Gills: Hughes Heads For Project Bad Fish
Gills: Hughes Heads For Project Bad Fish
Gills: Hughes Heads For Project Bad Fish
L
Behind the Lens: The Author ast month we assembled a fully-forged 408
and Dave Hughes stroker bottom end for our project Bad Fish ’66
Barracuda. But, before we bring you the top
end story we had to share the killer set of heads that are
not only ready to bolt on and make power, but are a
unique departure from the average mopar build.
As we found out, quite quickly, when doing research
for this build: When it comes to the small-block Mopar,
the aftermarket is not exactly flooded with cylinder
head options. For those of us staffers with Ford and Chambers
Chevy backgrounds, that fact was a rude awakening.
the Few companies offer heads at all for LA block and all of that Dave Hughes of Hughes Engines has an innovative
Crane Springs
411 the factory castings (save for the hard-to-find W-series
race pieces) are severely lacking in the flow department
“Big Mouth” CNC program that removes the pushrod
pinch from the intake runner and yields serious air flow
4The finished bowl
has a streamlined air-path by modern standards. —perfect for our stroker’s 600 horsepower goal. line before their intake pushrod holes are drilled.
and the valve-guide bosses Fortunately, Edelbrock had an aluminum head to fit The process begins with a set of Edelbrock Performer The heads are packaged in the belly of an airplane and
have been profiled our application and even more fortuitous was the fact RPM cylinder heads that are yanked off the assembly travel the 2000-and-something miles from Edelbrock’s
4The chambers are Calif. production facility to Hughes’ Illinois outfit where
opened around the valves they get a major reworking.
and the rest of the Hughes begins by drilling the pushrod hole .375
chamber is nearly as cast.
inches away from the intake port, which allows it to be
4The ports are roughed opened much wider than a factory-style casting. For
out and note how the customers that already own a conventional set of
guides are pushed out of
Edelbrock Performer LA heads, Hughes can plug the
the head slightly for
clearance while cutting. existing pushrod holes and drill new ones.
“The biggest bottleneck to getting more power
4The Crane springs from small block Mopars, especially with large displace-
installed in the head have a
1.540-inch diameter and ment strokers, is intake port volume and airflow,”
Finished Bowl Cutting
carry a 434 lbs/inch rating. said Hughes.
18 August 2013
TECH
Gills HUGHES HEADS FOR PROJECT BAD FISH
20 August 2013
TECH
Gills HUGHES HEADS FOR PROJECT BAD FISH
the
411
4Note the convenient
threaded clean out
plugs in the end
of the shafts.
22 August 2013