Introduction & Head machining question

[fha772]

Hello All,
My names Frank, i live in Derbyshire, U.K. and i've recently got hold of a French Fire truck WC62 that has been converted to WC63 spec with a winch and bolt-on chassis extentions. It has sat in a yard for about 9 years with no cylinder head after the previous owner bought it from an auction and the head got lost prior to collection!! The reason the head was removed was due to a couple of spark plugs breaking off in the head, it was removed to have the plugs machined out, after this was done the guy who owned it decided to sell up and sold this along with everything else. The head was with it at auction but lost at some point.

I did toy for a while with fitting a Perkins Diesel i have in my shed, but have now decided after much thought and inspection of the engine to go with rebuilding the original 230cu engine.

The rear body is junk and will be removed and replaced with a traditional British fairground tractor body complete with generator.
I'm restoring all the front, original cab panels, etc... and only replacing the non-original rear body.

I've just got a NOS cylinder head from Dallas Autos U.K.(along with a full FelPro gasket set, carb rebuild kit, and 6 new spark plugs), to replace the 1 that was missing when i bought the truck.

My question is this, I seem to remember reading somewhere about machining around .060"(1.524mm) off the head to raise the compression ratio from 6.7:1 to appox 8:1.
Does anyone know if this is correct?
If not, is it possible to machining the head to raise compression and by how much?

Can anyone advise me on any other mods that i can make, to increase pulling power of this engine?

I'm also planning on regrinding the camshaft to give a longer duration.

Any help/advice would be great.
Cheers Frank.

Here's some picutres "as found" earlier this year.

[fha772]

This is it now, except for i've done a bit more at the engine.




This a couple of my trucks that the WC will be painted to match.

[maineSS]

Hi Frank-

I've been looking at 230 mods for awhile. From what I've heard, they respond well to improvements in carburetion and exhaust. The most powerful factory version supposedly made 120 Hp with the 1958 head and 8:1 compression. This head flows better than the earlier ones- it has a different shape around the valves, and a deeper transfer slot. I posted pics awhile back- do a search under "late model 230 head". You need to be careful about planing the head for compression mods, because you reduce the volume of the transfer slot and disrupt flow into the cylinder. Flatheads rely mainly on "tumble" mixture motion to mix fuel/air, and this is disrupted much more by increased compression than "swirl". In order to get full value from a higher power cam, you'll have to increase the breathing ability of the engine. You can't do anything with intake tuning because of the siamesed intake port- you have to look at restriction reduction, and the most restrictive area of an engine is the valve area. I've heard that using a flat underhead intake valve helps- see the "Mo Flow" post in the 1-ton forum for pics. I'm going to try and compare a 30 deg backcut on the stock intake vs the Manley 350 SBC "Street Flo" valve if I can locate another block to set up for flow testing. If you go with dual carbs, you will likely have to look at more exhaust capability- the usual way is to split the flow from cyl 1,2,3 and 4,5,6 into separate pipes. You could also go with a larger single pipe. Tom Langdon at Stovebolt 6 carries cast iron headers for the 230, and a single bbl Holley carb that supposedly works quite well. He also offers an HEI distributor conversion, but I've heard conflicting reports about HEI mods on the flathead. I would stay with the original distributor and add a separate electronic ignition box compatible with points, such as the MSD. You will notice a difference starting on cold wet days! I'm not a big fan of drop-in electronic distributor conversion kits, because heat dissipation under the hood is the number one killer of electronics, and you need a big heat sink to get this job done. If you can get Hp up over 120, you'll supposedly notice a difference in liveliness (a relative term)- can't say for sure, because I'm not there yet. I'm going to be trying out a Fish carburetor, and 3 Mikuni 38mm snowmobile/atv carbs sometime this year, and when I rebuild my 230, I'll also try the '58 head, and a higher power cam from George Asche (an old-time Chrysler flathead racer and Ball & Ball carb expert).

[fha772]

Hi, thanks for that reply, i may see if i can get hold of a late model head in the near future.

My other option was to go down the forced induction route, My plan was to fit an eaton supercharger off of either a BMW Mini or Mercedes Kompressor, which here in the UK can be bought very cheaply. And just run a low boost set-up to fill the cylinders more effectively. My idea was to use the Mini item because this could be fitted where the alternator sits and has an output shaft to the rear to connect the alternator to.

