My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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MichaelThompson
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by MichaelThompson »

GLHS60 wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:01 am No doubt the 385 was inspired by the Chevrolet MK II Mystery Engine.


Ford hounded GM brass for head gaskets so they could keep evaluating.

This caused quite a stir as GM management was unaware of the Engine!


Henry Floored!!

Thanks
Randy
Now that’s ^^^ some tell tale evidence that Ford was worried about the strides GM was taking with the MKII and eventually the MKIV. I never knew that.

Another story that is true by all accounts harkens back to pre Flathead V8 days. Henry Ford had people procure an example of every V8 they could find in junkyards around Detroit.

Each one was broken down and evaluated. (A lot of people may not realize Ford was building Lincoln V8’s since 1922) I don’t know how much technology transferred over because the Flathead was very different from pretty much anything else out there at the time. The 90 degree crankshaft developed by Cadillac was probably the biggest innovation those earlier V8’s gave us.

BTW I’m not sure when the dual plane intake came about but the Ford Flathead V8 was one of the earliest engines to take advantage of that technology although not from the very beginning, maybe’33 or ‘34?

The point is, is that those guys were well aware of what was going on around them just as we are today.....even without the Internet! Lol

Good to see you here Randy!
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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I did not know that Lincoln made a flathead V8 back in 1922 or so.

I think that it had, "knife & fork", rods in it.

How interesting.

Looking back at the great old song, "Hot Rod Lincoln", I can see where it came from!!

pdq67

PS., and I have my F-i-L's pair of 1953 Motor Manuals, Engines and Chassis books.
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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Big round ports were tried after "schooling" from Harry Weslake Ford small block heads. First used on the 427SOHC , the engineers took that path for "ultra performance" head designs. The 302TP had at least thirty port design changes during the time they struggled to make the head work. The canted valve head ( then known as the 351GT head) was a star almost "overnight". All of the Ford canted valve heads have a very shallow valve angle compared to the GM offerings .
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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Funny you mention that, I was watching Uncle Tony’s Garage last night. The episode was regarding his thoughts about the small block Mopar (LA). In that episode he picks up a D4 hemi head and he mentions that the ports in that head and the D5 were “Weslake” ports. Just a quick quip I don’t know any more than that. Uncle Tony is considered an authority on all things Mopar. Just an interesting coincidence that it came up here as well.
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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Weslake offered 4 valve heads for several British bikes 40 -50 years ago.
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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Gurney ran a Mopar engine for a while and did a set of Westlake heads for it.
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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Truckedup wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:00 pm Weslake offered 4 valve heads for several British bikes 40 -50 years ago.
No surprise there he's English.
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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wow, never thought about that...
check out my blog here!
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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MichaelThompson wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:07 pm Funny you mention that, I was watching Uncle Tony’s Garage last night. The episode was regarding his thoughts about the small block Mopar (LA). In that episode he picks up a D4 hemi head and he mentions that the ports in that head and the D5 were “Weslake” ports. Just a quick quip I don’t know any more than that. Uncle Tony is considered an authority on all things Mopar. Just an interesting coincidence that it came up here as well.
Also the valve incline angles were changed / reduced which produced a smaller less deep combustion chamber.

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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

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piston guy wrote: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:48 am
Truckedup wrote: Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:00 pm Weslake offered 4 valve heads for several British bikes 40 -50 years ago.
No surprise there he's English.
Weslake design, the heads were made by Nourish Racing in the UK.....Did Weslake manufacture the car engine heads?
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by piston guy »

He didn't cast them himself . It was a joint venture between Harry and Dan Gurney ( AAR)
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by MichaelThompson »

Ford was experimenting with canted valves in 1962 in their Indy V8.

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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by frnkeore »

20 degrees? That would be much more, like a hemi head. Nothing like a Boss 302 or a 351 and 429 CJ engine but, maybe more like the big aluminum head, 2.4" valve Boss 429?
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by frnkeore »

I might add that if Ford had come out with a 20* valve angle head, I would definitely call it their design!

What was the valve angle on those Boss 429 heads?
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Re: My next debate: origins of the canted valve Ford cylinder head.

Post by MichaelThompson »

Here is the Illmor/Penske/Mercedes pushrod Indy engine with canted valves.

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