole locations between the two "sides" as well as around the exterior. We designed all our own heads for the FlatCad engine (blown flathead Cadillac) - is a lot of time and money (and we had our own CNC equipment).

If you have those capabilities, the $$$ it takes to buy 4 big chunks of 6061 aluminum and access to the equipment, let me know . . . might be able to collaborate on a "winter project"! LOL

Here are some pics of the FlatCad heads:

Attachment 448143

Attachment 448144

Attachment 448145

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

B&S - Wow, beautiful parts.

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Thank you . . . they took a "team effort" to produce! Four of us were involved in this aspect of the FlatCad project. The good news is that I have all the SolidWorks 3D designs. ;)

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Wow that looks awesome, your in Ohio do you know Todd in Salem

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Stunning Dale. Simply stunning & a credit to all involved.

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X2, a work of art.

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Agreed. Really impressive.

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Are you talking about the guy that is working on a flathead block design? If so, I've communicated with him, but never met him. I'd love to see an aluminum block flathead that supports 3.5" bores, with DART style sleeves and maybe available in both a 3 and 5 main version. ;)

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Yup thats the one

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FlatCad Chambers: I designed the chambers and pistons to mimic the Harley KR flathead race engine. As a purpose built race flathead, it is the most advanced of any flathead design that I know - and made up to about 1.5 HP per cubic inch on gas.

My neighbor built these engines and he was one of my mentors (like a second Dad to me). Anyway, I have KR cylinders, heads and cam designs . . . so I wanted to try some of this on our Bonneville engine. The engine made 650 HP on Alky.

Here is a photo of the chambers and piston:

Attachment 448153

Attachment 448154

The pistons were designed in CAD and then ordered with flat tops, I then hand formed the "ramp" on each one - it is aligned with the transfer area. This is necessary or the sharp edge of the pop-up piston will "burn" under high boost (we run 21 lbs). I had the piston tops ceramic coated - same with the chambers and valve tops.

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Beautiful work Dale. I guess there are other flatheads beside Fords.

I have one question : "Ol' Ron" is a proponent of moving the spark plug into the transfer area, and for myself, I prefer Edmunds heads because the spark plug is moved into the transfer area enough, allowing the use of extended tip plugs. The "KR" chamber seems to refute this, with the spark plug directly over the exhaust(?) valve. Why would this be?

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Attachment 448162

The better news is that if a 'Winter Project' happened to find a way to get going, I already have rough SolidWorks models to work from (though they are quite preliminary).

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

It is actually over the intake valve. I've not had the luxury of talking to the original designer, though Jerry Branch was pretty much one of the gurus of taking the factory KR design and making additional improvements. My neighbor used to talk to Jerry about the various improvements he was making. While I've heard many "Ford Flathead" guys claim the KR has the plug in the wrong place, I decided that due to the amount of dyno and track work they did, they probably knew what they were doing.

I have a couple guesses:

1) The plug is cooled by the intake charge.

2) Given the design of the chamber, with the angled "shelf" area, my guess is they wanted the charge to fire above the valve (the "back" of the chamber) and then progress toward the angled shelf and piston. One of the reasons I think the shelf is angled (at a very specific angle), is that it uncovers the cylinder on that side . . . so the combustion is driven toward that side, down the cylinder, etc.. My guess is that it causes a "swirl" into the cylinder, which may increase the efficiency of combustion.

I only wish I had a dyno and unlimited time to try different chamber designs. Really, I would like a 1 cylinder Flathead Ford to screw with! LOL

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

I have a set of Grancor heads that had a very intersting chamber for a pop up piston. but the plug was in the stock location. I used these heads on the Bovell engine with a 3 3/4 stroke piston on a 4" crank. Unfortunately the dydo wouldn't pick up the load. I shipped the engine to Cal where the truck was, and flew out there. No Truck and a firm disagreement with the owner. Flew home with out it. Never saw it or the money again.
Bummer, At least I have a picture of the chamber, and it does resemble the Harley chambe.
the location of the plug has a lot to do with the flame front. The flathead has a very long flame front and placing the plug at the far end of the chamber allows the pressure in the chamber to denate the fuel charge. using the .050 piston to head clearance removes the vast majority of the AF over to the transfer ares with a high degree of turbulence, which will urn more of the Af mixture. The result is more power from less fuem.
At least that's the theory. Having the plug away from any valves allow the use of a power tip plug. Another plus. If this doesn't improve power, it will sure improve economy.
Gramps

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

B&S: You and your team are amazing. Those heads are beautiful.
A work of engineering art. It must be like magic when the CNC works its magic on a
big chunk of 6061. Do the heads have to be heat treated after machining?

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Come to think of it, I think we used pre-heat treated 7075 material.

I think the most painful part of the head project is that we did not have a mill big enough to put the block in and use the DRO to figure out the bore, water jacket and stud locations. I did all the deck surface, pan/girdle measurements, etc - using a 24" dial caliper! Now THAT took a long time . . .

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deleted

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He was helping me find out information, I asked the question

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When desiging a racing style combustion chamber for a flathead. I think the wedge style is the best. having a flat surface at an angle and a piston with a corrising angle. This allow a very hi compression without restricting flow. Navorro made a set like this bacl in 2007??? JWL worked on this car someone else had this back in the 60's, but I cant remember who?? Altho the HD chamber is a good one, the ports are alsoverywell designed and aid in the power output. Today we have coputer programs that can help us eliminate questionable designs. Back in the 80;s I spent allot of time on a flow bench looking for the "oly Grail" of port and chamber design. In a flathead the port doesn't stop at the valve. The valve is actually in the intake port, which ends at the cylinder.
On another note, supercharging has shown us just how bad the ports really are. I build the block assy for Ron Horrell, a 294 ci engine for the street . however it had a magnason blower assy. On the dyno it produced 300ft/lbs of torque at 3000RPM and 235 HP at 4500 rpm ON 3/5 lbs of boost. The blower was liminated at 5lbs. The intake port was cleaned up with a 1.6 valve.

I like experimenting with these engines and I respect others that do the same and every year we learn more. Take care, be safe, and think Flatheads and you'll go to Heaven
Gramps

Re: Big Boys Heads
 

Dale that is impressive work!

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Just saw photos of these iron heads on FB, with chambers sort of like the KR chambers.

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Those look like the Grancor heads I had, mine were for an8BA head and NO Name on them or fins.