Strange how most hobbies go. Follow me on this now.
Just think of anything that could be considered a hobby. It always involves money.
It doesn't matter whether it's golf, cars, or stamp collecting,....you pay to play.
Along those same lines, Where else but w/i a hobby does the opportunity to spend that money to buy the Big Bad Bertha driver,...or a new set of AFR 225's, or that 1865 lincoln one cent stamp,....excite? To me, THAT is the addiction.......gotta have it, gotta have it, gotta have it! It's an itch that needs scratching
I don't know about you guys, but I've been tryin to scratch an itch for a few weeks now. It's in a hard to reach place,..and required a little finesse to actually hit the spot.
My "itch" is called a crossflow head. And I've been tryin to get one since I learned about the thing:
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For those of you NOT familiar w/ what you're looking at,..it's basically a 351c head for my banger. Ford Australia made these things back in the early 70's, and they came stock on the Aussie inline version of my motor. As opposed to my cast iron stock head,..the differences are obvious:
Aluminum.
Pedestal rockers 1.73 rockers,..(as opposed shaft mounted 1.5's on mine)
Induction on driver side,..exhaust on passenger side.
Canted valves.
The rarity of the head, and the fact that they are all in Australia had me kinda giving up....they typically go for between 250-300 USD over there, and it was gonna cost big dollars to get it here ( at least the purchase price, probably more)
But On the Fordsix forum,..I state that I want one, and ole dude steps up.......in Oklahoma. He says I can have it for what he paid for it (250.00) plus shipping.
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I've committed to the guy,...I'm hoping he doesn't get cold feet.
It's not all gravy. There is still a few "hurdles" to jump before I can make it work:
The Aussie block is wider on the pushrod side of the engine,...consequently I have to widen my block w/ a steel bar that is bolted, and epoxied on the side to allow me room to enlarge the stock pushrod passages to accomodat the goofy looking angled pushrods. The process has been well documented on Fordsix forum,..so it ain't like I'm coming up w/ a bunch of crazy sh it all on my own (this time).
The firing order is different. The U.S. engine grouped #3, and #4 exhaust valves together. I still have to get the cam for the Aussie block in order to straighten that out. As you can see from the chamber shots,..the valves are all turned almost perpendicular to an inline configuration, but they are all in the same order front to back. Good thing is:..It'll fit my engine,..bad things is: I gotta buy one from Australia.
I was gonna buy a cam for the current combo anyway,..Having to come from Australia,..I cant imagine that it'll cost more than 200.00 to get it here,...I've got an email into one of the cam grinders over there,.. they should see it in a few more hours when it becomes 9 AM Wednesday morning in Sydney.
I'm still making my intake and exhaust manifolds just as I was planning on for the other head,....but the fact that the intake is completely away from the exhaust is a huge benefit,...and super easy to fab because of it.
Now,..I just gotta get the confirmation email from Oklahoma dude w/ my shipping charges.
Just think of anything that could be considered a hobby. It always involves money.
It doesn't matter whether it's golf, cars, or stamp collecting,....you pay to play.
Along those same lines, Where else but w/i a hobby does the opportunity to spend that money to buy the Big Bad Bertha driver,...or a new set of AFR 225's, or that 1865 lincoln one cent stamp,....excite? To me, THAT is the addiction.......gotta have it, gotta have it, gotta have it! It's an itch that needs scratching
I don't know about you guys, but I've been tryin to scratch an itch for a few weeks now. It's in a hard to reach place,..and required a little finesse to actually hit the spot.
My "itch" is called a crossflow head. And I've been tryin to get one since I learned about the thing:
View attachment 124548
View attachment 124549
View attachment 124550
View attachment 124551
View attachment 124552
View attachment 124553
For those of you NOT familiar w/ what you're looking at,..it's basically a 351c head for my banger. Ford Australia made these things back in the early 70's, and they came stock on the Aussie inline version of my motor. As opposed to my cast iron stock head,..the differences are obvious:
Aluminum.
Pedestal rockers 1.73 rockers,..(as opposed shaft mounted 1.5's on mine)
Induction on driver side,..exhaust on passenger side.
Canted valves.
The rarity of the head, and the fact that they are all in Australia had me kinda giving up....they typically go for between 250-300 USD over there, and it was gonna cost big dollars to get it here ( at least the purchase price, probably more)
But On the Fordsix forum,..I state that I want one, and ole dude steps up.......in Oklahoma. He says I can have it for what he paid for it (250.00) plus shipping.
View attachment 124554
I've committed to the guy,...I'm hoping he doesn't get cold feet.
It's not all gravy. There is still a few "hurdles" to jump before I can make it work:
The Aussie block is wider on the pushrod side of the engine,...consequently I have to widen my block w/ a steel bar that is bolted, and epoxied on the side to allow me room to enlarge the stock pushrod passages to accomodat the goofy looking angled pushrods. The process has been well documented on Fordsix forum,..so it ain't like I'm coming up w/ a bunch of crazy sh it all on my own (this time).
The firing order is different. The U.S. engine grouped #3, and #4 exhaust valves together. I still have to get the cam for the Aussie block in order to straighten that out. As you can see from the chamber shots,..the valves are all turned almost perpendicular to an inline configuration, but they are all in the same order front to back. Good thing is:..It'll fit my engine,..bad things is: I gotta buy one from Australia.
I was gonna buy a cam for the current combo anyway,..Having to come from Australia,..I cant imagine that it'll cost more than 200.00 to get it here,...I've got an email into one of the cam grinders over there,.. they should see it in a few more hours when it becomes 9 AM Wednesday morning in Sydney.
I'm still making my intake and exhaust manifolds just as I was planning on for the other head,....but the fact that the intake is completely away from the exhaust is a huge benefit,...and super easy to fab because of it.
Now,..I just gotta get the confirmation email from Oklahoma dude w/ my shipping charges.