Blue Thunder Head Update?
 

Haven't seen much mention on the new BT heads lately, anyone have an update on status and availability?

Dean Lampe and I looked at a pair at Rick Kirks last Tuesday and I believe Dean is buying a set for his new 427. The heads are much more impressive than the Edelbrock heads but also more expensive. To many variations to mention but if you want a set I know Rick has some to sell right now. Rick owns RK Machine, Inc. in Ripley, Oklahoma and can be reached at 918-372-4537. Don't quote me but I believe the bare heads are around $13-1400.00. Rick claims they will make 30 - 40 hp more than the Edelbrocks.

Clois

Clois, does that mean the BTs are officially out, or does Rick have an "in" with Art Francis?

blue thunder heads
 

Clois is right, I am getting a set of BT heads for the new motor. Rick has a set of these heads. They are the first set of heads shipped by BT. Rick has some connection with them. I am not sure if he has access to another set but if anyone can get them, he can. I will be talking with him tommorrow, so let me know if you would like a set of them.

We have already gotten the Blue Thunder MR and HR heads in. I have already done a CNC program on both heads. They use the same chamber and exhaust port but different intake port. Both heads are set up to use a High Riser rocker stand so if you have Medium Riser stands you will have to find some HR stand or buy them from Blue Thunder. We see no improvement on the exhaust over the Edelbrock and the High Riser intake is better but rquires a special intake. The Medium Riser head is nice but flows no more than our Edelbrock stuff. If you put the port in the stock location with the stock height and stock length valve with the stock valve angle you are not going to be able to do anything special with the head. The heads are good quality and have King serts installed from Blue Thunder. I think everybody is looking for the trick of the week. If you have agood cylinder heads guy that understands the needs of that engine and the camshaft that is being run you can get good power with either head. The truth be none the Shelby head is the lightest and thinest head of the bunch and limits the amount of port work that can be done but that said you can make 650HP with any of the three on pump gas if you know what you are doing. On race engines you can make over 850HP with the Edelbrock or Blue Thunder. It boils down to how much do you want to spend on a set of heads and a engine. The Blue Thunder has 2 chambers design available, the standard 427 machined chamber and one similiar to a Yates style head that requires quite a bit of work to unshroud the valves and ends up with a large chamber volume of about 85CC. We can get any of the heads that you want and probably keep more FE stuff in stock than anybody. Good Luck, Keith Craft

Keith, thanks for the info. I plan to build a stroker 428 based motor. I have the Blue Thunder intake, and a Lemans bowl correct Holley carb (735 I think). I would like to have about 450-500 at the wheels. Naturally I don't want to spend money that's not needed. However, for me, look is important as well. The one thing I don't like about the Edelbrocks, is you can tell they are Edelbrocks when the motor is in the car. What do the BTs look like? I know Art usually makes his castings "look" like OEM, does this apply to the new BT heads? Your thoughts on which head would be right for my setup would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sal,

The BT heads I was looking at were the HR (Yates inspired) and Rick did say they were going to take a significant amount of porting etc. over and above the Edelbrocks. As I recall these heads were void of any logo's on the outside of the heads. As Keith said above if you do not use HR rocker arm assemblies there needs to be additional machining to the heads.

Clois

CNc flow numbers for Blue Thunder heads
 

here are flow numbers for CNC ported Blue Thunder heads

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ET Performance cylinder heads does a good portion of the CNC heads available today.
Here are some flow numbers for a relatively mild CNC port on the BT standard port medium riser heads.
All numbers are @ 28" Water and are with a 2.19" intake valve and a 1.65" exhaust valve. with a 4.35" test bore.
intake
.400" 274
.500" 313
.550" 327
.600" 333
.650" 340
.700" 341
exhaust
.400" 191
.500" 215
.550" 223
.600" 229
.650" 233
.700" 237

The low and mid lift flow numbers are excellent and the high lift numbers are very good. The velocities are excellent and the port volumes are relativly small. And the numbers on the exhaust are made with a small 1.65 exhauast valve.
This would be a great street head that would still make big numbers on the track.
I can't wait to see the race heads.
Information gathered at the PRI show last week.
Happy holidays,
--Mike

Superformance Cobra replica
504" all aluminum tunnel port
'01 SVT Lightning

"Looks"
 

Sal, like you, I was concerned about stock appearance. For what it's worth, when Keith Craft did the 428 stroker for my Galaxie, I had them mill the Edelbrock logos off the heads and paint them black with the engine. I'm not a chalk-mark and overspray guy by any means, but I'm pretty pleased with the look. Considering that nearly every FE at the last car show I attended had shiny aluminum Edelbrock heads, you have to look pretty closely at mine in the car to spot them. They don't jump right out at you, anyway.

Good luck,
Mike

As Mike said we mill the name of the ends of the heads quite often. If the heads are not painted most people know they are aftermarket heads. I feel either head will do what you want.
We also do our own in house CNC head work and have we have done a set of the Blue Thunder High Riser Heads. They were for a race application and flowed very well. The flow at .800 was right at 400cfm and the exhaust was about 280-285cfm. The head has the standard exhaust port location and is the same on the Medium Riser head, we are currently working on the Medium Riser intake but should be in the 370CFM range. We port the heads for the application because you will give up some upper flow to get some lower flow and if you are only running a .600 lift camshaft you do not need the upper flow. This is why we have a stage 2 and a stage 3 Edelbrock head. We have made 700 with our stage 2 head and 850 with our stage 3 head. The new Blue Thunder FE race head should yield some real good flow numbers. We have a small block Blue Thunder head that flows 440CFM intake and 300CFM exhaust so I feel this is where the race heads will end up. Thanks and good luck, Keith Craft

I certainly don't want to take any business away from Keith, but here's pictures & info on the Blue Thunder heads. You can use either HR stands, have them milled to accept MR stands, or use individual studs for each valve ala 351-C, although I don't know why anyone would want to:
http://www.garrettmachine.com/cylind...er_fe_alum.htm
Keith, I sent you another email concerning edelbrocks vs blue thunders...would you rather I posted my questions on this board? I've done some more research on my DD 2003 and found more hp in larger cfm heads than my latest e-mail to you. I had to drop my compression for standard fuel, then tried a higher-flowing head to get the hp back, and it worked with minimal losses at the low end. I'm still talking about a .650 lift mechanical roller, and hp peak comes in around 6000. Duration @ .050 is 242/248 and it seems to want 380 cfm @ .700. This is for a 496.
Thanks,
Dan Kirsch