Hey W.F., don't forget to bore-notch the block. Too bad we don't have a set of closed-chamber heads laying around.

Motor is NOT apart. Just the heads and ancilary's are off. Short block is still assembled. I've said it before, I'm not looking for a lot of hp from this 2 bolt motor. Just a few more rpm.

Dont worrey about a two bolt block untill you bolt on that new 10-71.

Would you believe that I BORE NOTCHED my cylinders with the engines in the boat. Covered everything with plastic except the cylinder that I was working on - put plastic lid down in the cylinder and dust taped it in. Oh also put grease around the top of the piston where it meets the cylinder so their was no chance of anything getting down there. Used industrial vac to suck out all the shavings as I was grinding.

Waterfoul (Mike), There's a lot of advice and opinions given here. Many of whom are your friends and know personally and I don't think anyone wants to steer you in the wrong way or see your engine break. I would NOT ANGLE MILL the heads if I were you----they can end up MUCH more trouble than they're worth. Mr. Gadgets has given good advice;...measure measure measure! IF you are going to do ANY milling at all, I would only do a STRAIGHT milling job on the heads and then only take off the LEAST amount to achieve the desired comp ratio. High 8's should be safe, but I would NOT go much over 9.0 if I were you. The dual plane intake is a wise idea...safe and most simple of the three mods you're considering here. Bore notching the cylinders requires some measuring and a steady hand. Milling requires LOTS of measuring BEFORE you actually do any milling. This ensures there are NO problems down the road and/or even if it's worth the expense. Once you have decided that the head milling process is the route you're going to take then accurate machining by a competent machinist is what it's going to take. Milling the heads is NOT a big deal...it's just ALL the MEASURING that MUST take place BEFORE you do it that makes it critical.

You are surrounded by your friends on this, I think Crazy Dave and Steve the Tinker man will be able to help you achieve a lot of the measuring processes, bore notching and assembly... and it sounds like you have a machinist that you trust to do the milling accurately. It's YOUR $$$ and it has to be worth it to YOU! ...and YOU are the one who'll be responsible for what you decide to do.

Of course I wish you the best as well...I (as others) want to see you run well and strong without any problems. Your engine isn't radical enough to NOT achieve this I believe.

Mark

Hey Waterfoul, don't forget to bore-notch the block. I still think the electric motor/solar panel idea is the best. Seriously, we're not looking for that last tenth of a horsepower here, just a healthy and reliable engine that will be turn-key for Mike, as well as the next owner when the Waterfoul is sold.

WELL SAID KAAMA----

Mike we can measure the block and then have it cut to put the pistons .010" down in the bore. Then you dont have to take so much off the heads. At the same time we can bore notch the block. If you want we can unshroud the valves and then cut the heads for compression. Hey it's only money.

I'm thinking about spending about $3700 on the shorter drives.

Kaama's right. Angle cutting the heads does require some interesting knowledge to get everything right. The valve train geometry was enough to give me a headache but I did get my cc's down to 110 which put me around 9-1 compression with the gaskets I use. Was a lot of work though. THinking about it again now, It would have been easier to put pistons in it which is what I am doin on my present engines.

Waterfoul, what's an "ancillary"? Sounds like something KAAMA should be dusting for, like fire ants or something.