Then on the exhaust side i'm already planning custom header, that would run through twin open pipes that i'm planning on running up the back of the cab as smoke stacks.

[fha772]

I do like your idea of using Bike Carbs, I've used them on several performance cars(rover mini, porsche 924 with Audi V6, rover V8, etc...), but it had never crossed my mind for on this. I think that maybe the way forward, bike carbs and a supercharger/turbo.

Do SBC intake valves fit? or do they need re cutting/grinding to fit?

What do you think?
I'm not after higher speed, i'm after more pulling power.

[maineSS]

The Mikuni idea came from a friend of mine who's spent a lifetime porting- he was going to try it on his OHV Ford 6, but has never had the time, since his customers always seem to come first. I also ran across a guy who used 3 32mm Mikuni butterfly-type motorcycle carbs on the 230- got great mileage but was down on high-end HP compared to single conventional carb.

In theory, 38mm should be way too much airflow, but in practice it seems to work very well on the Harley Davidson. The only downfall might be in low speed lugging, if air velocity thru the carb falls too low. I want to keep my intake port velocity as high as possible, which is why I'm looking at higher valve flow thru the stock size seat, rather than going with a bigger valve.

The SBC valve is 1.5" dia compared with the 1.53" stocker, is slightly larger (11/32") in stem dia, and is about 1/16" longer. The other valve under review is the British RimFlo, since it was designed for sideways flow. Manley will make up custom valves, so if I find something really good, I might go that way.

The 230 does respond well to supercharging, but you need to figure out a way to get it on the crank, since most 230's only have a single sheave pulley. You also have to watch the rpm's, since the oiling system needs modification if you go much over 3600 rpm.

There was a tractor-pull guy in Tennessee that cross-drilled the crank and wound his 230 to 6000 rpm- and they will rev right up, so a Tach is probably a good idea if you're going to supercharge, along with a bulletproof bottom end.

Search www.olskoolrodz.com - there have been some supercharging discussions there. Also look up Hudsonator's threads- lots of interesting 230 stuff.

The 230 makes a lot of torque low down, but is about done by 2000 rpm. I'm looking at getting more torque about 2500-2700 rpm so I can pull higher gears for moderate highway speed- 55 mph. If you get much over those rpms, you're out of the powerband, and fuel consumption goes WAY up.

I'd like to keep my low 5:83's, so some kind of overdrive will be needed. In your case, axle breakage might be a problem if you add supercharging to the low-range ratios- you can easily walk beside these trucks in low range. The Power Wagon could outpull most farm tractors of its time in 4wd- don't know what your plans are, but you may find supercharging unnecessary for low speed load-lugging.

[maineSS]

Also- the casting # on my 1958 head is 1676337-2.

[rickt4498]

help me out...

MaineSS.... please help me out... 14 line paragraphs are driving me blind.

you've got some great info... but 14 lines is hard for us more mature types with BIOFOCALS TO READ... 3 OR 4 lines would be great... break... 3 to 5
more lines... break...and so on...

my optometrist thanks you...

four eyes since first grade, rick

[712edf]

help me type better

but 14 lines is hard for us more mature types with BIOFOCALS TO READ... 3 OR 4 lines would be great... break... 3 to 5
more lines... break...and so on...

Temporary thread hijack! What's the trick to doing this? The TAB button? Seems to make my cursor vanish completely. How do I double space? Never seen any of this addressed anywhere...Thanks, and back to the program....

[MoparNorm]

Temporary thread hijack! What's the trick to doing this? The TAB button? Seems to make my cursor vanish completely. How do I double space? Never seen any of this addressed anywhere...Thanks, and back to the program....

Just type and hit
enter...

that sends you to the next line

The tab button was for use on a typewriter

the function of the tab button

is different on a computer

it is really more of a "shift" button

hope that helped.

PS
When typing on an iPhone, hit "return".

[712edf]

thank you
norm!

[maineSS]

Frank-

Could you post some pics of your head chambers if you have it off? It would be great if Gordon could move them to my "Late Model Head" thread, so people could see the difference.....

[fha772]

Good idea, I'll post some later, when i get chance to.

[fha772]

As promised, here's some pictures of my NOS cylinder head.
Can you post a link to your thread on the late model head? Please.

[maineSS]

Frank-

The link is http://www.powerwagonadvertiser.com/...ate+model+head . If this doesn't work, a search under "late model 230 head" brings it up (you need to be a member to search).