Tunnelport Head ID

[mbrunson427]

Not sure the story on this set of heads. They are aluminum tunnelports and have "dermott" cast into them. Does anybody know what they are or who made them? They have no other markings as far as I know.

[machoneman]

Dermott somehow rings a bell as a old racer but.....

The heads are either OEM Ford (very rare) or Dove re-makes.

From the Dove site:

The Fords ran well during the 1965 and 1966 NASCAR seasons. By 1967, the Chrysler HEMI was back and the Ford S.O.H.C. had been factored out of competition. Ford's answer to the HEMI was the now famous TUNNEL PORT. The new heads had round ports that went straight to the valve, rather than bending around the push rods like other wedge engines. The push rods on the T-PORTS were routed through the center of the port via tube, which incidentally, did not effect the airflow. These new tunnel port heads were a big hit in all types of racing, and gave Ford some of its finest moments. However, the HI-RISER was still king of the shorter tracks, because of its broad power band. At DOVE, we manufacture both the ALUMINUM TUNNEL PORT (#SK-37080) and the CAST IRON TUNNEL PORT (#C70E-6090-K). They are very strong runners even today, especially on large C.I.D. engines.

[mbrunson427]

When I get a hold of them I'll take some pictures. I've done quite a bit of searching and come up empty handed.

[ntheogen]

You can tell very easily if they are Ford or dove just by the casting quality. The difference side by side is drastic. When you say cast into you are meaning it's raised lettering that was put there when they were originally cast? I highly doubt that they would be ford's if so but never say never when it comes to Ford, lol. I have some originals if we need something to compare them to. Great find man.

Jack

[hwoods]

came across this , this AM on DIY Ford


http://www.diyford.com/choose-ford-fe-engine-exotic-heads/

[mbrunson427]

Here's a little follow up to this inquiry......

Received the tunnelport engine yesterday. Heads on it were stamped with lettering, the original picture that was received was kind of an allusion that made it look cast into it. They are Dove heads.

Did a quick tear down, long-story-short, the engine is going back to where it came from. Piston pin came loose and scarred up the #5 cylinder wall, is likely why it was for sale in the first place.

This is the only picture I got because it got torn down and put back together in haste.

[cjshaker]

If the price was right and the head castings looked good, it's nothing a sleeve couldn't take care of.

[ntheogen]

I'd be interested in the heads, possibly the whole engine. I'm going to sell my original Ford aluminum tp heads. I could use a set of aftermarket ones.

[mbrunson427]

I'd be interested in the heads, possibly the whole engine. I'm going to sell my original Ford aluminum tp heads. I could use a set of aftermarket ones.

We'll see how this whole thing shapes up. Trying to contact the seller, it was sold as a running engine ready to drop in.

If the price was right and the head castings looked good, it's nothing a sleeve couldn't take care of.

I think that's plan B. All parts/pieces are in very good shape, but I think the execution of assembling the nice parts was shotty

[Barry_R]

came across this , this AM on DIY Ford


http://www.diyford.com/choose-ford-fe-engine-exotic-heads/

That picture was taken by me at "Birdie's" (RIP) shop many years ago.  I carried that exact head to PRI and showed it to Lee Morse and he felt it was from the GT40 (or Can Am?) development program - a really oddball item with some strange markings and fittings that did not match up to anything normal.

[e philpott]

Well that doubled the price !! lol

[gt350hr]

came across this , this AM on DIY Ford


http://www.diyford.com/choose-ford-fe-engine-exotic-heads/

That picture was taken by me at "Birdie's" (RIP) shop many years ago.  I carried that exact head to PRI and showed it to Lee Morse and he felt it was from the GT40 (or Can Am?) development program - a really oddball item with some strange markings and fittings that did not match up to anything normal.

+1 THAT is a genuine Ford head. I have seen them with the pipe threaded holes in the end of the head before.
    Randy

[ntheogen]

My research on my own sets of aluminum tp heads revealed that ford marked them with documented xe or sk numbers, they were hand stamped into them. A friend in Connecticut has the list with all the numbers and was very knowledgeable about the subject.

[gt350hr]

  Jack those numbers are connected to Ford blueprints . The blueprint covers changes made to the original design and the XE or SK number is different every time a change is made no matter if bolt hole or casting revision. I have a log book for '68 stuff but not "all" of it as well as much of the '69-70 stuff. I am taking this information to the CJ reunion this weekend. Anyone who has an SK part is welcome to bounce it of of me to see what it really is. My collection of XE numbers is minimal but I do have some of it. For the record , "most " SK drawings were 'race group" related and 'most" XE drawings were "pre production" related . There WERE "crossover" parts as various departments reworked stuff for their specific programs. Once you understand how Ford did things ( lots of red tape) the whole thing becomes fairly academic. Most think of Ford Experimental Engine Division as a "modern" race engine shop , but it was a VERY regulated , structured facility. Nothing happened without paperwork .
    Randy