BB Ford Aluminum Head Availability

[ProPower engines]

Looking for some decent street type ( Smaller Runner Volume ) BB Ford aluminum Quench heads for marine use>
I have been looking at whats available and with the exception of full race stuff and Edelbrock what else can be found.
I am looking for heads that are more of a stock replacement for the open chamber for 4 cyl./485 Merc marine engines.

Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Dave

[Walter R. Malik]

Looking for some decent street type ( Smaller Runner Volume ) BB Ford aluminum Quench heads for marine use>
I have been looking at whats available and with the exception of full race stuff and Edelbrock what else can be found.
I am looking for heads that are more of a stock replacement for the open chamber for 4 cyl./485 Merc marine engines.

Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Dave

With stock OEM Ford valve locations and angles:

Trick Flow "Power Port 290's" have 74cc chambers, complete ... and Edelbrock sells "quench" 95cc chamber heads, complete.

Pro Comp also sells a 95cc aluminum replacement "quench" chamber head.
Personally ... the casting is OK but, I would use quality parts from another source, in it.

[wyrmrider]

Hi Dave
what kind of use- salt water ever?
are you planning on running a heat exchanger

[wyrmrider]

why
With stock OEM Ford valve locations and angles:
piston interference?
how about
FRPP SCJ heads
you can do the water outlet
use marine head gaskets or BVVC
what rpm range is your usage

[ProPower engines]

Looking for some decent street type ( Smaller Runner Volume ) BB Ford aluminum Quench heads for marine use>
I have been looking at whats available and with the exception of full race stuff and Edelbrock what else can be found.
I am looking for heads that are more of a stock replacement for the open chamber for 4 cyl./485 Merc marine engines.

Any suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Dave

With stock OEM Ford valve locations and angles:

Trick Flow "Power Port 290's" have 74cc chambers, complete ... and Edelbrock sells "quench" 95cc chamber heads, complete.

Pro Comp also sells a 95cc aluminum replacement "quench" chamber head.
Personally ... the casting is OK but, I would use quality parts from another source, in it.

Thanks Walter

Thats what I was considering as a bare head to start with. the component quality is questionable at best.
the main reason is for ease of future maintenance and to keep the comp. to 9.3-1 for todays gas.
Post size is also a big deal as the small 3.7 Lt 4 cyl. engines do make decent power but the issue of detonation come into play with iron heads and they only run at 3000-3800 rpm so bigger ports then the stock head are not a good thing for this rpm and application.

The valve train up grade is welcome over the non adjustable stock stuff and roller rocker sets can be had for a reasonable cost which will do 2 engines per set. Same thing with push rods.

I do a ton of these engines and to convert to a different design is costly for the customer and building a more reliable package is what I want to accomplish. The head is a ugly issue to deal with on these as wet exhaust kills the exhaust seat area on the stock head without hard seats installed to start with and the thin castings make it hard to reliably put in seats.

Thanks for the suggestion

Dave

[ProPower engines]

Hi Dave
what kind of use- salt water ever?
are you planning on running a heat exchanger

Fresh water heat ex-changer system. They use an alloy block as well and raw water would kill them in no time.

[wyrmrider]

3.7 l is SMALL for a 4 banger LMFAO
what do you have to do to go from Al block iron head to AL-AL (stock head is iron right?
mls gaskets?
Is TFS stock valve locations?
There is a thread about rocker geometry with those- do they have custom stands or shaft rockers or something?
have not quite figured that thread out as 460's most have studs
anyway his scrub pattern was on the outside of his stems and he was questioning that
X2 on new hardware on odball heads
I use the premium sintered durabond seats when necessary
On boats premium ex valves- I like Industrial hard chrome (triple plated- copper-nickle- chrome) stems
I od hone valves- puts a cross hatch on them and uncovers bent and other bad ones
I knurl new guides almost all the way to the port then finish and hone for oil retention
On my wet exhaust I/O boat (through the prop) Jones did a careful analysis and did a custom grind that works well
Also a 460 >510 Ford in a flat-bottom I/O log manifold wet through the prop boat- 4bbl marine carb
does make a difference
I would have gone through the transom but he did not want to do it- cam would have changed...

