VED billet FE heads?

[sumfoo1]

http://www.visnerengine.com/billet-force-cylinder-heads/fe-ford.html

anyone know anything about theses?

12k seems like a whole lot for a bare set of heads..

i wonder if T&D rockers even fit on them ?

[ScotiaFE]

On sale?
List price is $6,595.00US EACH!
That's $8,178.46 Canadian plus 15% tax and shipping to me. Bargain.

[jayb]

I'll bet they can count the pairs they've sold on one hand.  $6K per pair would be bad enough.  There is about $500 in billet aluminum in those heads, plus another $100 or so in seats and guides.  They are charging $12K for CNC machine work.  Gotta pay for that 5 axis CNC machine, I guess...

[feadam]

anybody seen one or is this just something they are working on?

[bn69stang]

Howie , order 2 sets ..... im good for it     lol  .  no thanks for that kind of money i would start a cammer fund .. Bud

[sumfoo1]

i found them because they posted wedge heads for a 385 on yellow bullet so i just started looking.

my first reply was.... i'd rather just call up kaase and get some full blown hemi heads for half the cost... then i found the FE heads and thought hmm... if these flow 400-450 cfm that could build a nasty motor.

[Barry_R]

Losito did something similar a few years ago.  I think they've sold three pair - one to the guy that fronted the development money.  Top of the food chain stuff and sometimes necessary for top alky, nitro or super high boost deals - - but not in the zip code for any FE that I have ever laid hands upon.

[wowens]

That may bolt to a FE block but it is a Looonng ways from a FE head. To me it takes FE out of the equation and makes it some sort of hybrid something that can't be put in a class. 

[LivermoreDave]

http://www.visnerengine.com/billet-force-cylinder-heads/fe-ford.html

12k seems like a whole lot for a bare set of heads..

..... and that's just the beginning! Fitted with the components that a cylinder head of this design would compliment, you won't have much change left from a $25,000 bill. VED and Don Losito's UltraPro Machining, offer custom billet cylinder heads for the FE. Bennett Racing Engines (Haleyville, AL) has built an FE utilizing the Losito design.

Dave.

[jayb]

Do any of you guys know how these heads are assembled?  Are they in two halves to allow for machining the water jacket features, and then bolted together with an O-ring seal or something like that?

I've actually thought about doing something similar at some point, but trying to keep the FE flavor while adding some features that no current head offering has.  It would be cool to have a billet FE head available for a more reasonable price...

[My427stang]

No idea but Lositos heads flow over 470 cfm, those are some bad mamma-jammas.....

[ec164]

Kuntz and Co made over 1100 HP N/A with someones Billet Heads on a 526 cubic inch.........Al

[cjshaker]

Do any of you guys know how these heads are assembled?  Are they in two halves to allow for machining the water jacket features, and then bolted together with an O-ring seal or something like that?

Jay, they are a 2-piece, bolted together. If you look at the pictures in this link, you can see the dividing line about where a normal FE head stops. The attaching hardware can also be seen in one of the shots. I'm not sure about the sealing technique.
http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/all-ford-techboard/481127-billet-canted-valve-fe-head.html

Those are Lositos heads I believe. The same ones Kuntz used in this build to make over 1100 horsepower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6yJscOp58&spfreload=10
To Kuntzs' credit though, he has also built an FE making over 1000hp with cast heads in basically the same NA 2x4 configuration as the billet headed monster. Kuntz is definitely one of the masters of the FE world.

I don't believe the pictures in the Viser link are of the FE head. Just some generic shots of their products. The Losito heads use a somewhat traditional FE exhaust port flange. Still recognizable as an FE design, yet easily distinguished as being different.

Here is a twin-turbo engine being built some years ago that was posted on the other forum. Sadly, there was never an update done on the finished engine. My apologies if it's not kosher to post a link there, just done for reference sake....and to show one heck of an awesome FE build.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/thread/1280423457/New+engine+pics+with+billet+heads

[sumfoo1]

Wow this thread is awesome..

Pretty cool to see heads that aren't just the edelbrock stuff being used.

[cammerfe]

Don't they machine all the inside in one piece and then add plates on the outside as necessary to create the water jackets?

KS

[jayb]

Doug, thanks for the pictures.  Looking at the head, I have to surmise that they have opened it up on the intake face of the normal FE head dimension, in order to machine the water jacket spaces, and then used that bolted on plate to seal up the head.  It also appears that the water outlets are on the front of the head, which I guess would make sense since only a custom intake manifold would work on those.  I was thinking that if you were going to do a standard style FE head, that the head would have to split into a top and bottom half so that the water jacket areas could be machined, and then the two halves would be bolted together.  The way they did it would probably be easier, but would limit the intake manifold options, and no thermostat of course.

[TomP]

How would you split the head top and bottom and maintain structural integrity? The head bolts could be used to hold them together and down too but would the whole top of the water jacket come off with the valve spring pads and rocker bosses?
I think windows and plugs in the exhaust face of the head and ends would be better.

[cjshaker]

I'm just guessing here, but I don't believe the heads are meant for any street duty, only 1+minute runs for 1/4 mile cars. Hence the limited water jacket space. Again, I'm not positive, but I don't think the water jacket extends around the chamber like normal cast heads do.

What Jay suggests is certainly possible if milled bolt bosses were added to the halves in key areas, because just the head bolts alone probably wouldn't be enough to stop any warpage and/or seeping. Walls would have to be a little thicker to allow for a seal also. I don't see why it couldn't be done, it would just take some good engineering.

As for any argument that it loses it's "heritage" of being an FE, that kind of goes out the window anyway with the use of a Shelby block. They are nothing like any standard FE block that was made by Ford. For that matter, lots of performance FE engines built these days don't use a single factory piece in them, so it's all just semantics anyway.