Dave,
The Ardun would have naturally helped the old Flathead at altitude,
as it breathed much better than the sidevalve. That's the first I've heard of
the theory that they were designed for use at high altitude.
The Duntov Bros. didn't do enough R&D on the heads, however, and in
their stock state they wouldn't produce anywhere near the 170 HP that was
advertised. Using stock Ford pistons, as the Ardun was intended to be a
"bolt-on" horsepower increase, the resulting compression was about 6:1.
Subsequent owners of the rights to the conversions offered pistons to
dramatically raise the compression ratio.
The single 2-bbl Stromberg 97 mounted on a crossover between the
stock log manifolds couldn't handle adjacent cylinders firing one after the
other, starving each other for fuel.
In the 1950's, Don Clark & Clem TeBow (C&T Automotive) acquired a set
and really got the potential out of them by some port massaging, compression
raising, and fuel injection innovation.
In 1992 we got a 50% increase in cylinder head flow by moving the
ports and re shaping the bowls..............Ardun Doug
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