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Lunchbox 305 cubes and Weslake W1, Garlits Crower C-500, D200 too

Started by aerolith, September 20, 2021, 06:11:56 AM

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aerolith

Still love this story and the fact that if Brooks had won the 71-Daytona race, he would have been BARRED from Nascar... :slap: :patriot: :woohoo:

Good old 'Big Bill', changing the rules on a daily basis... :coolgleamA:

What did he have against the 'lowly 305' LA-T/A engine... :scratchchin: :shruggy: :'(


Thanx Greg, can I post some pics please of the 'Rossi in sunglasses' pictures, fitting the 'LUNCHBOX 305' for us wannabee's lol... :notworthy:

'Snow-plough' front spoiler was a hindrance I bet?
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Saw on another thread that it was ''just a rollcage'' in someone's garage... :coolgleamA:

I think after reading ''305 found'' all is good in the World!

Wonderful picture of the HEMI and the LUNCHBOX lol... :2thumbs:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

How did Dick finish after this HIT!
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

For an Engineer like myself, I am looking for Engine info, on the 305ci please?

Plenty of stuff on Motortrend/Hotrod which is mostly 'blocked' for UK folks! :slap:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

Aero426

Finished 7th, a lap down.

Keith Black provided the engines as they had done development on the 5 liter Trans-Am and the P-69 Indy engines based on the LA block.   The first time the engine was in the car was at Daytona.   There was no test program.    

The 305 would have worked at places like Daytona and Talladega where you are WOT all the time.    Probably would not have worked elsewhere where you needed torque off the corners.   It was a gimmick, and it almost worked.

Aero426

Quote from: aerolith on September 20, 2021, 06:11:56 AM


What did he have against the 'lowly 305' LA-T/A engine... :scratchchin: :shruggy: :'(



It wasn't the engine.   NASCAR did not want ANY of the special bodies on the track in 1971.   Period.

aerolith

Thanx Aero426,

The reason I ask is this...

A UK company called 'Weslake Engineering' was given a pile of engines from Mother Mopar for Nascar development in the late 60's.
Mainly hemi D5 and other hem related items plus the infamous and complete W1 engine that I have in the UK.
The carb was a 1969 'sandcast' Holley that now resides on Greg's wonderful 200mph car... :2thumbs:

Some were returned to the USA when they went bust and a few remained behind for us Limey's to play with lol.
The smallblock T/A stuff, I lost track of in the 80's, but still own the 'W1 426 Weslake' as I call it... :coolgleamA:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

I was hoping to piece together a 305ci motor to join my W1 426 Nascar engine.

Unfortunately the paperwork from Weslake was lost, which described the reason for building the non hemi-headed 426 for Nascar.
This was going to replace the hemi engines after the unfortunate banning of the infamous hemi 426...

As you can see from the pictures above it was going to be an 'ovalport passenger car head', a replacement for the 906 casting.
But just as the W2 head was never placed on a street car engine, neither was the W1 (as I call it) lol... :slap:

Open Chamber design with the extra water passages for heat dispersion.

Obviously a 'pass head' as it has the heat cross-over unlike the Max-Wedge heads... :rotz: :yesnod: :hah:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

It was going to run the 'highly modified' STR intake with a sandcast dominator.

Looks huge next to the MI intake... :icon_smile_big:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

The only Weslake smallblock parts I have is the J head cutaway pieces.

These are NOT T/A parts, but 70 stock J's... :popcrn:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

Aero426

Interesting that Weslake was working on some big block applications.   This is the P-69 Indy car head for the small block.

aerolith

Nice picture Aero426,

Sir Harry Weslake lived a wonderful life, 'by all accounts'...

I have never read his book, ''Lucky all my life'', maybe I should get a copy and see what's in there?
He re-designed many heads for many folks over his long career.

It was so cool that he got to work on Mopar engines, but his philosophy of 'smaller, well shaped ports' fell short with hemi's and such like!

Hemi's famous 'square-ports' converted to Weslake's 'round ports' in the D5, a 'bridge too far' maybe? :shruggy:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

I like the fact that the wonderful Keith Black was called Reverend!

His father was a 'man of the cloth' and this was instilled into Keith.
No cussing or drinking, just a good all round kinda guy...

