Anyone Cut A 230 Head Open, Intake Side?

[HeavyGreasyandRusty]

Looking at the 230 head, intake side, the aluminum carburetor manifold bolts to two cast iron intake ports, "windows" if you will, leading into a cast iron "hallway", which runs the length of the head, feeding the intake valves.

Theoretically, there should be six intake ports, one per intake valve, feeding each cylinder from the "hallway", or secondary plenum; alternatively, ajoining intake ports (I-1&2, I-3&4, and I5&6) could be siamesed, i.e., 3 intake ports)--the Brits were famous for that, and A.C. Sampietro's last gig prior to Willys/Kaiser was with the Brits...

A possible total of six ports on one side of the "hallway", being fed by two ports on the other side--somewhat limiting breathing, as the Argentines found, and I bet #1 and #6 spark plugs read "lean".

Question: Has anyone cut up a junk head, specifically removing the two-port "wall", to take a look at the cylinder ports? What did you find? What size and shape are the ports leading to the intake valve? Pictures, links, etc.? (I found nothing in "search").

Eddie

[randyscycle]

I doubt anyone here has done that, simply because the Tornado in the 5,000 lb truck its in in our world isn't known for performance.

That said, I know a fair amount of discussion about it has been run around, but again, most everyone has quickly come to the conclusion that the best fix for an underpowered Tornado is to replace it with something else.

[Barrman]

Then, if you did find a way to hang 3 45DCOE Webers on the head. You would be able to do what?

It sounds neat, but a square 5,000 pound plus truck with 5.87 axles, a granny first and a direct drive 4th just isn't much of a performer no matter the horses under the hood. My 396/NV4500 swap let me shift gears faster, burn more gas, have less noise at speed, not be afraid of an incline and pull heavier stuff. Around town, it really didn't make a difference and it was worse off road.

[HeavyGreasyandRusty]

...I'm just curious about the internal Kaiser/Willys value engineering design history of some features of this engine,
and if I had some pictures and measurements of the actual ports themselves, it'd go a long way to confirming a hypothesis I have.

Did you know, for example, that the two runners of the aluminum manifold of the six cylinder engine actually look real close to being correct for feeding I-1&I-2/I-3&I-4, four-cylinder version? (judging by pictures, anyway).

Ed

[randyscycle]

I've never been aware of a 4 cylinder version of the Tornado. Can't find any information either. Any pictures or info about that?

[HeavyGreasyandRusty]

I'll try and get the pic up tomorrow; it's on my computer and there's a learning curve posting to this site.

Picture a 230-6 cam cover, cylinders #1 and #6--poof!--like magic--gone. Has a cute lil' '70's-Japanese style multiblade plastic fan and corrugated plastic wire looms, too.

Picture taken in the Andes, most definitely not Stateside.

Ed

[Mikel]

it was worse off road.

Please elaborate...

[HeavyGreasyandRusty]

OK, so my memory is leaky, big surprise there--IKA kept cylinders #1 and #6, and lost paired cylinders either #2&3, or #4&5.

http://imageshack.us/a/img856/8647/4cylversion.jpg

Remember, the intake valves are always centered in the combustion chamber, making the two aluminum intake manifold runners symetrically centered between each cylinder pair; i.e., two pairs of cylinders feeding off one runner--not the best setup in the world, but widely used and not the worst, either.

The asymetric manifold spacing on the 6-cylinder version has always puzzled me.

The internal plenum ("hallway"), I get--a 90% value engineering review.

Kaiser-Willys budget guys--"Give us the the cheap cast iron internal plenum and use the 4 cylinder aluminum intake manifold on 4 and 6 cylinder engines, and we let you keep the [hypothetically] good intake ports and good cast-iron exhaust manifold."

Ed

[Barrman]

That does look like a 230 left in the dryer too long! Cool.

Mikel,
I could never get my 396 to run right going up steep hills or on big side slopes. Edelbrock, Holley or Q-jet didn't matter. I would be almost up a steep hill and it would start to cut out. Either fuel starved or flooded depending on the carb of the moment. I messed with float settings, jets, rods, etc... The stock 230 doesn't have that issue as much.

[randyscycle]

That does look like a 230 left in the dryer too long! Cool.

Mikel,
I could never get my 396 to run right going up steep hills or on big side slopes. Edelbrock, Holley or Q-jet didn't matter. I would be almost up a steep hill and it would start to cut out. Either fuel starved or flooded depending on the carb of the moment. I messed with float settings, jets, rods, etc... The stock 230 doesn't have that issue as much.

Shoulda done what I did. Fuel injection. No problems with sidehill, steep climbs, etc.