[ProPower engines]

3.7 l is SMALL for a 4 banger LMFAO
what do you have to do to go from Al block iron head to AL-AL (stock head is iron right?
mls gaskets?
Is TFS stock valve locations?
There is a thread about rocker geometry with those- do they have custom stands or shaft rockers or something?
have not quite figured that thread out as 460's most have studs
anyway his scrub pattern was on the outside of his stems and he was questioning that
X2 on new hardware on odball heads
I use the premium sintered durabond seats when necessary
On boats premium ex valves- I like Industrial hard chrome (triple plated- copper-nickle- chrome) stems
I od hone valves- puts a cross hatch on them and uncovers bent and other bad ones
I knurl new guides almost all the way to the port then finish and hone for oil retention
On my wet exhaust I/O boat (through the prop) Jones did a careful analysis and did a custom grind that works well
Also a 460 >510 Ford in a flat-bottom I/O log manifold wet through the prop boat- 4bbl marine carb
does make a difference
I would have gone through the transom but he did not want to do it- cam would have changed...

For what they are ( 1/2 of a 460 ) they make real good power and while they seem small the torque they produce is enough for some of the heavier boats they were originally installed in. While they are considered obsolete by mercury marine I am developing some upgrades and replacements for the hard to get stuff and some simple modifications produce some very decent power gains from the little critters.

I see about 3-4 per month for rebuilds and the main reason for the program is the cost of re-powering with something else like a 4.3 V-6. and space constraints of the engine bay can be upwards of $20K if its even possible in most cases so to just upgrade the excising because of the lack of options is what I am after.

As for the TFS heads I have never seen them or inquired about them as of yet but it's on the list of things to do.

[ProPower engines]

The Ford Gas Backhoe engine. It is a torque little devil. Do you want aluminum or iron?

Aluminum.

[Walter R. Malik]

I would contact AFR then. They are suppose to have 2 port sizes.

Does AFR pay you a royalty or something, Chris...?

They said that their head, (all versions), was going to be ready to ship in June of 2013 so, when I actually see a head somewhere in the field owned by a regular person ... I will only then believe them.
Besides, none of them will have compatible intake ports along with regular OEM valve angles and positioning anyway.

[ProPower engines]

One of the big deals with these little engines is post size.
like the Cleveland head it came with 2 port sizes for the 2bbl and 4bbl head. the later 460 head only came with one port size which is really too big but can be made to work with the right cam profile.

In a perfect world I would like to come up with a head with a slightly smaller port for the rpm range they run in.

[wyrmrider]

with the right cam profile
and if he does not need low rpm grunt to get moving
if he can run that rpm range from the get go he can make the biger ports work

[ProPower engines]

My biggest concern is parts obtainability in the field.
While these is far from original the parts I am trying to use must be easy to get at the local jobber or by the marine tech and machine shop that does there work.Push rod bending in these is common because of the design of the exhaust and to over stiffen them will lead to other more serious damage but its a marine engine so its expected to some point but because of the manifolds they use port alignment has to be the same as well as port size.

They do not respond well to larger ports and the RPM range it from 1200 to 3500ish and torque is very important throughout the range

[wyrmrider]

If 1200 is important then do find the proper ports
hard to fix big ports down that low with cam alone
would take epoxy and that's not appropriate here
I had to replace a 3 liter 4 cylinder Chevy with a 250 6 to get your 4 cylinder kind of cubes
Jealous am I- lots of work to get it to fit lengthwise

[Greg2]

Sounds like a cool project. Wonder about the feasibility of using one of these 4-bangers at higher rpm's in an automotive application?