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HOME*****COMPANY*****SERVICES*****PARTS*****MONTHLY TECH ARTICLE*****PHOTOS HEAD TERMS*****FLOW CHARTS*****LINKS*****PROJECTS HEAD TERMINOLOGY Cylinder Head Design and Terms
By Joe Alaniz (Air Flow Technician) ALANIZ has taken the time to hopefully educate the sports car enthusiast about certain words and procedures. So lets get started.
BACK CUT VALVE
BOTTOM CUT (throat cut)
BOWL PORT/BOWL BLEND/POCKET PORT (They all mean the same thing.)
This is the most important part of porting a head. This place if done correctly will result in good CFM gains. At the same time one wrong move here will result in a head that flows less than a stock. You cant make any mistakes here. Our flowbench testing has shown us what to touch and what not too. Most porters blend the short sides as common practice not realizing some of those edges are what makes the head flow well as we discovered on an Honda S2000 head. Bumps and sharp edges are not bad all the time. Once again flowbench testing helped us determin this.
CUT SEATS/GRIND SEATS
ALANIZ uses special carbide cutting tools/machines to cut the valve seats. Grinding procedures are also performed because we have found carbide tooling doesnt always cut perfectly round on hardened seats. Carbide cutters have a tendency to jump when it comes in contact with hard spots. A simple way of checking a carbide cut is place the valve in the seat with no spring and look through the port while holding it with one finger. Look through the port. If you see light you know its not perfectly round. Thats were the stone comes in. We here at ALANIZ always come back and KISS the seats with a finishing stone. The stone grinds away the hard spot leaving you with a perfect seal. On extreme applications such as supercharged, turbo, NOS engines there is no room for errors. Any gaps in the VALVE to SEAT contact area will result in a burned valve. ALANIZ pays special attention to these areas resulting in leak proof valve jobs. Knowing what angles to use is very important here. Honda heads are very sensitive to valve jobs. One wrong angle will reduce flow dramatically. When valve seatwork is performed, it's important to measure the installed height with an indicator. Setting all valves to the same height ensures consistency of combustion-chamber volume and helps equalize spring pressure.
FLOW BENCH
A flowbench is machine, which tells you how much air can flow through a port, manifold or throttle body. This machine is the most important tool when it comes to porting. Without one you will never be able to achieve the highest possible CFM gains. All of our porting and valve job experience comes from utilizing a Superflow flowbench. It guides us in the rite direction by telling us if flow is gained or lost while keeping good port velocity. All Competition heads are flowed to make sure they perform flawlessly. ALANIZ heads are flowed @ 28" of water.
GASKET MATCH/PORT MATCH
All this means is equalizing diameters of adjoining runners. E.g. manifold to head. Most modern multi valve head from the factory come almost perfect in respects to the intake side. A light massage is all it needs.
LAP VALVES AND SEATS
A very light abrasive compound is use to lightly sand the valves into place. When ALANIZ performs its valve jobs it uses this procedure to check margin thickness and quality. We do not use it to cure an out of round, off center or just plain bad valve job as others shops may do. We vacuum check our work rights after the Valve job is performed then lap the valves in.
MILLING
This is a machining process that removes metal from the head-gasket-surface area. It purpose is to remove imperfections from the head surface. It is also used for increasing the compression ratio of an engine. ALANIZ checks both valve cover surface as well as the head gasket surface to make sure the head is straight before milling. Milling should never done if the head is bent. STRAIGHTEN IT FIRST then mill it otherwise uneven cam journal wear will occur. In a worst-case scenario the cam journal and cam will simply destroy it self.
MULTI-ANGLE VALVE JOB
A multi angle valve job is the cutting or grinding of 2 or more angles on the seat and valve. The purpose of a multi angle valve job is to improve airflow. By now you have probably heard of 5 angle and radius valve jobs. The truth, this is more applicable in the American iron heads. There just isnt enough material in the small diameter seats or valves to see any real noticeable differences on a flow bench. A .5% gain maybe seen on a flowbench but the flowbench has a plus or minus error factor that has to be eliminated before a true flow figure can be attained. Older American iron heads may benefit from a five angle or radius valve job but only because the head is so bad to begin with. The Honda head is diffrent. Our flowbench testing has proven time after time that the correct angles and angle widths is what is important. More CFM gains have been made through this procedure than applying 5 angles or radiuses.
POLISHING
Polishing a port or combustion chamber does not alter the shape or size, but instead smoothes the surface to increase flow and reduce the build up of combustion deposits. On the intake side of an ALANIZ port job we give it a rough polish. Why? Your fuel injectors work in milliseconds. Ever wonder in 8 milliseconds how many degrees your crankshaft has turned if it is operating at 9000rpm? Your crankshaft has turned approx. 450deg. That means your injector has to start firing fuel way before the intake valve has even opened. Most of the fuel does vaporize as it hits the back of the valve but the rest of the fuel that doesnt vaporize ends up on the walls, short sides and around the valve area until the valve finally opens and draws in the air fuel mixture. Keeping the walls rough in theory helps break up the fuel particles before it enters the combustion chamber. Atomized fuel burn better resulting in more horsepower and better fuel economy.
PORTING
Porting reshapes or enlarges by cutting, grinding, machining or in some cases adding material.
SHORT SIDE OR TURN
This refers to the shorter, tighter side of a turn in a port.
TOP CUT
The valve seat angle nearest the combustion chamber.
UNSHROUD THE VALVES
Removal of chamber material closest to the valve from the valve seat to the head surface. This is one
area that if you get correct, you will see major horsepower increases.
VALVE GUIDES
A thick sleeve usually cast iron or bronze which helps guide the up and down motion of the valve. Guides are very important because if worn out they can cause valve instability and consume oil by letting it seep in to the combustion chamber. Running some hot cams? Loose guides will also cause problems during the overlap period when the intake and exhaust valves are closest to each other causing the probability of valve to valve contact.
VALVE SEALS
A valve seal is a seal, which helps oil not seep into the combustion chamber. It is positioned on top of the valve guide.
ALANIZ CYL HEAD TECH 2007 Info: eliasalaniz@hotmail.com |