)Lee Shepherd's contribution to head porting.
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Lee Shepherd's contribution to head porting.
I can't seem to get away from days gone past. To me, Pro Stock from 1970 to 1985 was it. The Grand Pubah! Sure, todays steeds are Faster and engine technology has come along way. (although, some "new" ideas are not so new!) I recently had a month long addiction to Ebay. Throughout the month of January, I bought every magazine I could get my hands on that talked about Pro Stock from this era. Pro stock has seen many come and go, but the people that I found myself drawn to were the engine builder/driver. Bob Glidden, Bill Jenkins, Dyno Don, Warren Johnson Ritchie Zul, Jack Roush. They were all the under dog at one time!! But Lee Shepherd seems to stand out. One thing I noticed out of all those magazines articles about Reher Morrison & Shepherd, You hardly EVER saw a picture of him! Try and find an interview on HIM! pfft! You cant. I looked! This coupled with his quiet demenor, intuitive head porting skills and untimely death have made him almost a mythical figure in my eyes. I was hoping some of you could chime in and give some information on his contribution to head porting and engine science. Even conversations or memories of him. Thanks. (I know, I've got issues! )
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hello phoenix,
you're not alone with your allurement to that era of pro stock...i too have been enamored with the engine builder types,....don't forget Frank Iaconio, dick maskin (although he did'nt drive,great contributions), dyno don w/ kaase as crew chief, gapp and roush,...probably a few others that you and i could think of along w/ other ps freaks on this board....i think part of the attraction back then is although still expensive, it was possibly attainable to race national events and qualify for some common guys w/ some smarts and alot of hard work!! nowadays that's not possible without $$ help. and Lee Shepard was arguably one of the best of all time....had seen one of his heads years ago, the welding was unbelievable! everything was moved....unfortunately i had never seen him race, but a friend of mine use to race some national events in s/s and said he was a stone cold terror on the starting line...hope some other guys too add some stories....bob
you're not alone with your allurement to that era of pro stock...i too have been enamored with the engine builder types,....don't forget Frank Iaconio, dick maskin (although he did'nt drive,great contributions), dyno don w/ kaase as crew chief, gapp and roush,...probably a few others that you and i could think of along w/ other ps freaks on this board....i think part of the attraction back then is although still expensive, it was possibly attainable to race national events and qualify for some common guys w/ some smarts and alot of hard work!! nowadays that's not possible without $$ help. and Lee Shepard was arguably one of the best of all time....had seen one of his heads years ago, the welding was unbelievable! everything was moved....unfortunately i had never seen him race, but a friend of mine use to race some national events in s/s and said he was a stone cold terror on the starting line...hope some other guys too add some stories....bob
stand on it!
rfl28, to me the allure is two fold. 1st, The "working man hero" image. Look at Bob Glidden, a former Ford dealership line worker! I can relate to guys with oil stained hands, a little ruff around the edges. They remind me of my grandfather and uncles, men who shaped what has become my passion. I can't relate to matching uniforms and corporate sponsors that have nothing to do with racing. (when did sponsors change from STP to VIAGRA? yack!) 2nd, The unknown potential of these factory engines. And I do mean factory, although highly modified factory. Whats more exiting than overcoming the deficiancy of a stock engine and dicovering the untapped potential of a stock engine. The limiting factor is your imagination.(remember hiport plates on 351c fords or how dick maskin and dave kanners cut the intakes out of their lowly AMC cylinder heads and put in aluminum plates to raise the intakes.) These modifications bring me full circle to Lee Shepherd. you mentioned the amazing welding job, relocated valve angles & ports. Thats exactly what i'm talking about. I know todays pieces are much better in quality and design. I will not dispute that. I'm in awe at what these guys did when faced with a challange. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest. Back to the origional post. I was wondering if anybody had specific info on Lee's findings. Or Bob Gliddens, etc. for that matter. What did they come to know that is still used today. Chamber shape, fins, valve seat angle etc. I seem to remember someone talking about Bobs w-2's a while back.
oooooohh ya! I love it too much not to be. I'm just a little nostalgic. Todays power plants are simply amazing. Sure, Top fuel is kinda cool with their 5000,8000 or is it 20,000 HP figures. But the true fan knows Pro Stock is where its at !!! Top fuel doesnt have the diversity that Pro Stock does. Its just a hemi that has been refined since 65. Look at how many different types of engines have been in pro stock. Veriety is the spice of life! 
I hope Darin can talk about Lee's impact on his career,ideas etc.
I hope Darin can talk about Lee's impact on his career,ideas etc.-
Cobra
Lee Sheperd's contribution to head porting
Dave Densmore
Denswood Sports Marketing
P.O. Box 410, 199 Old Mill Road
Rhome, Texas 76078
(817) 636-2060, office
(817) 638-2790, fax
(214) 244-0008, cell
denswood@aol.com
This man knows a thing or two about Lee Sheperd
Denswood Sports Marketing
P.O. Box 410, 199 Old Mill Road
Rhome, Texas 76078
(817) 636-2060, office
(817) 638-2790, fax
(214) 244-0008, cell
denswood@aol.com
This man knows a thing or two about Lee Sheperd
One of the articles I found shows a head with the deck welded, intake ports relocated and exhaust port plates screwed in. On the exhaust it looked like they were externally cut off and the plate was screwed in.(like the hiport plates used on 351c. lots of time and work in those suckers! Not sure how sound the casting was after ALL that welding. But this was right before the Pontiac and Olds heads.
