Vortex Head

My cylinder head guy has one of the early style Vortex heads sitting in his shop. He lent me the head in the Spring of 2011 because he was interested in machining a billet version of his own design. I took the head and measured it to model in my CAD software, so I still have the pictures I took for reference.

We both ended up getting busy so that improved design did not get finished or cut.

I thought I would post some pics if people are interested to see what they look like up close. Not too many people have seen them at the component level, mostly on built engines.

This is a early "as cast" version for that has not been ported. I believe he has it for a backup for his Top Fuel engine, but has not had the need to use it.

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

They are a beast of a head, pretty heavy, and about 3/8" taller than a KZ head if I can recall. Ported they can reach +200 CFM and take cams as big as .660 (Kawi) to .800" lift (Suzi)

 

That's groovy looking, bet those aren't cheap! What are the lands cut out for around the chambers, wire or ? I have seen them on the Kawasaki triple heads and i copper wire them to seal better but probably not why they were originally cut. Nice pictures Injected!!

Yes, the grooves are for wires to seal a copper head gasket. They usually run about a .030-.035" SS wire in them. These heads are designed for 1500cc engines at a minimum and I believe that bare casting would be +$5000. Unfortunately its now just basically used as a bookend

Since that time the aftermarket went on to design/build billet CNC versions for 4 valve applications (Suzuki) that flow more air. The billet versions are lighter and stronger as they optimize wall thickness in key stress areas.

Back in those days the biggest carb you could get was a 44 Lectron, now they go as big as 60 mm, and I believe that may have been driven by these new giant heads.