Seems God needed Mr. Black and Mr. Donovan for duties elsewhere? :angel:
So sad they died so young... :pity:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

TiMopar

Quote from: aerolith on September 20, 2021, 09:41:25 AM
Thanx Aero426,

The reason I ask is this...

A UK company called 'Weslake Engineering' was given a pile of engines from Mother Mopar for Nascar development in the late 60's.
Mainly hemi D5 and other hem related items plus the infamous and complete W1 engine that I have in the UK.
The carb was a 1969 'sandcast' Holley that now resides on Greg's wonderful 200mph car... :2thumbs:

Some were returned to the USA when they went bust and a few remained behind for us Limey's to play with lol.
The smallblock T/A stuff, I lost track of in the 80's, but still own the 'W1 426 Weslake' as I call it... :coolgleamA:
These are the heads and intake I had 100 years ago? I remember having valves made for them. They also came with porting plates for the intake, which also featured some interesting internal modification.

KurtfromLaQuinta

Interesting history and pictures.
Thanks guys.

aerolith

That's right Tim!

The stock length valves you had made were a 'TAD short' for these heads.
They are still in the heads when I took those pictures, with small-block DC valve springs...
This restricted the cam to a 0.509 purple-shaft old DC grind, OK for street but not for big HP!

I ran them in the infamous 76 Dodge Aspen at the Pod, but with little Joy, (last century).
So a few months ago I got some longer valves made up from Ford/Chev blanks.

2.250 intakes and 1.80 exhausts.
I can now run a decent sized camshaft somewhere around 0.650 lift 'roller' probably.
Got some very trick Arias 13 to 1 pistons and some nice 'h-beam' rods too.
Hard to find the 'old school' parts now for 60's Mopar 'open chamber' race engines... :slap:

Hope to make around 600hp like they were projected to make, 'back in the day'...

These pics show the valves you had made, back in the 80's I guess?
As you can see they have been run at the 'POD' but not anywhere near their full potential YET!

I assume the extra 'water passages' were developed on these castings in the late 60's?
Only ever seen some very late '440 Motorhome' heads with this type of arrangement... :shruggy:

One might even go as far to say ''Smog heads'' from 68 onwards... :scratchchin:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

You will have to educate 'me/us' on the Weslake short motor though.

I believe it had some very high compression 'pop-up' pistons when built?
You gave me some damaged ones with the purchase of the engine back in the 80's.

Then somewhere along the way some forged Sixpack pistons were fitted onto the shortened 'hemi rods'?
Basically a hemi 'bottom end' but in a 440 kinda set-up...

In the foreground is a 'full-length' hemi rod at 6.860.
Attached to the SP piston is a shortened 6.760 'hemi rod for the Weslake engine... :icon_smile_big:

I bought a set of Grand National 7.061 hemi rods, but never got around to having the pistons made... ::)
Just gonna run with the Arias pistons and later H beams, much cheaper set-up lol... :smilielol:

Why was the engine painted 'bright yellow', how gross lol
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Oh yes, for Folks who want to know why this unique engine is still in the UK?

Well back in the 80's Dick Landy got in touch with Tim and wanted to buy it.
But you then sold it to me, as I thought it should stay 'here in Kent' the home of Weslake Eng.!

Then in 1990 I was looking into buying a Daytona from Galen G. and thought the, the engine should go to over to Landy. (financial reasons)
But Galen then changed his mind and said ''no Limey is getting one of my Daytona's''...

But I still felt that the engine should return anyways, but Landy had a fire at his workshop and the Landy clan said I was ''taking advantage'' of the situation?
So all in all a 'bad day at the races', for all concerned...

Ten years plus roll past and I decided to 'fly over' and see the great man in person, Dick Landy himself, in the flesh.
I had arranged to meet him and discuss the sale, but again I got cold feet and didn't meet him.
I spoke to his son Robert on many occasions (over the years) but we never got a deal done.

Roll on another ten years and Don Garlits now wants the engine and my Charger 500 too!
He thinks its his old 'Crower Car' and wants to get them into his museum.

But (unfortunately for me) he wants them as a gift (on permanent loan) kinda deal...

