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Re: Big Question, Big Thanks!

To: Roland Dudley <cobra@cdc.hp.com>
Subject: Re: Big Question, Big Thanks!
From: Chris Richards <cjr7@axe.humboldt.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 17:25 -0700 (PDT)
Roland-Rather than exploit some nice hi-po heads I would suggest 
purchasing a set through PAW.  For about $4-500 you can get small 
chambered heads with enlarged valves, porting, and solid screw-in rocker 
studs.  I've had great success with htese !!

The Happy Mechanic-Chris

On Tue, 16 Apr 1996, Roland Dudley wrote:

> I received lots of responses to my should-I-have-larger-valves-installed
> question.  Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond to that
> question and beyond.  Recall I was asking so that I could decide on
> whether or not to have the valve cut-outs in my flat-top after market
> pistons enlarged.  A couple of people suggested the obvious:  have the
> cut-outs enlarged and worry about the valve question later.  That made
> so much sense, I got on the phone right off and gave the okay to my
> rebuilder to do just that.
> 
> As for the larger valve question, as several people pointed out,
> unmodified HiPo 289 heads are getting hard to come by; better to screw
> up some less rare/valuable set of heads or go after-market.  I'm keeping
> the unmodified heads as is.  The other set I have already has larger
> valves and has had some chamber and port work done to them.  Assuming
> they are usable, I'll keep them around for swapping with the stock heads
> if I decide I want a little more power later.  Or maybe I'll start with
> them and fall back to the stock heads if I don't like the results.
> 
> Several people suggested replacing my street radiator with an after
> market aluminum rather than having the original recored.  A couple of
> thoughts on this:  1.  This means a mix of cast iron and aluminum, which
> means the potential for damage due to electrolysis.  In this case, the
> aluminum is the metal that would suffer the serious damage.  I've
> already experienced this to some degree with the aluminum water pump,
> the thermostat inlet and an aluminum Tee.  The Tee is beyond salvage.
> 2.  Some early street Cobras did have aluminum cross-flow Harrison
> radiators and the spun aluminum header tanks.  Shelby dropped these
> early on because they didn't hold up very well.  I'm assuming there was
> a reason for this then that might still apply today.  My plan is to use
> distilled water and anti corrosion/lubricant additives rather than
> glycol based antifreeze to improve cooling.
> 
> Here are a few other things about the engine's setup I didn't mention in
> my original post in case anyone is curious:
> 
>  solid lifters
>  hi-riser aluminum (original Cobra) intake
>  715 CFM Holley
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Roland
> 

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