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Higher Performance 230 Rebuild


maineSSS

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I had my crank reground by an old boy with a machine shop in his back yard, he is a flat head Ford expert. I wanted him to cross drill my crank for longevity but he told me is was an unnecessary expense. He added a sweep for a lack of a better description to each of the oil holes in the crank of about 5/8" out from the hole to increase the flow of oil. It must work as I regularly run at 3200 to 3600 RPM in high gear for long distances without any ill effects in 15,000 miles.

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If you use modern oil filtration (full-flow), modern air filters, and good antifreeze, and observe rpm limitations, the flathead should last as long as any other gas engine. Another thing to keep in mind is prelubing before startup- according to a TRW study done in the 80's, engine startup and the 1st two minutes of runtime were equal to 500 miles of warm engine wear. The same study also found that 40,000 miles of continuous warm engine operation was so small they had difficulty measuring it....

Excellent "common sence" advice. I followed these practices and my souped up engine runs and performes well after 40,000 miles and I have never failed to hammer it when I feel the urge even if I am hundreds of miles from home. Thanks for posting.

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Here's a discussion on Honing Plate use in flathead rebuilds- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=316302 . What I found interesting were posts 17, 19, and 26- which seem to suggest that all the plate does is to locate the headbolts/studs- the important thing is to duplicate the amount of bolt stretch. The way to test this would be to bolt up the head to a bare block on an engine stand, measure distortion at marked spots compared with no head, then repeat with a honing plate, then repeat with large washers under the head bolts. Measurements next to the bolt positions around the cylinder would show the most difference in cylinder roundness. If a bored-out junk head is equal to an $850 BHJ plate, good, if heavy washers work as well, even better!

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How come none of you whiz bangs has brought up a lightened flywheel. Taking a few pounds of this rotating mass will help pick up RPM's a bit quicker that stock, plus it s cheap and quick. Don;t forget to rebalance after the grinding is done.

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Taking weight off the reciprocating mass (pistons) has more effect per unit of weight, and reduces stress on the rotating assembly. For a heavy vehicle in street use, you want the standard flywheel, unless you really enjoy constant double-clutch shifting.

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A lightened flywheel will accelerate more quickly- and also slow down more quickly. This works well for drag racing, not so well in street use at idle/slow speeds where flywheel momentum is needed to keep the engine turning over.

In my case, I have no synchros in the tranny, engine rpm must match drivetrain rpm in order to shift. A very quick revving/slowing engine will make that a LOT more difficult than it already is.

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Lightened flywheel is an old trick for faster acceleration. Old cars had very heavy flywheels for smoothness, and so granny couldn't stall the motor.

Today's cars have very light flywheels compared to fifties and earlier cars. Take some weight off your old flywheel if you want, it won't hurt anything.

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Here's a discussion on Honing Plate use in flathead rebuilds- http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=316302 . What I found interesting were posts 17, 19, and 26- which seem to suggest that all the plate does is to locate the headbolts/studs- the important thing is to duplicate the amount of bolt stretch. The way to test this would be to bolt up the head to a bare block on an engine stand, measure distortion at marked spots compared with no head, then repeat with a honing plate, then repeat with large washers under the head bolts. Measurements next to the bolt positions around the cylinder would show the most difference in cylinder roundness. If a bored-out junk head is equal to an $850 BHJ plate, good, if heavy washers work as well, even better!

I'm not buying it, as the washer scenario ignores the effect of the pressure through the gasket onto the block.

Marty

PS I sent you a PM with the contact info about my honing plate; apparently it's nearby in Alameda, CA.

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Marty- Thanks for checking- I'll give Cecil a call. I'm also looking at milling out a cracked 230 head. As far as flywheel weight is concerned, it has to be a certain percentage of the rotating assembly weight to assure smooth idle characteristics, so you need to know what the actual weight of the crank/piston/rods are to have an idea how much weight to take off (unless you have a number of flywheels to experiment with).

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As a general rule the heavier the flywheel the smoother the engine will run, especially at idle. And the easier it will be to take off without stalling.

Newer cars have very light flywheels compared to the old models. I doubt it would be possible to lighten a flathead era flywheel so much that it would be as light as today's imports are stock.

You can only take so much off a flywheel and still have enough metal to support the ring gear and perform its function. I doubt you could take off more than 1/3 of its weight. And of course the clutch plate and pressure plate will still weigh the same.

Taking off weight will do no harm as long as you balance the flywheel.

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Here are some pics of the upgrade project. Pic #1 shows resin castings of cyl #5 & 6, they had to be buffed (Pic #2) to make them transparent. Pic #3 shows a view of the 1959 head, the difference is the transfer port, which is shorter and deeper than previous heads. This makes all the difference in getting flow AND compression, the only way you can do this on an older head would be by angle milling, which wouldn't be as efficient as casting a better head.

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Continuing on, Pic #4 shows the intake manifold tube and base. The manifold was machined from hydraulic cylinder tubing, it's 4" long, and tapers from 40mm at the carb end to 1 5/16" at the intake port end (2 deg taper). Pic #5 shows the complete manifold/base, Pic #6 shows the CVK 40 Harley carb assembled to the manifold. It's 10 3/8" long, and just barely fits the front cylinder/engine compartment area. The present area of study is flow thru the valve area at various lifts, so optimum valve shape and seat angle can be determined- something that badly needs doing on the 230, along with port shape development.

I will go to a dual exhaust manifold, routed into a single larger pipe that will go up along the cab to keep it out of mud/deep water- the PW is an off-road vehicle. Another challenge will be in devising a triple carb linkage that will stay synchronized- the CVK's were never designed as multiple carbs.

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Edited by maineSSS
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Here's some discussion on Speedtalk about what needs to be looked at to get more flow with compression- http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30703 . As far as lighter pistons, these are custom for a 265 build, but at almost 1/4 lb lighter than the OEM, are a big step in the right direction- http://olskoolrodz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52197&page=3 (post #25). Finally, here's the simplest way to do dual exhaust- http://www.rustyhope.com/intakesexhausts.html -bottom pic. I would use a 45 deg elbow to avoid getting close to the oil pump, though.

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