So you guessed it, they are staying here in Limeyland, for the foreseeable future. :pity:

Money talks and long term loans, err walk lol... :yesnod:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Did I tell you the story of when I loaned my 69 Charger R/T (LFN 7) to a Moparmate?

Well, lets just say this, IT ENDED VERY BADLY, for all concerned.

I lost my Charger and he lost his business... :slap:

But what I miss most of all, is his, FRIENDSHIP...Lost forever... :icon_smile_blackeye: :icon_smile_blackeye: :icon_smile_blackeye:

Great story on this site, the Wendall Charger, loaned for a race day!
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

TiMopar

There was a reason that block was yellow, but I won't bore everyone by relating it here. I asked Larry Sheppard about the Weslake heads during his 'seminar' at the 84 Nats in Indy and he refused to speak about them... To add, there are pictures of some closed chamber version Weslake heads in an ancient 'High Performance Mopar Engines' book. I'll see if I can find it.

KurtfromLaQuinta

Quote from: aerolith on September 23, 2021, 04:33:26 AM
Oh yes, for Folks who want to know why this unique engine is still in the UK?

Well back in the 80's Dick Landy got in touch with Tim and wanted to buy it.
But you then sold it to me, as I thought it should stay 'here in Kent' the home of Weslake Eng.!

Then in 1990 I was looking into buying a Daytona from Galen G. and thought the, the engine should go to over to Landy. (financial reasons)
But Galen then changed his mind and said ''no Limey is getting one of my Daytona's''...

But I still felt that the engine should return anyways, but Landy had a fire at his workshop and the Landy clan said I was ''taking advantage'' of the situation?
So all in all a 'bad day at the races', for all concerned...

Ten years plus roll past and I decided to 'fly over' and see the great man in person, Dick Landy himself, in the flesh.
I had arranged to meet him and discuss the sale, but again I got cold feet and didn't meet him.
I spoke to his son Robert on many occasions (over the years) but we never got a deal done.

Roll on another ten years and Don Garlits now wants the engine and my Charger 500 too!
He thinks its his old 'Crower Car' and wants to get them into his museum.

But (unfortunately for me) he wants them as a gift (on permanent loan) kinda deal...

So you guessed it, they are staying here in Limeyland, for the foreseeable future. :pity:

Money talks and long term loans, err walk lol... :yesnod:
I've met Dick Landy on a few different occasions.
The first time was '91 when I took my 440 up to his shop to have it built. He walked in the "waiting room" of his shop. He did a double take look back at my Power Wagon sitting out in front and asked me "Is that yours?" We had a short talk. And then, from that point on, I had to deal with his son Robert and his brother Mike. Robert was an arrogant A Hole. Mike yelled at me, when after sitting in the "waiting room" for almost 45 minutes, I wandered around the back of the shop to find out what was going on. He said "You don't belong back here. Go back inside!" Thanks guys. I'll never deal with that kind of engine builder again.
I ran into Dick Landy at a couple of different Spring Flings in Van Nuys, California before he passed away. He was always friendly to me. And would make the comment "I saw your Power Wagon today."

aerolith

Very sad story Kurt,

I saw many famous faces at the Van Nuys 'Spring Fling' too lol...
It was the highlight of my year, all during the 2000's, escaping British rain and walking through 'fields of Mopars' in the Spring Valley sun!
My biggest fascination was the 'swapmeet', so many wonderful trinkets of Mopar magic and only so much 'you can carry'... :2thumbs:

I saw 'lots of Wingcars' but No Charger 500's ever... :-\

I suppose guys like Landy had 'huge reputations' and ordinary folks were, 'not on his radar'!

Robert was some kind of 'Gateman and Engineer' for his dad and brother.
Having spoke to him and only him, Robert was my 'only gauge' on the Landy family, (difficult at best).

But on my last trip to the Spring Fling, Robert had resolved many family issues after his fathers death!

It must of been hard for him to 'live in such a huge shadow'... :-\

He had piles of stuff from the workshop and some pretty scary prices for 'run of the mill' items!
They lived under the 'Flag of Mopar' for many years, basking in its glory!
By the end of the Century, Mother Mopar was waning and all the Stars were 'getting dim'... :'( :'( :'(

But for some of us, the 'memories live on' in true wonder of their acheivements... :notworthy:

It was all 'black and white' back then... :patrol:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

I met some guys out in Vegas, they had taken over the Landy Shop.

