[dci]

Yes I do have a chamber design already that I will start with. I know that not everyone or even the majority for that matter will take on such an important task. I just made it available for those who would like to design their own, and have the knowledge to do so.

Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[dci]

Here are a few more pic's of the heads cut through the ports. If you look close at the casting were it has been cut you will see there is no porosity. The material I specked is virgin 356A aluminum. There are different grades of 356 aluminum and each has it's own make up and place of use. I chose the best grade that is available for my heads so they would turn out the best they can be. I also drilled a dummy 9/16" hole in one of the pushrod tubes so that you can see how much the tubes can be trimmed down.If you put a tube in them you could almost remove all of the material on both sides leaving just the leading and trailing edges. You can also see the vanes that put in the ports better now as well. The intake short turn is about 1 3/4" long making for a really nice straight shot at the valve.


Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[estep455]

Don i havent had a chance to get on here very much lately. my shop has been swamped and my son has been trying to finish his dragster (yes poncho powered) i have been getting stuff together to put my heap back together before june. now on to the new heads. when we talked about these i truthfully wasnt expecting something this nice. absolutely awesome! you have hit it out of the park with this head! great work and really looking forward to putting a set on my car eventually. congratulations!!!!! job well done! danny

[dci]

Thanks Danny. It has been a long road, but I'm finally starting to see day light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping to get the first set machined in the next week or two if all goes well. I just finished approving all of the blueprints yesterday and will be sending them to the machine shop this week. After that the next step is installing them on a block to check locations of everything. Then I will do some flow testing to see how close they come to the model I built. Then and only then will I release them for sale.

I want to thank everyone for their support on my journey. I did not realize how strong our little community is and I cannot express how much your support means to me. This is in no way easy to do while still maintaining a business. I am completely blown away by the list of potential buyers I have accumulated for my new heads.


THANK YOU !!!!!!!

Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[Jim Robertson]

Very nice!!!

What are the target int valve size(s)

Did you move the valve centers from the factory dimensions?

Is the water jacket core built? If so how much material did you leave us around the bowl?

Subscribed!! Looking forward to seeing one in person.

Keep going,
Jim

[dci]

Hi Jim,
I'm not sure what the factory dimensions are, so I cannot answer that for sure. If I had to guess though, I would say yes. I moved the exhaust as close as I dare possible towards the cylinder and moved the intake away as far as possible from the cylinder wall.
The valve sizes for the street versions are 2.20" intake and 1.68" exhaust and will bolt on to a 4.190" bore comfortably. I actually designed the valve locations on a 4.150" bore, but the valves are a little to close for my liking. They will clear, but with no wiggle room LOL.(Mostly the exhaust).
The race version are going to be 2.40"-2.45" intake and 1.65" exhaust, and will require a larger bore.
There is plenty of material around the bowls for porting. The short turns will have about .275" under them. The roof on the exhaust has plenty of room, but the roof at the entry of the intake will only have about .250". There is plenty of room under the valve springs as well.
In other words, there is plenty of room to grow if someone desires LOL.



Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[Dragncar]

Do these heads have the potential to beat your horsepower of your Tigers in a NA engine?
Any guesses on intake cfm. 2.45 valve sure sounds nice.

[mgarblik]

Don, if you are amazed by the response so far with just the heads, I think you will be blown away in the future when a top end package is available either by you alone or a collaboration with trusted others. I think a fair number of Pontiac engine lovers would buy a top engine package consisting of heads, a cast manifold either single or 2-4bbl, and some type of exhaust either header or cast Ram Air manifold that fit the A,F, G bodies. Even if the performance was only equivalent to existing packages, the COOL factor alone would sell a number of packages. From what you have done in the past, there is no reason to believe the performance wouldn't be better based on the potential of the V package. Keep up the good work and I am one of those guys on the sideline waiting for at least the heads and a single 4 cast manifold. Then I will pull the trigger. Believe me, I am not the only one.

[GTO Dan]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Don, if you are amazed by the response so far with just the heads, I think you will be blown away in the future when a top end package is available either by you alone or a collaboration with trusted others. I think a fair number of Pontiac engine lovers would buy a top engine package consisting of heads, a cast manifold either single or 2-4bbl, and some type of exhaust either header or cast Ram Air manifold that fit the A,F, G bodies. Even if the performance was only equivalent to existing packages, the COOL factor alone would sell a number of packages. From what you have done in the past, there is no reason to believe the performance wouldn't be better based on the potential of the V package. Keep up the good work and I am one of those guys on the sideline waiting for at least the heads and a single 4 cast manifold. Then I will pull the trigger. Believe me, I am not the only one.

Exactly what I have been feeling and thinking.

[dci]

Thanks Mike and Dan. I am going to get a single four intake made, and it is in the works right now. I should have the cad drawings in a couple of weeks, and then I can get the tooling made. So with any luck I will have an intake in a couple of months. I hope that Mike can continue with his dual quad intake for the V heads that he is working on. If he can get it done then we should have a good mix for the top end.


