brute4c :
Re: Head Gasket Source
Post by brute4c on Apr 12, 2006, 8:59am
We have found out that the civvy and mil head gaskets ARE different and NOT interchangeable.
The compression ratio in the 2 barrel could be either the lower or higher ratio...the higher ratio had a bit more horsepower, possibly done to offset the loss of low end torque that happens when moving to the 2 barrel from the one barrel...bigger carb does that.
Notice the bellhousing in that pic of the 226? Compare to the 230's...only thing going that is even close...and it is real close...ours is real weird because it is in the family with even older than itself technology...
Flattened cams are, as you surmised, cams that have been worn down to the point where full lift is not being achieved at the valve any longer. A new cam would need to be installed or it is possible with some companies to have the old cam reground...the lobes are built up and then ground back to spec...some places will even change the cam to a more performance grind when doing this procedure, though I wouldnt have a clue what the profile for a good performance cam would be for this engine...I do not know of more than 1 grind being used by the factory in American built 230's.
As far as high perf 230's....there were several models of them built, but they were not built in the US...Argentina was the place to find them. For US models, the 2 barrel and civvy ignition are the easy upgrades...one could drill and tap the one bolt hole on a civvy head, maybe have to do some machine work to make sure its straight and the seats are good, etc. and bolt it on for the extra point of compression. Thats about all with factory parts. The Argentine built ones ran from roughly the 140 horse level of the American version up to somewhere around 300 horsepower. They ran the basic setup of a 4 main block up to about 220 horse and then used their own redesigned 7 main bearing block for higher output applications...those numbers are from memory and are subject to error but there is a split in that range...
A couple things they did to increase power were to enlarge the engine in cubic inch up to 265 or so...put on dual and triple carb setups with 3 dual throat Webers being the top dog...compression ratios went as high are 11:1, cams were ground with much more radical profiles, dual exhaust headers were also utilized where the front 3 cylinders fed into one header and the rear 3 into the other...a 2 pipe collector joined these 2 headers in the engine compartment. The intake side of the head was completely redseigned to fit the muliple carbs...instead of the "hallway" that our engines use between the intake manifold and the actual cylinder ports, the decided to do it like a regular engine...the side of the head was cut away and a plate was bolted directly to the side of the head at the ports...this plate had round tubes about 3 inches long or so bolted to it...these tubes, on the non-head end, had the carbs bolted to them. So there was a 2 piece intake basically with an adapter plate at the head side and a set of plenum tubes to bolt the carb to and bolt to the adapter plate. Both the 2 carb and 3 carb setups used that design with differing numbers of plenum tubes.
If you look around, there are pics on the net of these...they were raced for many years, even in international ccompetition in cars running at pretty high speeds...I think around 175 to 180 mph or so was the highest I found...the manufacturer was Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA)...they even made a 4 cylinder version at one point...
"Also, a very few units (about 6) built as prototypes for military use, were factory-equipped with the very rare 154 cu. in Tornado 4-cylinder OHC engine (a 4-cylinder version of the 230 Tornado straight six). They were sent to Chile, but after some testing, they were rejected by the Chilean army. Those units were later sold to the Bolivian army."
That is from this page if you are interested:
http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/World/Argentina.html
Also, another note on the 230 and 226 engines, often I hear people say the 230 is a Continental engine instead of it being a Kaiser engine...it is a Kaiser engine BUT the 226 is a Continental...I acredit this in some measure to the odd overlap in interchangeability between the 2 causing confusion...
I think I am done for now...I have work to do on the Zone...
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