They wanted to know if there were any Mopars in the UK?
Their aim was to promote themselves 'all over Europe'... :scratchchin:

I told them ''we all drive Japanese electric cars and don't eat meat''... :slap:

To which they replied, ''Wow we didn't know it was that bad over there''... ::)

All joking aside, they offered me a contract to sell merchandise for them in the UK.


They also tempted me with a 68 hemi engine (out of one the actual race cars) for my Charger 500...(30,0000, cheap I thought)? :2thumbs:

But I had already bought one from my good friend Julius at a special price... :2thumbs:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Way off track now, so back to Nascar and the little engine that ROARED!

10,000rpm and 305 cubes, can it be real? :drive:

I can build an engine, but building a Daytona is a tall order indeed?
Had a few chances to buy a 'done car' but money was always tight for me... :brickwall:

I got enough saved for a puzzle at $22... :slap:

Saving up for the Carrera model next... :icon_smile_big: :drool5: :2thumbs:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

KurtfromLaQuinta

Quote from: aerolith on September 24, 2021, 04:50:22 AM
Way off track now, so back to Nascar and the little engine that ROARED!

10,000rpm and 305 cubes, can it be real? :drive:

I can build an engine, but building a Daytona is a tall order indeed?
Had a few chances to buy a 'done car' but money was always tight for me... :brickwall:

I got enough saved for a puzzle at $22... :slap:

Saving up for the Carrera model next... :icon_smile_big: :drool5: :2thumbs:
Cool. They made a display out of that car!

aerolith

I assume that '305 found' is REALLY found?

Had some good times at the Spring Fling and Mopars at the Strip too!
We were very surprised at the 'lack of Charger 500's' in fact none... :scratchchin:

I had just bought my C-500 and my Limey friend bought his too, from the same guy in LA.
Then we were all staying in a hotel near Van Nuys when we had a 'wild night' with some local lads!
We managed to upset quite a few folks in the Hotel, including the staff of MCG too... :flame:

So in the morning we apologised to all concerned and got down to 'talking Mopar' to Rob Wolf and his MCG mates.
We told him some tall stories of lost and found Mopars when he asked us about our Charger 500's.
He was surprised that both our cars were from Florida and how did they get to LA?

Then he said ''he was searching for the infamous Don Garlits car and had a few leads''.
So we said jokingly, ''what if it was one of ours''?

My Limey friends car had already been restored and the restorer said it wasn't his.

My 4-speed C-500 was knee deep in a ''coat of many colours''!

Some red, some black, some pin-stripping and some other colours too...

All in all, nothing concrete but who knows, if it hasn't been found it still could be mine?

A famous car maybe, but only important 'to Rob Wolf, me' and Don Garlits lol... :popcrn: :popcrn: :popcrn:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

To think of all the engines Mother Mopar tried to build around the hemi platform.

To end up with a 305 smallblock was strange indeed.

A925 1964 twin cam hemi and the A148... :drool5:

Wonder what designation the Ovalport heads got?

Me I'm happy with W1 aka 'Weslake ONE' lol'... :2thumbs:

The valves you had 'made-up' Tim were 'stock length' 440 size.

This turned out to be a 'quarter inch short' for the Weslake heads!
I did run them like that with DC smallblock springs, but they run outta steam at 5500rpm's... :RantExplode:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

OOPS, I forgot the A117 404cubes for 1966 too...

I suppose some folks liked 'em up until 1968?

These 'NON-aero' cars looks strange indeed... ::)

Much better with a flush back window... :eyes:

(Only three cars running back then in the late 60's,1,2,3)
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

KurtfromLaQuinta

Quote from: aerolith on September 25, 2021, 03:54:56 AM
MCG a great Mag indeed!
Yep. I've been a subscriber for years.
I like Mopar Action the best for their tech stuff by Rick Ehrenberg. Their stories can be a little corny at times. But I also get tired of Mopar Collectors Guide stories of "Numbers Matching/ One of a Kind" cars.
Plus,... I've been on them for years about my truck and its history and antics for almost 47 years now. And they continue to ignore the unique story there.  :icon_smile_big:

Love the story about your 500's up there. ^

I haven't been to Spring Fling in a few years now. I want to go again soon. Here was the last time in April 2015...




aerolith

Nice picture Kurt!

