$1400 is the quate I got to work one of my old cylinder heads. This
is milling,race port and polish,5 angle valve-job on in,and 3 angle on ex,
machine work for springs,enlarging seats for larger valves,etc. The $1400
would take a while for me to come up with much less $3000 thats totally
out of reach for me. I'd definetly appreciate the weight difference in aluminum however. $1500
would be more of a realistic pricing IMO. Just my .02

Well...$1500 would certainly be more affordable pricing, but $3000 is closer to realistic pricing for the amount of design, engineering, tooling, casting and machining cost involved.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

An affordable aluminum cylinder head design would be one of the advantages of an increased popularity and interest in the slant six in light of increasing fuel prices. I kinda like having an unusual engine preference, but if more people were into them, and thus more hop-up parts were available, that would be nice, too...

At my local machine shop a few years ago, I was talking to a counter man about doing head-porting on a 360 I had in the garage. Although he'd worked mostly on Chebbies (of course), he showed me photo albums full of porting work he'd done. Last year, I stopped by to check on milling my Super Six intake and exhaust together (which he thought was way more trouble than it was worth, BTW), and inquired again about porting, but this time on a slant six head. In talking to the same guy who'd showed me the photo albums, he said they didn't do head porting. None. When I mentioned the albums, he denied it.

This whole experience struck me with an "anti-slant" vibe that I haven't gotten over. If I need machine work, I'll be taking my business elsewhere. I'm sure the Cox brothers are the best there is, but the idea of paying for shipping a cylinder head to and from Ohio just seems impractical. So we're limited to either local shops with questionable slant experience, or spending $$$ on shipping.

A few hundred more for a better design seems attractive to me. I few thousand doesn't.

VM

I can sympathize. it took a very long time for me to find anyone in minnesota that even understood what I wanted to do.

Just for comparison purposes, I spent $800 on modifing a 75 head, including .090 mill, 3 angle valve job, new springs, guides, everything, full port and polish, and oversized valves, the biggest that would fit. The performance gain was good, but if it was worth it is a matter of opinion.

as many have said before, its that chamber that needs the most help, so if someone could justify the cost compared to $800 for the performance gain I got, compared to the cost of an aluminium head (development included), would be quite the mission (comparing final results, gain versus gain versus the costs comparison).

the performance gain (flow) matched what mopar muscle came up with in that recent slant article, but mine was done many years before.

the flow numbers are posted at "sick 6's duster" in the slixers section.

I could say the name of the company that did it for me, but they took over six months to do it, and I don't feel like inflicting that on anybody. I had the same feeling as you did vynn3, they just didn't care about the slants.

Sick6: Was that for porting also or just the other head mods listed??
I to will probably have to pay to have my head shipped. People totally
don't understand around here what Im trying to do or why I would wanna
do it. But around here if you mention small block chevy's they are all about working on it

I put Chev valves in my head...with chev springs et al. The shop had no problem getting their head around that.....

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Drat! Curses! I was going to do the very same thing, but I bet you went and bought-up all the Chev valves so nobody else can have some without they don't buy 'em from you!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

its cuz I derank beer with Louis Chevrolet in the 30s.....actually I have tons of small chev valves left over from putting BIG chev valves in chev hedz. Want a boxfull? Make sure you machine the spring seats to match the chev springs. I like stock 3/4ton truck valves and dual v/v springs.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Speed costs money, how fast you wanna spend.?

If you really want a well done head, call Mike Jeffrey in Lexington, NE. He will do you one killer head, just exactly how you want it done, unless your way isn't practical. Mike has probably spent more time with a Slant head on the flow bench than anyone. He flat knows what will work and what won't.

This is not a slam against the Cox boys, you were just worried about shipping to Ohio so I gave you an alternative.

The fact remains that the market for an aluminum Slant head is just too small to get any kind of reasonable price out of it.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Thanks, 'zilla. I'll add them to my possible vendor list. But I'm not exactly looking for "speed" — I'm going through this wierd "efficiency" phase. I want the most power I can get with the maximum mileage (or at least the minimum decrease in mileage). Which would probably utilize most of the same porting techniques, so I'll shut up now...

I like the idea of the "double whammy" aluminum head — much better flow and improved chamber, and a big chunk of weight off the front end. Yes, a 5-speed and MPFI are on my the list of possible upgrades to attain my goals. Someday...

VM

yup, porting and polishing included. I have since edited the post to put that in there, forgot to write it the first time.

Let me ask what I suspect is a dumb question: Even with custom pistons and a milled cylinder head, it's impossible to get good quench from a slant because of the combustion chamber design. Correct?

I'm just trying to figure out my max compression with a mild cam all street motor (I'm thinking 9 to 9.5:1, but just making sure). Thanks, experts!

VM

I've never seen a good quantifyable definition for "quench." I suspect the biggest deterrent to good quench is the long stroke and small bore (need large deck height or big chamber to get 9:1 comp).

On the other hand, the small bore/long stroke should give you better (consistent across cylinder area) burn than a big bore motor, other things being equal. This, I believe, is the reason we can run less total advance for max power, which means the burn is quick and efficient.

You can do very well with a mild cam/comp and good Slant headwork. My Valiant motor, with headwork by Mike Jeffrey, makes great power with only 8.8:1 comp, 2bbl carb, 2.5" single exh/header, 228@0.050" cam. Over 200 honest crank HP (high 14s in the 1/4 in my car w/3.00 rear gear). Idle is smooth and I would bet mileage is very good (but in racecar so not tested).

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I want your engine, Lou! Not to get off-topic, but can you provide your cam specs (or is that top-secret)? Your engine configuration (and output) is what I'm after. I just want a lower r&p to go with that T-5. Thanks!

VM

More important than the cam spec is the Mike Jeffrey headwork.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....