Coming soon: a fantastic new head for the 263!

[Jyrki]

What ever happened to all of those who used to be active on this forum?

[bob k. mando]

i'm working a lot.

but i think there are a LOT more who aren't. and the lack of income would severely impact the discretionary income they would have to spend on their Buick ( or any other ) hobby.

[saltracer]

What ever happened to all of those who used to be active on this forum?

Jyrki..........I guess we are all busy trying to get these Buick Eight to run.....I just today told myself that I cannot make speed week this year.........maybe the Oct meet? Spent too much time working on my roadster this winter and not enought on race car !

Any luck with the rocker arms? Anyway all is well here just over worked........plus my three grandsons will be here to spend the summer with me/wife (they live in China).........so that will slow the garage work down.

[Buick Guy]

We'll run Salt Cat ll as a lakester at Speed Week, and then we will debut it as a streamliner for World of Speed in September. Here's a preview picture of September.

[Jyrki]

Doug, I'll keep my thumbs up

Dale, regarding rocker arms, another machine shop nearby closed their business, and customers now bring their work to my favorite machinist, drop their stuff on the floor and leave before my man has a chance to refuse! He now lives at the machine shop - he brought his bed there, and built a small kitchen (already had a small bathroom). He works alone, and he told me not to expect my stuff move forward until after summer. That's all right as my porting guru also said not to bring my head in (now welded) before September (porting as a side business, just had a baby, wants to have summer vacation)

I finally found what's wrong with my current '46 engine. I found shrapnel between the #6 intake pushrod and lifter cup - pieces of a broken spring washer. That means, at times there wasn't any valve lash, and sometimes there was huge lash. No wonder it went crazy on the dyno. Also, #7 exhaust lifter base is worn out just after 2500+ miles. That was the only aftermarket lifter in that engine - all others are resurfaced originals and look good. The repop lifters are soft crap, just like Duttweiler said. Also, the intake valve springs had only 40 lbs seat pressure. No wonder the engine died at 3500 rpm N/A and at 3000 rpm under 5 psi boost. Now it's got 90 lbs with Comp 911 springs. I still need to check if the OE rockers clear the retainers - it's pretty close.

I've been working like a dog, too. Not much time for cars. But I got my faith back now that I found the culprit.

[Jenz38]

@ Doug :
Absolutly nice Mashine...good Luck with the Saltcat II,that all Things gonna happen like You and your Crew
it wants.
I believe in you from the far Germany.

@Jyrki :
Its will be interesting, where the Washerpiece come from ?

Everywhere the People so busy,here too.

Greetings from

[Premier 350]

I've nothing to offer in advice, but I'd like to thank all posters for some damn interesting reading. Since I've only seen ONE staight 8 ( they're somewhat rare here in Aus) I'm enjoying the discussions.

Cheers,

Chris

[Untame]

What ever happened with this project??????

It's been on the table for a few months. I'm up to my elbows rebuilding another original Delahaye engine right now. I hope to pick it up before the end of the year. Someone has told us that they are going to fund the development, but until the money shows up it is only talk.

I've been thinking about the firing order. Would you leave it the same, or is there an advantage to flipping it around (using the factory crank)?

[Jyrki]

It's been on the table for a few months. I'm up to my elbows rebuilding another original Delahaye engine right now. I hope to pick it up before the end of the year. Someone has told us that they are going to fund the development, but until the money shows up it is only talk.

I've been thinking about the firing order. Would you leave it the same, or is there an advantage to flipping it around (using the factory crank)?

With a 16-port head, I'd retain the factory firing order

[dlomshek]

Yes there will always be interest in discussing this type of product, but whether it can translate into actual sales is another story.
One thing to consider more than anything else is.....cost! You also need to look at other Inline markets that do offer a performance aluminum head, such as the Chevy 250/292 engines. This engine group is perhaps the largest(interest-wise)for current racing and performance builds. An aluminum 12 Port head is available that replaces the OEM siamese head(similar to the Straight 8), but at over $2500 just for the head(close to $4000 for the total package), total sales can be counted on both hands, even after being available for nearly 30 years. 2nd is the Small Ford 6 cylinder engine. A really nice aluminum Crossflow style head is available from the Aussie Ford cousin for less than $1000, and a brand new performance casting is also available that is even better flowing than the Aussie head. At $1700 bucks for the new aluminum head complete ready to bolt on, the sales of it are really weak and disappointing for the creater who is struggling to recoup his investment and development costs. Many who have bought the head have ended up flipping them on ebay because they cant afford the rest of the components necessary to complete their builds. Even the Aussie head conversion is rarely done, even though the cost is a smokin' deal. Now we come to the Straight 8 which is much farther down the list as far as size of potential customers compared to the Chevy or Ford inlines, and even fewer is actual enthusiasts that would seriously consider buying one. You have several Bonneville guys(2 or 3) and who else. Not to try to discourage you at all. But aside from the head, you are going to have to consider an application specific intake manifold, headers, valve cover, valve train, these are fine for your $1/4M custom car customers, but as the $$$$'s for the head conversion go up, you will see your target market get even smaller than the 2 or 3 that are possibilities so far. Every one likes to think that new technology will eventually catch up to their favorite engine and give them the long awaited holy grail of heads or custom rods and many other parts common to only the Small Block Chevy and other cookie cutter engines, and many will applaude your effort in trying to. A custom head has been discussed here many times before, and would be well recieved if you can pull it off for the right price. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

As far as software, I use Inventor and Solidworks for 3D modeling and FeatureCam for my CAM software, but if you don't already have working knowledge of them they have a really, really steep learning curve.

There is another major CAD software "out there" CATIA. It is the heavyweight software of the aerospace world, also used by many automobile companies (Mercedes). I do a lot of CAD design work and in fact teach CAD at a state university. I would be more than willing to help you with design and the creation of CAD files for your project.