Endurance engine build, what to do, what to do?

[Horsewidower]

Excellent question Pat. I'll have to see what spread is available.

Raven: Bo's coming up this weekend so I'll have to ask him. I'm modeling the engine with the ARCA head that I purchased from Bo, and the Esslinger 2233.5 cam.

[1BLKSVO]

Should be interesting combo with the ARCA and 2233.5 cam. That is the combo I have but not running yet. You should have yours running before I do. Keep me posted.

Chris

[Horsewidower]

Fiddling around with the pipemax and dynomation programs. Looks like for a 4,000 rpm to 6,500 rpm power band the lengths for the induction and exhaust are:

Induction: 14-15" with 3" in the head, the runners would be 12"
Exhaust: 19 to 21 inches primary tubes, 8-9 inch collector 3" diameter
A better harmonic for the exhaust would be 29 to 31 inches but with the collector it would be just about impossible to package, and the dynomation program doesn't see any additional hp/torque.

[Horsewidower]

Soft head, Endyn, Larry Widmer

Its funny, I can remember reading the articles in 1985,86 in Hot Rod about the "soft head." I still think there is something here and with a properly designed piston and chamber there is gold here, perhaps the dual plug has a purpose?

http://www.theoldone.com/articles/The_Soft_Head_1999/

Bob

[Raven855]

Ask Joe Morgan or Bo about this guy. Be prepared though. I talked with Joe on this very subject! This was about 2 years ago. While his theories are entertaining, he is known as somewhat of a deadbeat and never seems to deliver. What we need to do Bob, is come up with our own aluminum head and intake.

[Horsewidower]

I know the guy is very controversial. At the same time, his general theory's have been adopted by the OEMs and I think have been generally validated. Look at the shape of the current LS7 heads. Swirl is certainly a benefit to combustion. His most extreme claims of very high CRs and very lean burns can't seem to be duplicated outside of his shop. I've read more than a couple of Honda or Import mag articles where big numbers were made on Widmer's dyno and then couldn't be duplicated when delivered. One was very recent, sometime this year.

I'm a big believer in Joe and Bo, but its not like Joe hasn't caught a lot of crap also. Pioneers tend to catch a lot of crap from folks.

Bo does the work on all my cylinder heads. I'm just trying to decide if I should have some pistons made along the lines of the "soft head" outline. I'm not sure that it'd work without changing the spark plug orientation. Even the ARCA has the plug oriented towards the intake valve, not the exhaust.

I've got Widmer's interview on Speedtalk, entitled Induction dynamics as well as Darin Morgan's Porting by the Numbers. It'll be interesting to compare and contrast.

[Raven855]

I've got Widmer's interview on Speedtalk, entitled Induction dynamics as well as Darin Morgan's Porting by the Numbers. It'll be interesting to compare and contrast.

I haven't seen either of them, but it would make for some interesting contrast. Let me know what you come up with. I tend to think that the intake on our engines could use some help. But for me the effort just does not yield enough return.(I say that and I have been bending tubes and trying my hand at CF/ aluminum intakes in the garage just last night!) I am also close to ordering a set of pistons for the volvo conversion, with a ski ramp design, to promote swirl, similar to the chrysler turbo piston. It sounds like you have some ideas, care to share? I'm sure there are some others that would like to hear them. Go ahead Henson jump in here........And since we are doing mental exercises here, figure out the second pic.

[Horsewidower]

Why would it not be true, ever played tetris.