It really was a great pleasure to meet Rob Wolf and his fellow Moparmen.

It was a different time back ten plus years ago with everyone wanting to 'make that find'!
But once you have 'purchased 'your dream' you have to do something with it lol...

But for 'Truck Guys' like me and you, we is more 'grounded' my mum would say?

Nice to have a dream car, but the reality is 'trucking is for life', not just for weekends... :pity: :shruggy: :popcrn:

My biggest love is the 50 or so 'drag trucks' built by mother Mopar.
1962 to 64 D100's and D200's with the infamous 426 (non hemi)...

My D200 is a 413ci-5-speed model, which will soon be a 'one of one '426 Max Wedgie'... :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA:

Lets see what MCG Rob thinks about that? :slap: :smilielol: :nana:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

There is just something about a 'crossram' or a 'bathtub'... :coolgleamA:

Painted, Polished, or Au natural... :scratchchin:

Where is my 'time machine'???

I want to go back to the SIXTIES... :popcrn: :popcrn: :popcrn:

CHEAP GAS AND NO SNOWFLAKES... :slap:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

KurtfromLaQuinta

Nice truck you got there!
Yep. Those Cross Rams are cool... especially in a truck!

I like my Six Pack though. And I'm willing to bet... I put more mileage on my Six Pack than anyone else...

And Rob will continue to ignore me... even though I have a compelling story... https://www.ramchargercentral.com/threads/my-74-power-wagon-i-ordered-from-dodge-on-8-73.162259/

Sorry to hijack this forum page. Maybe we need to go somewhere else with our truck stories.  :icon_smile_big:

aerolith

I think anyone running a Six-pack or Six-barrel, is allowed to Boast on an Aero site lol... :coolgleamA:

My Moparmate in Cali has a Six-barrel Birdie and he has given up with the set-up! :RantExplode:

New carbs, old carbs its all the same, if you don't drive 'em everyday, you is in deep doodoo's... :moon:

I had a six-pack 69 Superbee back in the 80's and I couldn't afford to run it 'back then'... :slap:

Gas is the equivalent of £6 a gallon here now! (£1.30 a litre).

Which is $8.20 to you guys but your gallon is only 0.83 in size to our gallon.
Which probably puts it back somewhere near $6 a gallon, clear as mud... :shruggy:

In theory though, a Six Carb set-up is the best of both worlds!
500cfm around town and a 1000cfm everywhere else lol... :drive:

What is a 438?
underbored 440 or an overbore 426... :2thumbs:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Back to the 305 lunchbox.

As you can see from the picture it has a fairly stock looking 'dual-plane' intake.

Can this really take a 305ci small-block up to 10,000rpm's?

Was this a clever 'hoodwink' to make the other drivers/owners laugh... :2thumbs: :smilielol: :idiot:

look at the choices we have now... :-\

Did they all run 'stock' bellhousings too?
Surely a 'bulletproof' bell, was more likely?
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Quote from: aerolith on September 28, 2021, 04:02:31 AM
I think anyone running a Six-pack or Six-barrel, is allowed to Boast on an Aero site lol... :coolgleamA:

My Moparmate in Cali has a Six-barrel Birdie and he has given up with the set-up! :RantExplode:

New carbs, old carbs its all the same, if you don't drive 'em everyday, you is in deep doodoo's... :moon:

I had a six-pack 69 Superbee back in the 80's and I couldn't afford to run it 'back then'... :slap:

Gas is the equivalent of £6 a gallon here now! (£1.30 a litre).

Which is $8.20 to you guys but your gallon is only 0.83 in size to our gallon.
Which probably puts it back somewhere near $6 a gallon, clear as mud... :shruggy:

In theory though, a Six Carb set-up is the best of both worlds!
500cfm around town and a 1000cfm everywhere else lol... :drive:

What is a 438?
underbored 440 or an overbore 426... :2thumbs:

Twin shock set-up too, just like Buddy baker's Daytona... :shruggy:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

odcics2

The Rossi 305 ran an LD340 intake
with the center divider cut out.
:cheers:
I've never owned anything but a MoPar. Can you say that?

aerolith

Thanks for the info Greg!

