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Originally Posted by Steve Barcak
elaborate on your comment about "rainsed exhaust ports going by the way side". How can you say that? That is nonsense.
It was a great idea then and it is a great idea now. Of course now, many aftermarket castings are built with raised exhaust ports. The Super Chief as an example, B-1, many BBC, etc, etc./ all have a raised exh port.
Only performance street heads like the Edelbrock have stock ex port locations to make installation easier.
I built a set for my fueler and they work fine. They would work equally well on the n/a carb application as well.
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org |
I believe what he means is, porting technology has advanced quite a bit since then. And you are also correct, the new castings have straighter ports to begin with for many engines- so the high port was not needed.
On the Rudy comments- Rudy ran a Pontiac for decades, and a Chevy for what, a few years ? You get the picture. He went 8.30's with a RA V with no power adders, using an antiquated block design- making over 850 HP on gas- by comparison, how fast have you run ?
Rudy ran a Pontiac a lot longer than most- he maxed the engine design out- and when he could not go any faster with the Pontiac equipment available, he switched.
so what ? So did Arnie Beswick.
Anyone who sticks around racing long enough quickly learns that the dated Pontiac engine design is no match for a Chevy, Ford, or Mopar in all-out no holds barred racing. Pontiac bore spacing is too tight and main/rod journals too large. So a Pontiac becomes flow limited and rpm limited in comparison. What Pontiacs do get to run in the upper ranks get knocked out quickly in eliminations- and are running with hopes that the Chevy-Ford-Mopar crowd breaks, cuts a bad light, or loses traction. That is called a "wing and a prayer".
then there's the inherent original block weakness of the open lifter valley- Steve, you tried a home made block girdle on your blower nitro motor, and what happened- the block broke anyway, right ? You can't blame someone if they switch to a stronger block because their Pontiac stuff keeps splitting in half. They smartened up.
but we do what we can and have fun and try to improve-
One more thing about Rudy- he called my house first long distance and I wasn't home at the time- I was at my mom's house visiting- he got my mom's phone number from my wife, and called my mom's to talk to me- so he made (2) long distance phone calls on his own coin, to talk Pontiacs and RA V's.
Most guys would not even call back at all- let alone twice to 2 numbers. That said a lot to me of his Pontiac allegiance.
As far as "brand x" motors go, I myself would like to build a Ford FE 427/428, Buick nailhead 425, early Hemi 392, and Hemi 426 in my lifetime. Hot rodding doesn't mean you put blinders on and only build one motor your whole life. Even Mickey Thompson later ran SOHC 427 Ford cammers, etc. after he got done toying with Pontiacs. Smokey Yunick went to Chevy (427 BBC) and Ford (tunnel port 427) after he ran 421 Pontiacs in NASCAR. So Rudy wasn't the first one to try other brands.