Re: [Amc-list] PRI Learnings--Groovy Butanol

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

I agree Bruce. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that manufacturers are not and should not be interested in cylinder head grooving. Modern combustion chamber and overall head design (valve angle, timing, etc.) has exceeded such measures. Grooving will probably help in a 1960s through early 80s engines, but by the early 80s most newer designs were good enough that the grooves shouldn't help much. Some older designs, like maybe the AMC six and SBC, might benefit slightly. Once the head and chamber designs were updated the improvements would be minimal or non-existant, and as the engineering firm you contacted stated, could be detrimental. I'd experiment with grooving on any AMC V-8, and the sixes up to the 4.0L. Leave the 2.5L four alone (Jeep, the early carb version Iron Duke might benefit, later ones probably not). 

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Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:47:31 -0500
From: "Bruce Hevner" <scramblr@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Amc-list] PRI Learnings--Groovy Butanol

CYLINDER HEAD GROOVING
I asked most of the "big name" cylinder head companies there what knowledge
they had of CHG (cylinder head grooving). NONE of them seemed to have any
idea of what I was talking about! The ONLY company who had knowledge of it
(and a pretty good one) was the folks at a small place called "Audie
Technology" www.audietech.com. They said they had seen the web site and knew
all about the claims. They too are VERY skeptical of any benefit from it and
expressed concerns it might increase the tendencies towards detonation. They
have not tested the theory however and knew no one who has. They also hope
SOMEONE will do a back to back dyno test soon.
 I asked about the possibility that it might help "swirl" if the grooves
were done at an angle. They said you have to be careful with inducing swirl
as you can actually get too much! He said GM had done a LOT of research with
swirl when they were developing the LS head. They found that using too much
swirl can actually hurt performance. Too much acts as a centrifuge and spins
the fuel out of the mixture where it collects on the cooler cylinder walls
not burning properly. The magic number seems to be 100 RPM. This can be
measured using their "Swirl Meter".
These guys are VERY knowledgeable and spent a good bit of time talking with
me. I recommend you take a look at their web site. They have a good
selection of software and hardware including instructions on how to make
your own flow bench!

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)

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