Re: [AMC-list] 195.6ohv, ARP studs and head torque

[Jim Blair <carnuck@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

If I could go back to high school, when we were casting aluminum heads and blocks (we made Chev ones and tested them in cars we built from junkyard wrecks) I would make a matching AL head with some redesigns for current technology and breath a little life back into that motor!

Jim Blair, Lynnwood, WA '87 Comanche, '83 Jeep J10, '84 Jeep J10

From: tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>
To: "AMC, Rambler, Nash, Jeep and family" <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [AMC-list] 195.6ohv, ARP studs and head torque
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The more I think about that aluminum motor, the less I like it, i'm sad to
say... it's bass-ackwards -- should have an aluminum head! it too will have
the cooling problem the iron engine has, lucky that's an easy fix. NO WAY I
would put that engine together without studs. The head design, truly doth
suck. There's nothing good about it except mixture evenness which is about
perfect. The combustion chamber is just stupid even for 1957.
 
Most low-end rebuilders use a big belt sander to finish block deads and
heads; I can't believe that would work well at all with those cast-in-place
steel cylinder pairs. The siamesed cylinders probably change shape all over
the place, and at least the top end of them is restrained by the deck in the
iron engine.
 
Something always fails first, right? For past-end-of-design-life failures
the iron engine's headgasket failures are not THAT bad. The AMC 8's tend to
heave bad oil pump cover wear, some of the early "new" sixes lose valvetrain
oil (#4 cyl bolt), etc. These aren't faults in the engine exactly, they're
just what happens for reeeeeally old engines (and AMC did fix up most of
these things over the years) such that the later engines are no-brainer
reliable.
 
But recall that the aluminum six got a very bad rep for headgasket and
coolant issues *within it's design lifetime* -- I would be very afraid of
that., very afraid. Those design flaws need to be 100% identified at least,
and likely all solved. They might not be fixable problems! (Well, for any
$$$ you or I are likely to be able to spend.)
 
Even if it's just a weekend putt-putt car, I wouldn't want to sink any money
into a thing I couldn't trust.
 		 	   		  
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