107 replies to this topic

[sc-em]

My mate has a flow bench. He would be interested in figures I am sure.

[Mini Manannán]

I for one, really want to see the nitty-gritty of how you designed it and made the decisions.  I'm truly impressed.

[InnoCooperExport]

Amazing! Here's another vote for a full background post please. I'd love to hear more.

[imack]

Love it, I'm all ears!

[Trog]

OK I will do some posts going through the whole process.

 

In the mean time some images of the dry build:

 

Head on, knock sensors, cam position sensor and "Multi purpose bracket"

 20200118_145158.jpg   69.42K   20 downloads

 

Fuel injectors and rail (the observant among you may notice the fuel rail is 3D printed as I wanted to do a full dry build with the injectors before getting it made!):

 20200118_150715.jpg   67.15K   12 downloads

 20200118_150731.jpg   67.18K   4 downloads

 

Coil pack and fuel pressure regulator:

 20200118_151636.jpg   61.45K   11 downloads

 

Inlet manifold/plenum assembly:

 20200118_153748.jpg   73.74K   9 downloads

 20200118_153703.jpg   68.5K   13 downloads

 

So has anyone spotted the deliberate mistake... No it's not that I will have to remove the inlet manifold to change the plugs. I can't get to the dip stick!!! So my next task is to make a remote one. SC do one but by the time I have covered the cost of posting to Australia I think I can make one myself for a lot less money.

[Steve220]

This is so cool!!

[DeadSquare]

I don't want to be the "party-pooper" and spoil things, but why didn't you get that yellow Dalek to move the camshaft ?

Edited by DeadSquare, 18 January 2020 - 11:24 PM.

[samforsey12345]

interesting! keep going!

[nicklouse]

 
So has anyone spotted the deliberate mistake...

turn it around.

[blacktulip]

Jesus that is amazing work!! I'd love to see an engine running one of these.

[Trog]

You asked for it!

 

Chapter 1 “For why Keats? For Why?”

 

So, a little background which may help you understand decisions made later:

 

I got my first Mini in 1987 when I was 17! Wrote if off a year later and built a new one from a new Rover shell. So, I cut my teeth on Mini’s during the Mini renaissance of the late 80’s early 90’s seeing KAD and Jack Knight doing their funky stuff the ERA appears and the return of the Cooper I always dreamed of having an “exotic” cylinder head on my Min, but of course could never afford one…

 

Fast Forward 30 odd years to 2018 My mini has been off the road for 20 years (for a 6 month rebuild!) and due to major health issues (Blood cancer! Not curable but treatable) we are down sizing and I decide the Mini has to go… Friends, Family and Colleagues at work manage to persuade me not to, for which I am eternally grateful.

 

If I am keeping the Mini I am going to build it as I always dreamed of. So that meant a fancy cylinder head. An engine swap was out of the question as that’s not Mini enough! Likewise a twin cam was out (Too expensive!) and not Mini enough, plus I wanted something that fits and doesn’t look squeezed in. I am not bagging the twin cam conversions they are awesome, but the induction system is a very tight fit behind the slam panel. That left an Arden or a Weslake… Both very expensive and not a straight bolt on. The Arden also has the inlet issue as the ports are so low in the head and the Weslake which looked like it was going to be reproduced disappeared!

 

There was nothing out there that fitted the bill!!!

 

Perhaps now’s the time to say I am an Automotive Design Engineer! I have spent the last 25 years designing cars!!! For me there was another option: to make what I wanted! I did a lot of research, considered a lot of options, including:

 

 aseries2.jpg   7.17K   26 downloads  bmcA_OHC1.jpg   58.49K   28 downloads

 

I also considered making a head with the exhaust forward (as did KAD with their original twin cam!) as it would give you lots of room for the induction system but I realised that the exhaust would not fit under or around the gearbox.

 

May months or research and evaluation and I came up with a design brief:

1. Had to fit under a standard round nose mini with no body modifications
2. Had to look “production” i.e. I wanted something that could have been designed by Rover; if they had had lots on money for the MPi and decided to go out with a bang!
3. Would be Iron! One of my more controversial decisions, there are many reasons for this choice over alloy, best summarised by saying it would be a lot more robust. Remember I am making this for myself so I don’t have the funds to do a huge amount of R&D, ideally I wanted the first head to be usable.
4. It would have down draft ports, both inlet and exhaust if possible.
5. It would use standard parts as much as possible, valves guides push rods etc..
6. Casting would have open ends and a remote thermostat housing. The open ends of the casting allow a very positive positioning of the water jacket core, allow inspection of the finished casting and without a thermostat housing the casting would be smaller and therefore offset the weight penalty for being Iron a bit. A separate thermostat housing would also allow more flexibility, including fitting it to the back of the head for a front radiator instalment.
7. While I am only planning to make a couple for myself I wanted to keep the option for making more if people wanted them
8. Would be designed around fuel injection from the start, no consideration would be made for carbies at all! The injector bosses would be included in the head casting, as would knock sensors.
9. Would be a traditional push rod design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[73GT]

welldone, would like to see photos of the pattern equipment & raw castings. Have you sectioned any casting &/or done pressure tests

[Turbo Phil]

Nice work indeed. It would be interesting to see how it flows compared to the other 8ports. I’ve done some flowbench testing of an Arden casting, and although the figures were good the small port sizing choked off flow at higher lifts.
Is your head aimed more at a fast road kind of application or more towards a racer ?

Phil.

[jonny f]

Impressive stuff!

Have you got any photos of your designs and the manufacturing process?

[elliot341]

I have no idea what is going on, its looks awesome and then boom a Dalek!