Dragncar, As for flow I'm not sure yet. I have not done any models or flow testing yet with my race port design. All that I know for sure is that a 2.400" valve is capable of 500+ cfm. So I'm pretty confident that it should flow in that neighbor hood. As for being better than the Tiger's. I can only speculate at this time, but one can only assume that if the port shape is right and the cfm is higher in the same lift range as the Tiger. Then Yes!! I know some think that the pushrod tube is going to hurt the heads ability to make big numbers. Yet Jerry Steinbeck and Nunzi, and Arnie Beswick were all making way more power than anyone else was using the other heads available at the time. If I'm not mistaken, I believe they were all making around 900 HP normally aspirated, and that was 30 + years ago. If that is indeed true. Think about how long it took before anyone made that kind of horsepower with something other than a RA V head on a traditional Pontiac engine. I don't think that it was until the Wenzler Super Chiefs come along and got sorted out that it happened. Again I might be wrong about that to. I'm going off memory which is getting worse by the day for me LOL. It's hard to believe that bringing back 50 year old technology with a couple of well placed enhancements could possibly raise the bar again. Stay Tuned!!!!



Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[GTOGEORGE]

I'm saving my money!!!



GTO George

[mgarblik]

Eric, Arnie Beswick and myself had extensive and exhaustive talks with Vic Edelbrock, and Rick Roberts BEFORE the first Edelbrock head was ever cast. We begged them to consider the RAM AIR V architecture because of the tremendous potential. THEY JUST DIDN'T GET IT. Granted, aftermarket blocks were not out and it would have been a leap of faith, but they were insistent there would be no buyers. Their thinking at the time was a Pontiac fan would never pony up the bucks for heads, intake, cam and exhaust which are all different with the V. But how many regular Edelbrock heads have you seen installed with iron intakes, stock exhaust manifolds and stock cams? All that stuff is going to be upgraded anyway. That was the argument we tried to make. I am so happy this deal is coming together! Ram Air V heads on a 455 in a production car back in the day would have had the same type of reputation as the 426 HEMI as a top dog engine. A little more development, more cam, and more CI is all they needed.

[GTOGEORGE]

Edelbrock doesn't care about us Pontiac Racers unless we have a Bow Tie on the valve cover!


GTO George

[Wareagle]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Eric, Arnie Beswick and myself had extensive and exhaustive talks with Vic Edelbrock, and Rick Roberts BEFORE the first Edelbrock head was ever cast. We begged them to consider the RAM AIR V architecture because of the tremendous potential. THEY JUST DIDN'T GET IT. Granted, aftermarket blocks were not out and it would have been a leap of faith, but they were insistent there would be no buyers. Their thinking at the time was a Pontiac fan would never pony up the bucks for heads, intake, cam and exhaust which are all different with the V. But how many regular Edelbrock heads have you seen installed with iron intakes, stock exhaust manifolds and stock cams? All that stuff is going to be upgraded anyway. That was the argument we tried to make. I am so happy this deal is coming together! Ram Air V heads on a 455 in a production car back in the day would have had the same type of reputation as the 426 HEMI as a top dog engine. A little more development, more cam, and more CI is all they needed.

X2 a 455 RAV Would have kicked Butt

[mgarblik]

My previous post was not intended to slam Edelbrock. They have done allot for the Pontiac Hobby and we have done allot for them by proving we will buy and support a company that makes parts for our engine. There are countless Pontiac engines that have been greatly improved with their manifolds, heads and other stuff. My point was more to say look how far we have come in 15 years and possibly how much farther we could be if a Ram Air V head would have been produced 15 years ago. We will never know.

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

... how much farther we could be if a Ram Air V head would have been produced 15 years ago...

Better late than never...

[ho428]

Originally Posted by dci

Thanks Mike and Dan. I am going to get a single four intake made, and it is in the works right now. I should have the cad drawings in a couple of weeks, and then I can get the tooling made. So with any luck I will have an intake in a couple of months. I hope that Mike can continue with his dual quad intake for the V heads that he is working on. If he can get it done then we should have a good mix for the top end.

Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

Dual quad...

[ho428]

BTW, did anyone see the recent Hot Rod magazine article with the tunnel port 302 Ford head?
Pretty neat, and somewhat similar to the V.

[dci]

Edelbrock is a big business not a hobby for Vic. They make decisions on data collected from different sources to make critical business decisions. The cost to produce a product is way more than anyone can imagine until they have done it themselves. I think that we are very fortunate that a company like Edelbrock even considers doing anything for such a small group. Lets face it, it cost the same to produce tooling for a Chevy as it does a Pontiac and they will sell 10 times the parts or more for the Chevy's. That's why they call us the under dogs. For that same reason though it allows little companies like myself an opportunity to get into the game. Actually if you think about it. You the end user get a better product that way. Since it is such a nitch market and the big companies cannot profit enough. It allows the little companies to develop a good product as opposed to a mediocre product that some times requires allot of finessing. Any way enough about that. Just be thankful that we have choices now. Not long ago all we had was stock and ultra rare stock to work with. Now you can build a 1,000 HP with over the counter parts. That was not possible just over 10 years ago. The Tiger's were not released until late 2003.


I definitely think that if Pontiac would have continued with the RA V program it would have been a game changer. I know the Chrysler Hemi is a stout engine, but I think that the 428 version of the RA V could have produced as much or more HP. It was just bad timing for all the different auto manufactures in the late 60's early 70's. Now we can pickup were PMD left off and bring back the past. I think it's a great time to be in the sport.



Don Johnston
DCI MOTORSPORTS INC.
330-850-5050 Shop
330-628-3354 cell
Designer of the DCI Tiger Heads and the NEW DCI Ram Air V heads !!!!!!

[428RA4]

> but I think that the 428 version of the RA V could have produced as much or more HP.<

Hence, my insanity in the hobby. A 428, you can buzz it like a 400 and have more torque. Yes a 455 has a lot of torque, but it poops out around 5500 ish.

The 428 is by far my favorite engine in stockish class mode.