I had two LD's and sold them both, cos they is 'old hat' lol... :slap:
Who knew they could turn 10,000rpms...?

:popcrn:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

spyder

Quote from: aerolith on September 23, 2021, 03:39:44 AM
That's right Tim!

The stock length valves you had made were a 'TAD short' for these heads.
They are still in the heads when I took those pictures, with small-block DC valve springs...
This restricted the cam to a 0.509 purple-shaft old DC grind, OK for street but not for big HP!

I ran them in the infamous 76 Dodge Aspen at the Pod, but with little Joy, (last century).
So a few months ago I got some longer valves made up from Ford/Chev blanks.

2.250 intakes and 1.80 exhausts.
I can now run a decent sized camshaft somewhere around 0.650 lift 'roller' probably.
Got some very trick Arias 13 to 1 pistons and some nice 'h-beam' rods too.
Hard to find the 'old school' parts now for 60's Mopar 'open chamber' race engines... :slap:

Hope to make around 600hp like they were projected to make, 'back in the day'...

These pics show the valves you had made, back in the 80's I guess?
As you can see they have been run at the 'POD' but not anywhere near their full potential YET!

I assume the extra 'water passages' were developed on these castings in the late 60's?
Only ever seen some very late '440 Motorhome' heads with this type of arrangement... :shruggy:

One might even go as far to say ''Smog heads'' from 68 onwards... :scratchchin:


Did anyone ever put these heads on a flow bench to get some airflow numbers ??

aerolith

Good question Spyder?

Many times in the past they were tested and the results are now lost, boohoo!
Was this by accident or on purpose?
The other 'closed chamber set, featured in the old 'Mopar performance' book were a failure, so the story goes.
Even the Ovalport W2's were never received that well either... :slap:

I did arrange for a few sets of Mopar Big Block heads to go onto a flowbench for comparison tests back some 20 years ago.
But life got in the way and it didn't get done... :-\

Its not as easy as it sounds here in the UK, as this stuff just isn't done anymore... :shruggy:
Guys aren't porting Mopar heads and have set-ups etc.

Well saying that, I have been 're invigorated' and will be porting again!
Once my stock of Mopar IRON heads are re-invented again, I will pursue the 'numbers' once and fo ALL!!! :2thumbs:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

spyder

That would be great, hopefully you plan to test them "as-is" to get some comparative flow numbers to contemporary heads.

I had a conversation with Bill Hancock (about 35 years back) about the W-2 style, heart-shaped chamber big-block heads that were mentioned in Atherton's book. He intimated that the writer was mistaken and that the heads had worked really well, IIRC he mentioned it being more a matter of finance than performance that cancelled the program...

aerolith

Many thanx for the interest Spyder!

The guy in the UK I got the engine from was a regular visitor to the USA.
He spoke to several 'high-up' peeps in the Mopar World about Weslake engines.
(Names withheld) for now lol... :scratchchin:

That was the early 80's and he was 'dismissed' as a 'bit of a flake', as Weslake engines were not good...

I suppose its my duty now after 40+ years to prove the 'naysayers' wrong, once and for all... :slap:

Its tricky on a budget, but where there's a will, there may be a way?

Athertons publication approx 1978?

I wonder who that GUY was porting W2 heads?

No chair and NO Cushion, they was TOUGH back then... :soapbox:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

A lot of things changed in the early 70's and Big blocks were 'devils work'...

But 50 years later folks are still using them 'gas permitting'?

Harry Weslake was seen as a HERO, here in the UK...
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623


aerolith

Nice find Spyder!

OLD W2 parts are supercool :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA:

That would be a great start to my 'Lunchbox build'... :2thumbs:

Need those headers too at that price... :flame:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Looks like the Speedway Museum in Nebraska has some good stuff too?

Ultra ported Smallblock heads on this engine.

After the 'Lunchbox' race the Keith Black engines ended up in drag cars and circle track cars too?
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

Once the 'Fuel crisis' hit the World economy in 72/73, Weslake went back to its Rootes (roots) lol.

Harry Weslake was a motorcycle-man at heart and his love was Speedway!

Fed up with Jawa ruling the roost he redeveloped his own Speedway engine and won the World championship in 1974.

