Porting books/material

[Mousehouse1]

Who has good books/material on cylinder head and manifold porting? I have a couple but I would think there would be some that are better or have more information.

[gofaster]

David Vizard has a couple of good books that are easy to understand, one is a general book that deals with British automotive heads, and another that is specifically SBC.

"Theory and Practice of Cylinder Head Modification"

"How to Build & Modify Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Cylinder Heads"

The neat thing about the "Theory" book is that the principles involved and the variety of heads presented give a good overview into the types of heads a porter may encounter. Different ways to skin different cats.

Another book that I recommend is "Practical Gas Flow" by John Dalton. Subtitled "Techniques for low budget performance tuning". He shows how he made port molds, a plaster cast head (flow box) for experiments, a rudimentary flow bench, a manometer, and demonstrates the use of flow balls and a pitot probe. He takes a simple step by step approach to the whole process of porting heads and modifying valves.

These first three books may still be out of print, they were back when I bought them, but I was able to find them used.

Another book I would recommend is:

"Porting, Flowtesting & Procedures" by Bill Jones

It is a terriffic compilation of tests, ideas, charts, tools, repair procedures, and applications that was put together by Bill Jones. Not just Chevies, either. Bill is a very interesting craftsman with tuning experience in Sprint Cars, NASCAR, Drags, and Bonneville. His book is self published and available only from him. (Bill only accepts cash money payments. If you're interested, don't be put off by that, he is a straight shooter, but that's how he does things.) I think this contact info is still good:

Bill Jones
3294 Meadow Wood Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84118
Phone 801-969-3807

If you are interested in Harleys, here is another self published book:

Harley-Davidson Evolution 1340 Performance Tests
by Jerry Branch, Branch Flowmetrics
Phone 714-827-1463

Jerry is quite a character with a "my way or the highway" approach. He has the race wins to back it up, too!
My favorite quote from Jerry Branch is:

"...gas and air are the only two things that make horsepower. There is no piece of metal that makes anything. Metal is just a container for the gas and air mixture."

[bruce]

[Mousehouse1]

I tried to call Bill last night but he wasn't home and I forgot to call him back. Bruce what did his book cost?

What is a good price to pay for the Theory and Practice of Cylinder Head Modification book?

[bruce]

Bill's book if I recall was $40 he has two of them I only purchased the one with the flowbench info in it.

[Mousehouse1]

Bruce what was the other book about?

[gofaster]

Bruce's test rig reminded me of a very important book. I forgot to mention the text by Sir Harry Ricardo,

"The High-Speed Internal-Combustion Engine"

It's a great resource on all kinds of engines and a very interesting read.

It was last published in the '60's. It goes over how they tested swirl, tumble, and quench (squish) in his test mule. as well as covering diesels and 2-strokes.

I would not consider this a "how-to" manual, but it is thought provoking and has great pictures and drawings. It covers some strange engine layouts, too.

For strange, SAE sells the book:

"Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of World War II"

By Graham White

It is mostly involved with the engineering involved in developing engines that would last through the day. As a motor head, I found it fascinating, but it won't help you much with your porting. If you're interested in odd configurations, multi-crank engines, slide valve layouts, inlines, vee's, parallels, opposeds, radials, etc. then you may enjoy it.

[Hopper]

Bill's other book is, Racing, Engines and Engineering.

It's about Carburetors, Camshafts,
Rocker arms, Ignition system',
Cylinder heads, Cooling systems, etc...

Buy both books.

[larrycavan]

[SuperRunner]

Wow, this is cool. Bill is actually the guy that got me interested in building a bench.

I wanted to flow a head I had ported, and there are only 2 places in the area that have flow benches, some shop about an hour from my house, and Bill...about a 25 minute drive.

He is quite the talker, if you ask him a simple question, and expect a short simple answer, well, you had better pull up a chair, because with him, there is no simple answer. He has to make sure you know every little detail about everything. I have never known a guy that LOVES to share knowledge. After I got my head back, I started looking up info on blow benches, and found this site, and that was only about 3 weeks ago...if that. Now I nearly have my flowbench complete.

Didn't know he had writtens some books, I will have to stop buy and see if he has any handy.

Anyway, just a plug for Bill, super great guy.

[77-1201624802]

[49-1183904562]

[Aztec]

Hi all

I have buy a couples books from David Vizard.
all this books have allot of info,, I love his books...

If I can suggest another is...

How to build & modify Chevrolet smb v-8 Camshaft & valve train
and you have too
How to build horsepower Vol2 Carburetors & intake manifolds

and he give some tips in his books...
if your way is Small-block chevy,,, David Vizard is your guys



:;):

[Flash]

Any one know of some good head porting book/s that focus on the Chry. small blocks...aka LA 340/360 engs
I'm not much good a Goggling, but i try.

There is just a over welling amount of Chev links and articles out there.....which help with basic ideas of porting.

Read lots and lots of stuff from David Visard. he is a grate writer, but once again, mostly Chev related.

Buying one of his book won't be near as much help as some one that has hands on, or hands dirty on a small block Mopar.

Have done searches on Speed talk, but most of the info i fine on there is Stock to Pro Stock theory, that is interesting, but don't apply to my 340.

Have got some opinion, on some of the Mopar site, but either vary little, or two guy will argue a specific point to the death, of the thread :angry:

I did buy the "Practical Gas Flow" book many mounts a go........ Would Not be a bad idea, to read it again! Good book!

I have all that,
Chry/Mopar offers, and buy the update version every time they come out. Aka, Direct Connection/ Mopar Performance, engine book, chassis book and the performance part catalog

Also have bought, the "How to Build BIG-INCH Mopar Small Blocks" Grate grate book, and will have a 4" crank in a 340/360 some....year :;):

A link that talks about porting the 340/360(LA) head. would be good as well.

Have found several but they just take about the differences between the T/A, 340/360 and emission 360 heads....... I Understand the difference ports, between them vary well.

Things that would be interest, and Valuable to know, is were i would find water,oil...... create vac leaks.

When i click on the Bill Jones link, found it vary interesting the home made tools, that he make for checking stuff like that. :;):
If i decide to get a book from him, will probably just make a trip to Utah, to get it(2 hour Drive)

OK flap my jaw enough will shut up now :O

[coulterracn]

Gorden,

I've ported both small and big block Mopar heads with good results. If you've read all the books and articles on chevy heads you're and have basic porting skills you're ready. It may take more grinding to get the results you want but it's basically the same procedure.

The bowl is where you'll gain the most.

Ray