Craig,
Thanks for the quick reply. I've done a bit of research on the A3's and it turns out SVO made 3 different aluminum canted valve heads (non-Yates heads). The A3 has the largest ports of all the Ford Motorsport "high port" heads (A3, B351, C302). They have pretty high flow numbers right out of the box. Here’s a good table assembled by Dan Jones comparing the 2V, 2V with 4V valves, 4V and A3 heads:
http://realbig.com/detomaso/1999-09/1157.html
Yeah, the SVO block is overkill for what I need now, but for the price of the motor, I like the idea of getting a bulletproof bottom end that can take whatever I would like to build down the road (ie a nice 396 stroker
). The A3 heads do indeed come alive with more displacement and higher rpm (8k+). But I’ve talked with two guys that have them on stock displacement high compression 351’s (“street” cars) that say they work very well—kind of in between the 2V and 4V iron heads at low rpm flow. Then they REALLY come alive at high rpms. I’m thinking the A3 block with the 9.2” SVO bottom end would make a nice combo for the street with around 396CI. I also like the ability to run higher compression with the A3’s without fear of detonation problems. On the other hand, a low compression YS trim blown smallblock running a sheetmetal upper and SpeedPro FI would be way too cool
. I have to leave to fly back to FL now but I’ll talk with you some more on this later Craig. Thanks again.
Mike
PS Bob, thanks for the info on that beautiful creation!