After numerous setbacks we're finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. As most of you already know, CHI is no longer making our cylinder heads, so we had to have the patterns shipped over to the USA last December. Picking a new foundry was no problem, as we are using the same one that makes our intakes and valve covers. However, finding a new machine shop was a different story. After months of searching we finally found a machine shop, which happens to be two miles from the foundry. After selecting the new foundry and machine shop, I had to made a couple of trips down to LA to work out all the details. This included modifying the patterns so they would meet the foundry's requirements, as well as the machine shops. The biggest problem was finding a shop that had a mill large enough to handle the length of the raw castings. We also had to make all new tooling, and start from scratch on the programming, which was very time consuming (and expensive). However, that's all behind us as of last week.
I drove down to LA last Tuesday and inspected the first two castings machined by the new shop. Not only did they look great, I think they look better than any of the heads machined by CHI, especially the small details. The owner of the new shop is a perfectionist and doesn't let anything get by him. As such, the new heads have tighter tolerances and a few minor improvements. The average person probably wouldn't notice the differences, but a good machinist would spot them immediately. My head porter was very pleased when he saw them, as I brought both heads back with me. The next step was to make the final decision on the guides and seats, and get them ordered, which we did on Friday. While the machine shop started working on the production heads last week, they needed to know which guides and seats we're using, so they could make the final adjustments to the programming. As such, the first ten should be ready by next Friday (20th), with another twenty five being completed by the first or second week of Sept. A local shop, here in Arizona, is installing the seats and guides and will be doing some assembly work. And of course, my head porter will be very busy porting heads, so we can fill the orders that have already been placed.
All I can say is, it's nice to have cylinder heads back in stock (well....almost back in stock). I'll try to post some pics shortly.
I drove down to LA last Tuesday and inspected the first two castings machined by the new shop. Not only did they look great, I think they look better than any of the heads machined by CHI, especially the small details. The owner of the new shop is a perfectionist and doesn't let anything get by him. As such, the new heads have tighter tolerances and a few minor improvements. The average person probably wouldn't notice the differences, but a good machinist would spot them immediately. My head porter was very pleased when he saw them, as I brought both heads back with me. The next step was to make the final decision on the guides and seats, and get them ordered, which we did on Friday. While the machine shop started working on the production heads last week, they needed to know which guides and seats we're using, so they could make the final adjustments to the programming. As such, the first ten should be ready by next Friday (20th), with another twenty five being completed by the first or second week of Sept. A local shop, here in Arizona, is installing the seats and guides and will be doing some assembly work. And of course, my head porter will be very busy porting heads, so we can fill the orders that have already been placed.
All I can say is, it's nice to have cylinder heads back in stock (well....almost back in stock). I'll try to post some pics shortly.
Anything new to report?
