Class of the Head
 

I might have told this story awhile back..but here it goes again , for the younger guys.

We were at Miami Hollywood in 1988 , tearing down one of the little Cimarrons.
Next to us there, was my mentor and team mate Joe DeLorenzo and Ritchie DeCola with a K/Stock 327 / 250 Chevelle.
A couple of the 327 exhaust ports looked like they had been in sea water for a few years. The tech guy made a comment about them , saying I guess we know why you used them..Joey just smiled, and then asked the guy what NHRA was going to do about the acid ported heads in Stock. The guy says "Don't worry. NHRA is going to crack down on them" This was 1988, don't forget.
Meanwhile , a good ol' southern tech man who was familiar with Stocker heads, was trying to develop a chemical test that would reveal the presence of acid at one time..
Time went by, and I asked the tech guy what happened..He told me he felt NHRA didn't want to get involved with a possible lawsuit for a bad call.
So, here we are today...
Happy about it? Sad ? Why, or why not?

Re: Class of the Head
 

I had the 5 grand figure in mind when I started this thread...
I've been advised that one of the best in the "business" gets 7K for a pair of BBC heads...Plus the cores, plus the shipping both ways, plus misc.... Closer to 10 grand than 5 ... Maybe someone will care now ;-)

Re: Class of the Head
 

I don't think that it's a matter of caring or not but what to do about it. The "lawsuit" issue has made NHRA very gun-shy about enforcing discretionary rules like "ported heads".
IMHO, NHRA has to come up with a better way of dealing with non-safety related (frivolous?) lawsuits.
Gee, remember the old days when what the Tech Inspector said was final?

Re: Class of the Head
 

I have been quoted $13,000 complete for a top quality set of
state of the 340 Mopar Heads from a well know engine builder
who I respect very much if I could even find a set of Aluminun
Heads to start with.

I would rather spend the money on my Grandkids and if
I get beaten Heads Up = So be it!!

Thirty years ago - I bought my Demon Turn Key and running
well under the index for $5,500 right @ the Track after the
pass. Times have sure changed!!

If Stock/SS racing gets any more expensive we will be DONE after
almost 60 years.

Re: Class of the Head
 

If you deduct a hefty $3000 for valves,springs material for "machining" etc. just to be sure and pay $100 per hour for labour it would get you100hours of work.

Stock heads sure are bad out of the box nowdays:D

Re: Class of the Head
 

Ya know it seems pretty doggone easy to me for NHRA to take care of ported Stocker heads, but I imagine they don't want to spend the money. They could mandate that they're going to procure 10 sets of heads. Average out those ten sets and call it a day. Sure, the first thing you're going to say is logistically and $$$$ wise that could be quite an investment.

But I'm sure there's some guys out there with castings and our shared attitude that would be glad to donate some stock castings for inspection. I know I have plenty of Pontiac castings, I'd LOVE to see a level playing field again.

Same with allowing Edelbrock heads. GET RID of THEM. I didn't work on my cast iron heads for five years to overnight have NHRA making a bunch of 428 guys heros. Some who never had a nine second ET slip in their life were running 9.20's overnight. Nope. Make everyone work with the same equipment.

And we all know 400 Stocker Pontiacs struggled to crack the tens for YEARS, and again, overnight, they're running 10.20's or better.

C'mon NHRA ~ Take five or ten sets of factory heads and average out their port sizes. Put your foot down.

Re: Class of the Head
 

Wasn't there a rumor a few years ago that NHRA bought faro arm to check heads?

Stan

Re: Class of the Head
 

That's why I stopped racing NHRA back in the 90's. I was racing in C/SA with my 428 Mustang and was about .3 and 3 MPH from the quickest 428's. I was told to be competitive I needed acid ported heads and intake. Cost was $5000 for heads and $3000 for intake back then.

Re: Class of the Head
 

Not ever,ever,ever, gonna happen. We're not worth that investment and they don't have the man-power to do it anyway anymore.

Re: Class of the Head
 

I know that's right.
Most sat back and watched it happen or joined in.. I hope y'all enjoy spending your retirement or kids' inheritance.. ;-)

Re: Class of the Head
 

If the head ports CC correct and the chamber CC correct and they look "as cast" there is no policing they can do. Reshaping, welding, and coverup work of bowls and runners, shaving intake side of head to bring CC's down when runners are enlarged, cutting bottom of heads to bring bowl back to specs after you unshrouded the valves and covered it up.....Am I getting close? lol oh and of course the intake has no measurements in the book so "as cast" is good enough even if it's bigger than a sheetmetal intake lol. When one car can run to 6800 at the shift and the other falls over at 6200, same casting numbers, same cam and valvetrain, same trans/converter, same rear gear etc etc.....someone if moving more air thru there air pump(engine) Anyone that says this is not being done is lying to their self. Round trackers been doing it for decades. The question is ??? if you can't beat them, join them??

Re: Class of the Head
 

Nope!
Just another good reason to keep running my one-off, oddball junk.

Re: Class of the Head
 

Billy, you talking car or driver, lol

Re: Class of the Head
 

Actually when you put it that way, both!

Re: Class of the Head
 

Yup..Lots of places to hide if you don't want to play the "heads up win at any cost" game.

I suppose some readers are cringing now about some of the d/r honeys we race. I have been told that you need a low 10 or 9 second car to win anything in today's world.
That being the case, we should be seeing a new winner every other week.
Not so, it seems.
Yes we've seen an A or B Camaro driver finish 1 & 2 last year, also a few 305 Malibu wagons winning races..Anybody care to explain how that's even possible?
;-)

Re: Class of the Head
 

Well ya know Yac, some guys just have to have snap-on and some guys do just fine with williams.
It ain't what you pay for the tool, it's how ya use it.