Although I have a shop I trust, they don't have much experience with slants. Before I drop my head off there is there a shop known for their prowess with these engines anywhere near Maryland or worth the cost of shipping? TIA

What sort of head work are you having done? If there's a lot of porting, I think your concern is valid. If I was doing anything more than basic milling or a valve job, I'd only feel comfortable shipping it all the way to Doc or Mike Jeffries.

Of course, shipping would be a bear, but that's the price we pay for playing with slants as opposed to a small block Chevy...

Good luck!

_________________
vm

If you can find them, the Cox boys in Columbus, OH have been known to do some decent work to, if shipping to Mike is too salty. The last time I shipped a head to Mike it was about $35 each way, from and to Chicago.

The key to doing a good Slant is is to not do too much port work. Just because it flows real good on a bench doesn't mean it will work on the tiny bore of a Slant.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Over the years I have found that to get a slant head to flow good numbers above .500 lift (ie 215cfm) at 550 for example lets you run a cam that will make some HP. With a small bore engine piston speed is very important also. We found more HP by de-stroking and turning the knob up on rpm makes a huge difference.
Bigger is also not better. You can't unshroud a huge valve as slantzilla says because you don't have the bore. You can, however, move a lot of air with a lot of patience and shaping of the bowl and short turn radius. Try also to port the exhaust to no more than 75% of the intake flow. Raising the ports also makes a difference, but you may have to make your own gaskets. I hope this helps in some way. Something to tell your headman anyway. Remember you aren't racing a flow bench, you are racing a car.

One man's opinion'
MaX

_________________
1966 barracuda 360
1964 signet conv. 170 turbo
Bonneville or Bust 2012

If you want it done right, I vote to ship a head to Mike J and be done with it. He is reasonable on cost and will probably beat your local guys even including shipping.

We can talk heads this weekend at Hagerstown. All of the above folks have made great points.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Good info, thanks. I'm looking forward to this weekend, hopefully we'll get to race this time.