Cut head in half

[rd]

I thought I would try to cut one cylinder off of a head to use as a locator for my upcoming attempt to enlarge my piston valve notchs.

I was going to take the head to a shop with a large bandsaw, but I thought I would try a hacksaw and Sawzall first. The hacksaw cut pretty nice, so I went to the Sawzall.

It works! I did eat four blades, but I now have a perfect head for a motor with a 3/4 cam, and one for a single cylinder. Took 20 minutes, less the trip to Lowes to get more blades.

Kind of interesting to see whats in there. I went through an exhaust port and valve guide. I've seen pictures, but it was interesting to see where there is metal around the seats and ports, and especially how thick, or, actually, thin, the deck surface is.

Has anyone else done this? Does an abrasive chop saw work any better than the recip saw?

 

[dragnazz5.0]

ive never actually done it myself but my school has a bunch of different heads cut like that. small block chevy heads, small block ford heads, nascar cup car heads. its pretty cool to put a sbf head next to a cup car head and see the difference

edit: you know what would be really cool, if someone came up with a tool that you could put over the cylinder and adjust the height to the same thickness as the head was shaved or whatnot that had valves in it so you could check clearance. hmm....ive got a great idea

 

[Tonys96Cobra]

A gas powered cut off saw would make short work of it

 

[rd]

Yeah, the gas powered cutoff saw was one of my alternates, if a metal cutting blade in my circular saw would not handle it.

I cut out the asphalt at the end of my driveway last summer with a masonry blade in my circular saw. Kinda got the idea that you can do lots of things with tools....

 

[jrichker]

The usual comment for such an interesting endeavor...

 

[iwashmycar]

The usual comment for such an interesting endeavor...

:Word:

 

[fidstang]

Boy, could sure use those pics right now. They would definitely be useful while I'm enlarging the ports and bowls. You wouldn't happen to have any you could post would you?

 

[rd]

I'll try to get some pics from my camera and learn how to post them. Cutting the head was easy compared to this techy stuff....

 

[Rick 91GT]

that is the same way I made my notching tool, you'll have to recess the seat up higher depending on how you are making your cutters. I made my own by brazing cutters I made on the end of the valve.

 

[352Ford2]

I know when you are cutting/machining cast iron you are not suposed to use cutting fluid, but I am willing to bet you could have done it with one blade if you used some sort of lube to keep the blate temp down.

just an idea