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CNC heads
philhoward - 21/4/09 at 04:29 PM

Has anyone used CNCheads.co.uk for an CNC machined Pinto head and got good results?

blakep82 - 21/4/09 at 04:43 PM

£1000 +vat for a vauxhall xe head?!
seems a bit expensive consideing they put it a preprogrammed CNC and let it do its thing.

not saying they're not good, but seems a bit expensive considering its not hand done, and getting the same attention as a hand prepared one

Memphis Twin - 21/4/09 at 06:08 PM

The Pinto flow figures are very good, and are within a few CFM of the very best I've (ever) seen. Of course the very best Pinto head is by Dave Brooks in Crewe, but is a lot more money.

The alloy X-Flow head has massive flow (for a X-Flow), but is only 4CFM (inlet)more than my old Iron race head.

The CVH head is VERY good...

Go for it!

hellbent345 - 21/4/09 at 07:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
seems a bit expensive consideing they put it a preprogrammed CNC and let it do its thing.


The trouble is a master head has to be gas flowed etc first, then drawn up by CMM and presumably modified in a 3d CAD package, then complicated CAM software has to be used to machine the part (almost definately five axially)-this in itself can take weeks, before an initial part can be made (which will almost certainly be wrong in quite a few areas, then another has to be made, and possibly another before it is ready. Tooling costs have to be taken into account, with such a large peice of machining i would say tools wont last for very long (tools arent cheap). So spread out over one off to small runs, one has to account for a large amount of man and machine hours getting the part ready, and a fairly large cost of machining - (5 axis machines normally get rented out for about 60 - 100 per hr). Anyway, after all that theyve gotta turn a profit, so id say the prices they are selling for are alright... not cheap, but good for what you get
Al

James - 21/4/09 at 08:59 PM

Out of interest, what is so good about a Pinto block that it's worth a head costing that much?

Could get a Duratec going for that much and have an alloy block too!

Cheers,
James

02GF74 - 22/4/09 at 07:53 AM

Burton Power also do CNC heads, can't recall them costing £ 1000 though.

iank - 22/4/09 at 07:59 AM

quote:
Originally posted by James
Out of interest, what is so good about a Pinto block that it's worth a head costing that much?

Could get a Duratec going for that much and have an alloy block too!

Cheers,
James


Suspect they are selling into the nostalgia market, the "simple" upgrade market and the "race regulations specify block but not head" market.

iank - 22/4/09 at 08:00 AM

So in marketing is CNC the new billet?