BigBill,
Thanks for the idea, below iw what I Emailed to the TrickFlow Emails you listed.
Twisted6, it is so great you know Mike Kirby - pioneers like Mike are what makes our hobby grow. And even a very pricey max effort 12-port head is in the budget for some, worth it if you gotta win the race. But, for most of us, the market will be driven by the v-8 price range, hence my hint to Trick Flow. Maybe they can hire Mike K to consult for them or make it his signature cylinder head or something, I dont know - I just think it would be great for the Chev. 6.
Remember when all the aluminum v-8 heads came out? First smallblock Chev, then all the others, then competition for price & flow, etc. This could happen for the inline 6!
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Dear Trick Flow,
I am writing to express my interest in a cylinder head for the Chevy 6 - see post below, I was excited to hear about your pontential interest in doing this.
I will soon either be sinking money into a couple of my old 1962-era heads (siamese intake port, 60s-era combustion chamber, tired/worn iron) or getting something new.
If the price for the single 6 head was in the range of a pair of v-8 heads, I think there would be a huge interest. Why? The era for just "hot rodding" these cars (ie 350 Chevy) is changing to one of taking them back to original - meaning the "6" for many. So why a new cylinder head? Well, just like the old Flathead Fords, even if one runs twin pipes (dual carbs) and alum finned heads, it's still a flathead - the right motor.
Perhaps you could consider two designs:
* First, just an update of the stock head, so the stock manifolds, valve cover etc would bolt up - but a modern combustion chamber (56cc maybe?), about 1.88 x 1.60 valves or so, perhaps individual intake ports but mated to the original "Siamese" intake manifold (or to any new individual-port intakes which would surely follow....) and better short turn radii on both ports. I'd buy one in an millisecond instead of fooling with my old underdesigned iron!
* Then of course there's the 12-port head idea - cut & paste two 350 v-8 heads (same bore spacing) or other. It's been done for racing / specialty cars, but never for the growing mass-interest in the inline.
I have written one of those "computer dyno" programs, it is well tested against hundreds of dyno tests. I tried such a cylinder head (flow & combustion chamber like your modern V8 chev heads) on a built-up 292 Chev 6, mild cam, 4v, 9.0 compression. The modern cylinder head added almost 60 hp and 60 ft-lb and made 300hp on a very mild street build - same as a 283 or 289 v-8 would make! On a Dollars-Per-Horsepower basis that a lot of us use now, this would be a "BUY".