But in 1978 at the UK Wembley track, Jawa retook the Worlds and the 'shock was too much' and Harry unfortunately died at the Reception Party... :angelwing:

In a strange twist of fate the UK has become World Champions again after 30 long years...

GM aka Jawa engine now (middle pic).

But my all time favourite is the Weslake Indy engine!

Wouldn't that look supercool in a 21st Century DayCloner... :2thumbs: :coolgleamA: :patriot: :notworthy: :dance:

(You would have to change the covers to Dodge though) :slap: :smilielol: :eek2:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

spyder

Quote from: aerolith on October 22, 2021, 04:04:53 AM
Looks like the Speedway Museum in Nebraska has some good stuff too?

Ultra ported Smallblock heads on this engine.

Funny, those are what I've always considered "W-1" heads. They were T/A head on the intake side with a raised rectangular exhaust port. IIRC, they were used on the first generation 318 Indycar (replaced by the Westlake) & on the SCCA Trans Am cars. I remember buying an NOS set from Diamond racing maybe 40 years back, they had a pallet of 'em.

I believe the LD340 W-2 intake is what they used on the Rossi Daytona.






aerolith

Please say you still got THEM Spyder!

A PALLET OF S/B INDY HEADS, WoW that's mind-blowing to hear this stuff... :coolgleamA:

If I can find some early T/A mega port heads I will start a LUNCHBOX build... :2thumbs:

I was referring to 'my heads' as the W1's lol...

The 'W' was for Weslake and the Big-block 'W1' set was cast in 1968.

The W2's were not until 1971... :shruggy:

Probably cast at the same foundry as the Max Wedge heads, that was 'burnt-down' by Chevy and Ford Sabo's... :slap: :fireangry: :image_294343: :pullinghair: :dance:

This is original Valley tray from the Weslake Dyno engine. (big holes) lol

I think the valley tray limited the porting of the heads lol... :slap:

Just think what developments went into Nascar engines... :patriot: :notworthy:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

odcics2

Note the word "Edelbrock" on the intake used on the 305 at Daytona.
   
I've never owned anything but a MoPar. Can you say that?

spyder

Quote from: aerolith on October 23, 2021, 05:42:58 AM
Please say you still got THEM Spyder!

A PALLET OF S/B INDY HEADS, WoW that's mind-blowing to hear this stuff... :coolgleamA:

If I can find some early T/A mega port heads I will start a LUNCHBOX build... :2thumbs:

Nope, I sold those heads a couple decades ago to a guy restoring an authentic SCCA AAR 'Cuda (can't remember which one). I had the heads, STR-12 & Racer Brown ST-14 that I was going to use on a Duster 340, sold the car so off went the parts.

I regret not getting the rectangular port T/A heads flow tested, they had 11/32 valve guides & I simply didn't have any valves laying around...Wish I had gotten all that old stuff flow tested just for the documentation.

If you're looking to duplicate the Rossi/Brooks 305 you'll need a set of the early big exhaust port W-2 style heads IIRC, not the modified T/A's...

aerolith

Many thanx for the reply Spyder!

There was lots of exotic W2 stuff floating about in the 70's.

Don't suppose any of it is still around now?

A guy on A-Bods has some ex KB T/A style, X-heads with 5/16 stems.
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

held1823

The Rod Shop Colt ran a 318 with Weslake DOHC heads
Ernie Helderbrand
XX29L9B409053

aerolith

Cripes, that's an engine and a half!

How did this awesome 'powerplant' get so forgotten about? :'( :'( :'(

All that wonderful KIT on that tiny little 318 block... :pity:

Got to have been better than a 318-Poly or an 318-LA surely... :notworthy:

Cool to think they made a Plymouth version lol, it was a 'torque monster' so they say... :scratchchin:

Front mounted dizzy is sure to 'hit da rad'... :smilielol:
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623

aerolith

The whole 'Colt' thing in 1971 was weird at best!

By 1987 in was truly awful... :slap:

But the people with the 'FUNNY HATS' seemed to LIKE 'EM? :image_294343:

At least they had rallye wheels, sort of... :-\
Never send to know, for whom the bell tolls,
IT TOLLS FOR THEE...

John Donne 1623