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Darin Morgan
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Lee Shepherd never got a lot of the credit he disserved. He was so quite and calm that when people took credit for his work, he just let it go and went on to design something else. He invented the Tulip exhaust valve, gave the design to Manley and Manley then produced them for everyone. Lee invented the Pontiac cylinder head. He did ALL the design and R&D work and made the core boxes. For some reason people still believe to this day that Dale Ikie designed that head but its simply not true. Lee Shepherd designed the Pontiac and Chevy symmetrical port Pro Stock cylinder heads.rfl28 wrote:phoenix,
i believe darin morgan can inform you of some of lee's developments...maybe send him a pm....are you still a modern day ps fan??
Darin Morgan
-Induction Research and Development
-EFI Calibration and Tuning
Reher Morrison Racing Engines
1120 Enterprise Place
Arlington Texas 76001
Phone 817-467-7171
Cell 682-559-0321
http://www.rehermorrison.com
-Induction Research and Development
-EFI Calibration and Tuning
Reher Morrison Racing Engines
1120 Enterprise Place
Arlington Texas 76001
Phone 817-467-7171
Cell 682-559-0321
http://www.rehermorrison.com
Darin, I think the idea that Dale Ikie designed the pontiac head came from the magazines. One of the magazines I bought from ebay had an article about the pontiac heads. The two people giving the interview were Butch Leal and Dale Ikie. The article reads like HE designed it.( I think it was Super Stock Drag Illustrated.) Butch and Dale also talked about how the Chevy symmetrical head was inferior to the pontiac head. Not cool to take credit for others work. 
Why did Chevy symmetrical head not have the success that the pontiac or olds head had? The canted valve small block head is a damn near a clone and look how successful it was! Were there any short commings of the Chevy symmetrical head ?
Why did Chevy symmetrical head not have the success that the pontiac or olds head had? The canted valve small block head is a damn near a clone and look how successful it was! Were there any short commings of the Chevy symmetrical head ?-
joe
That's what I'm into as well ! nothing like those old pro stockers ! aluminum aftermarket heads seem generic to me . I do fool with 'em though, to see what makes 'em tick .
lee edwards had a hard runnin' car too ! he ran a lot of match races.
Bob Mullen was a great early artist of head porting , he worked on hemis and clevelands and I don't know what all.
Al Dicksen of hrd use to work on iron alot, did thermokinetic welding on heads back when iron was the currency.
was it dean coontz (sp) that use to furnace braze cleveland blocks ?
those last three were some of the guys "behind the curtain" that made pro stock great.
animal jim is a great guy ! he had a hard runnin cleveland when everybody else had quit it. he put a bottle on it , ran ahra.
Lee Sheppard , I actually do have an article here somewhere with an interview of him . It shows pics of his flow bench with him workin' away and pics of a modified holley tunnell ram . If I can find it I'll try to scan it .
lee edwards had a hard runnin' car too ! he ran a lot of match races.
Bob Mullen was a great early artist of head porting , he worked on hemis and clevelands and I don't know what all.
Al Dicksen of hrd use to work on iron alot, did thermokinetic welding on heads back when iron was the currency.
was it dean coontz (sp) that use to furnace braze cleveland blocks ?
those last three were some of the guys "behind the curtain" that made pro stock great.
animal jim is a great guy ! he had a hard runnin cleveland when everybody else had quit it. he put a bottle on it , ran ahra.
Lee Sheppard , I actually do have an article here somewhere with an interview of him . It shows pics of his flow bench with him workin' away and pics of a modified holley tunnell ram . If I can find it I'll try to scan it .
Joe, that would be great! Al dicksen still does thermokenetic welding, only in aluminum now.http://www.hrdracingheads.com/
It must have been about 1975 when I first became aware of Lee Shepards work. A local rancher bought a R&M modified production motor that he latter blowed up. There was one 292 turbo head still intact and I tried to duplicate another. I was amazed at the work that was done on it and was my first encounter with titanium valves
I remember a magazine story on, either R&M or just Lee. There was a picture that showed an inclined manometer that was super long. And there was a shot of Lee building up the roofs of intake ports with weld.
And Dale Icke being credited with the Pontiac head came from many sources. When he had the mopar deal, it was mentioned a number of times how he dropped the B1/TS heads for "his" Pontiac heads. There was an article that went into all the welding/machining that went into the regular GM heads prior to the new Pontiac head. Icke was credited throughout that article.
It's a shame Lee didn't get the deserved universal credit he was due for the Pontiac. Look at all the off-shoots of his spread port theme that are still making serious power...
And Dale Icke being credited with the Pontiac head came from many sources. When he had the mopar deal, it was mentioned a number of times how he dropped the B1/TS heads for "his" Pontiac heads. There was an article that went into all the welding/machining that went into the regular GM heads prior to the new Pontiac head. Icke was credited throughout that article.
It's a shame Lee didn't get the deserved universal credit he was due for the Pontiac. Look at all the off-shoots of his spread port theme that are still making serious power...