Hamilton Cam's Head

[collegekid]

[Kasper Cummins]

If you're freehand porting, without a flow bench, you're wasting your time.

Mark.

Even if you made a smoother path it would increase air flow. Before you start porting on a good head test your skills on a juck yard head. Even with a good freehand porting job it not going to be a huge difference but I could help.

I would do the cam until the head is a proven upgrade.

[KTA]

My only concearn about this head would be what they have done on the swirl part. A decrease in swirl would be bad for making power especially at low rpms. That isn't as much an issue for a high rpm competition motor like what these were made for. One of the reasons a p-pump 24v usualy sucks on power and torque is the decreased swirl from the cylinder head. vs the 12V. I think a VE with a decent set of twins would beat a VE with one of these heads and a single turbo across the board on power. Now a hamilton head with twins might gain you a little, but again you might have to change injectors and timing a lot to make it work. Even then if the swirl is decreased much over stock you may not ever get what the stock head can do. Only a dyno could really prove the gains or losses. I vote you try it back to back with only the head change and let us know the results.

[Tacoclaw]

Thanks for the thoughts. As much as I'd like to go balls-out on this thing, I'm probably going to grab the cam. My only real worry is that if I do end up wanting more, that the cam combined with the head will "over-air" my engine. Only one way to find out I guess.

Only a dyno could really prove the gains or losses. I vote you try it back to back with only the head change and let us know the results.

Alright, you talked me into it.

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[mike8061]

"One of the things we are seeing is that swirl changes quite a bit with valve angles. Also, the more we raise the roof, air starts to enter the cylinder on all sides which slows swirl. As the intake port roof is as cast, the air favors the side of the valve on the exhaust side. When it enters it hits the wall of the cylinder at a slight enough angle that it induces a good bit of swirl. The 24v has almost half the swirl of the 12v, and our head in stock fashion, is just behind the 24v. One cool thing we are seeing is that at .675" both swirl and flow peak. Cam profile will be super important to making power with this head knowing what the port shape dictates. That is a .381" lift intake at the cam if a 1.7 rocker is used.

Different pistons and more attention to timing and injector/piston interaction is going to be very important power bands are about to be shifted!"

Quote from Zach on Comp D

Would seem to go with KTA's point of low RPM power loss due too lack of swirl. Perhaps for the VE a better rout would be to spend the money on an intake and some minor porting/smothing? Only a test would show for sure!

[oldestof11]

He does say that the low RPM swirl is not good. The major part where it shines is high rpm/high valve lift which is nice for weekend warriors/DD. Towing I can see being majorly disadvantaged by one of these heads.

[ahale2772]

agreed, some of the flow numbers they are getting are at 2wice the normal valve height of what normal trucks run.

levi, im going with the cam too, not too excited about trying to replace lifters in the truck

mmmmm Air flow

[shiftycapone]

My only concearn about this head would be what they have done on the swirl part. A decrease in swirl would be bad for making power especially at low rpms. That isn't as much an issue for a high rpm competition motor like what these were made for. One of the reasons a p-pump 24v usualy sucks on power and torque is the decreased swirl from the cylinder head. vs the 12V. I think a VE with a decent set of twins would beat a VE with one of these heads and a single turbo across the board on power. Now a hamilton head with twins might gain you a little, but again you might have to change injectors and timing a lot to make it work. Even then if the swirl is decreased much over stock you may not ever get what the stock head can do. Only a dyno could really prove the gains or losses. I vote you try it back to back with only the head change and let us know the results.

So how about a vp pumped 24v? Dynamic timing could make the difference but a low static timed p pump would/should produce similar results down low. My p-pumped 24v made good torque with both the vp and p pump, along with 700hp with a "small" set of injectors. Just questioning your logic here, I am curious. I have another 24v head in the garage, but the debate over 12v or 24v for the next motor continues...

[KTA]

The higher injection pressure of the VP combined with the fewer and smaller holes of the injector make the less swirl work. Making 600rwhp with a VP is not terribly difficult and it is still very streetable and tuneable at that level. Power levels beyond that with a VP are difficult to obtain as the pump doesn't have the capacity for it. Running small injectors with athe p-pump helps as it increases the injection pressure to more like vp pressures, but if you go all out and run big nozzles with a big p-pump it becomes a problem. I know in dyno testing Haisly had done on a 3.0 motor trying various timings and nozzles the 24V with the same cam, compression, pump and turbo was down 75-100hp over the 12V on a 1100-1200hp motor.

[shiftycapone]

The higher injection pressure of the VP combined with the fewer and smaller holes of the injector make the less swirl work. Making 600rwhp with a VP is not terribly difficult and it is still very streetable and tuneable at that level. Power levels beyond that with a VP are difficult to obtain as the pump doesn't have the capacity for it. Running small injectors with athe p-pump helps as it increases the injection pressure to more like vp pressures, but if you go all out and run big nozzles with a big p-pump it becomes a problem. I know in dyno testing Haisly had done on a 3.0 motor trying various timings and nozzles the 24V with the same cam, compression, pump and turbo was down 75-100hp over the 12V on a 1100-1200hp motor.

Very interesting. I only ask because Ron Allen just did 1218hp on a p-pump 24v with a very mild head, and drove it home 2-3 hours to boot.