GT350R replica 289 heads Valley Head Service waterports

[SeanSide]

Hi, I'm thinking about getting a set of 289 heads built by valley head service like they used to do in 1965 for the first cars. I found Out shelby had the steam holes welded in the heads. Why did he do this?! With all the talk about matching the steam holes with aftermarket aluminum heads to your block or it could potentially cause overheating issues, i don't understand why shelby would do this on his race cars. Enlightenen me please!
Thank you!

[CSX2259]

It was done to strengthen the cylinder head in that area. With the compression ratios that were being used at that time the cylinder head would flex in that area causing the combustion chamber gasses to enter the cooling system.

[SeanSide]

Ok! That makes sense... Would it cause overheating issues from airpockets that could get trapped?
Or filling the coolant with the car at an angle to make sure air wasn't left in the system is something they would do to prevent that? Some people who installed aftermarket aluminum  heads without matching the steam holes to their blocks don't have overheating problems... and using a quick compression calculator the GT350Rs seemed to have a compression ratio of around 10.77:1 to 11:1 which doesn't seem too high comparing with engines today. I guess from what you said, the water port welding was done to enhance gasket reliability during races, in other words, probably not worth a thing for a street driven car

[CSX2259]

My Valley Head Service hipo heads have the welded in banana ports, I do not having any overheating or other related issues.

[SeanSide]

Oh, that is good to hear! Thank you so much for your input 

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Little Fords don't have the benefit of 5 head bolts per hole like the SBC. With only 4 bolts it can allow the heads to flex a little and under severe conditions the combustion gases may be forced around the gasket and into the water jacket and cause overheating. Mustangs aren't Panteras so you don't need to do any acrobatics to get the engine and radiator full.

You can see how the SBC benefits from more bolts around each cylinder - of course Ford did save a lot of money with 1/2 as many head bolts per engine.

[SeanSide]

I did not know that! Totally makes sense now. My previous car, 1969 mustang 351w 4v, forced me into a complete rebuild because of head gasket failing in the steam hole. If i can eliminate that possibility on my next project, i would be better off!

[gt350hr]

    I am constantly amazed at the comments from "experts" out there that have never run these heads. Nor do they have any background on why this was done , just guesses. "Some" of you have and that is refreshing. The "banana" shaped water ports "were" a weak point in the head and with ''antique" McCord ( stock) head gaskets the head would flex in that area and cause a gasket leak. SAI went even further on it's "race" blocks and put a pipe plug in the small round hole in the block further preventing a possible leak. Neither Valley nor Mondello did the welding themselves. The work was done by Hydro head ind. here in So Cal for SAI and after it was done , the heads were sent to various porters for rework including surfacing to smooth the welded surface. Contrary to the opinions of those who have not run them this does NOT cause an overheating issue , if it did , SAI would have stopped the procedure instantly.
    Randy ( another owner/user of MANY these heads)

[SeanSide]

This is why i come to SAAC forum Randy! Good to know the blocks get blocked there as well. I have contacted Larry at Valley head service, maybe they didn't weld them in 1965, but he said he can do the welding on the banana water ports.

[CSX2259]

    I am constantly amazed at the comments from "experts" out there that have never run these heads. Nor do they have any background on why this was done , just guesses."



Ok, I omitted the plugging of the hole in the block but what exactly did I guess at? You said the same as I did. We might as well inform the original poster that these heads were typically considered full race cylinder heads and they typically didn't use street head gaskets, SAI used steel shim head gaskets on their competition specification engines.

[SFM5S000]

I too have a set of HP 289 race heads with welded Banana Ports with HU head porter stamps/marking. According to Randy HU stands for Heads by Unser, yet another porter for SAI aside from the more numerous Valley Head and Mondello sets.
1.94 intakes, 1.6 exhausts 47cc chambers. Beautiful port work on both intake & exhaust.

Cheers,
~Earl J

[gt350hr]

   Earl ,
As I mentioned SAI used EVERY local porter "in the day" to see who has the best power. Slover , Lockerman, Unser, Fudge, etc. The two most used were Mondello and Valley.
    Randy
   

[SeanSide]

Any input is greatly appreciated... while we are talking about heads, what did shelby do about the exhaust cross-over under the intake? Did he leave them alone? Did he block the cross over ports inside the heads? And why? Other forums on the internet seem 50/50 split on the exhaust cross-over dilemma

[sg66]

The "banana" shaped water ports "were" a weak point in the head and with ''antique" McCord ( stock) head gaskets the head would flex in that area and cause a gasket leak.

Randy,

Back in the mid to late 80's, Ford Motorsport or more likely Fel-Pro (I forget which one) was recommending to increase the head bolt torque by 10 ft/lbs to prevent head gasket failure. I seem to recall they were pointing to the solid lifter motors causing the head to flex at higher RPMs. I did follow that recommendation with Fel-Pro blue head gaskets, and have never had another head gasket issue.

Does that line up with your findings or was the gasket failure more of a combination of poor gaskets, compression and maybe lifters?

Steve -

[gt350hr]

    Steve ,
      I tried all kinds of bolt torques and bolt manufacturers in the '60s. I will say it was "MY" lack of experience that caused my gasket failures. Too much compression , timing , and lack of fuel quality ( even though we had 100 octane leaded gas). As I look back on my approach , I was lifting the head off of the block by detonation that I caused. My "seat of the pants dyno" was out of calibration and I was out of control. The good thing is the early failures showed me the limits and strengths of most of the engine parts. I went as far as 100 ft lbs tq on the heads with no improvement on sealing. I also O ringed the heads which helped some and finally tried solid copper head gaskets as a last resort.
     "Now" I use 10 additional ft lbs on the upper row of head bolts as "I" believe the intake manifold torque does play a role against upper head bolt torque. With "modern" head gaskets and 50 years of tuning experience , I no longer lose head gaskets.
    Randy