First, the heads were delayed a week but are shipping this afternoon. Before shipping aluminum heads, they pressurize the head to 400psi to verify the porosity is correct and there are no leaks. However, the compressor broke while they were testing our heads and they had to order parts to fix it. But that’s all been done and they are now on the way.
I also heard from the foundry this morning. They decided to put a rush on the intakes and are making the cores today. This means they will cast the intakes sometime later this week, or the first part of next week. They still need to make the tooling and machine the intakes, but we should receive the intakes in four to six weeks, rather than two or three months. That was great news.
We also had a new header produced, which was modified to match the ports on the aluminum head. The biggest difference is the separation between the third and fourth ports. US and AU heads have Siamese ports, while the new aluminum head does not. While this means no port divider is needed, it also resulted in a half-inch separation between the ports, which is required for the expansion and contraction.
Most US headers have the ports Siamese or are bare minimum of space between the ports. While they will work on the aluminum head, we felt it would be better to modify our headers to match the separation. Hence the flanges were made with the same half-inch of separation between the ports. They match the aluminum head precisely, but will still work with US and OZ heads. In fact it should help prevent blown head gaskets, as this is the most common place for the header gasket to fail.
When we went to pick the headers up a few weeks ago, I was not pleased with the way they came out. Among other things, they failed to put the separation between the ports as I had requested, thus making them the same as a normal header. There were a few other problems, but this was my biggest concern, so I refused to accept them. The company has been working on the modifications the past three weeks and called me this morning to go over and give my approval on the redesigned header. I was extremely happy with the results and gave the go ahead to produce the first batch, so they should be ready sometime next week.
And I still have more good news. I talked in length with Cometic Gaskets yesterday and they have agreed to produce their multi layered steel (MLS) head gasket for us. MLS head gaskets can be produced in various thicknesses and by ordering in minimum batch quantizes, we can specify any thickness as long as it within the minimum or maximum thickness required. Therefore we will be producing them in various thicknesses, from .025 up to .080, we just haven’t decided on the increments yet.
They will also be developing their new Phuzion MSL head gasket (pronounced "FUSION") for us, which are used for high boost applications. The Phuzion head gaskets utilize a gas filled o-ring, which eliminates the use of copper head gaskets and the necessity to o-ringing the block, which is very labor intensive. Copper head gaskets seep coolant, where as the Phuzion MLS gaskets do not. While the gaskets are not cheap, it’s a great solution where a thin gasket is required, or for high boost applications.
List price for the MLS gaskets will be around $150 per gasket, and the Phuzion gaskets will be around $200 each. I believe the gaskets will be offered exclusively through Classic Inlines, as we are paying for the tooling.
I also heard from the foundry this morning. They decided to put a rush on the intakes and are making the cores today. This means they will cast the intakes sometime later this week, or the first part of next week. They still need to make the tooling and machine the intakes, but we should receive the intakes in four to six weeks, rather than two or three months. That was great news.
We also had a new header produced, which was modified to match the ports on the aluminum head. The biggest difference is the separation between the third and fourth ports. US and AU heads have Siamese ports, while the new aluminum head does not. While this means no port divider is needed, it also resulted in a half-inch separation between the ports, which is required for the expansion and contraction.
Most US headers have the ports Siamese or are bare minimum of space between the ports. While they will work on the aluminum head, we felt it would be better to modify our headers to match the separation. Hence the flanges were made with the same half-inch of separation between the ports. They match the aluminum head precisely, but will still work with US and OZ heads. In fact it should help prevent blown head gaskets, as this is the most common place for the header gasket to fail.
When we went to pick the headers up a few weeks ago, I was not pleased with the way they came out. Among other things, they failed to put the separation between the ports as I had requested, thus making them the same as a normal header. There were a few other problems, but this was my biggest concern, so I refused to accept them. The company has been working on the modifications the past three weeks and called me this morning to go over and give my approval on the redesigned header. I was extremely happy with the results and gave the go ahead to produce the first batch, so they should be ready sometime next week.
And I still have more good news. I talked in length with Cometic Gaskets yesterday and they have agreed to produce their multi layered steel (MLS) head gasket for us. MLS head gaskets can be produced in various thicknesses and by ordering in minimum batch quantizes, we can specify any thickness as long as it within the minimum or maximum thickness required. Therefore we will be producing them in various thicknesses, from .025 up to .080, we just haven’t decided on the increments yet.
They will also be developing their new Phuzion MSL head gasket (pronounced "FUSION") for us, which are used for high boost applications. The Phuzion head gaskets utilize a gas filled o-ring, which eliminates the use of copper head gaskets and the necessity to o-ringing the block, which is very labor intensive. Copper head gaskets seep coolant, where as the Phuzion MLS gaskets do not. While the gaskets are not cheap, it’s a great solution where a thin gasket is required, or for high boost applications.
List price for the MLS gaskets will be around $150 per gasket, and the Phuzion gaskets will be around $200 each. I believe the gaskets will be offered exclusively through Classic Inlines, as we are paying for the tooling.
