Harv's Repco HighPower crossflow head thread

[sgo]

Is there any oil supply to lube rollers and top of valves?

[Harv]

From what I can see, the rollers and valve stem tips are splash-fed.

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

ARP fasteners arrived, so went to fit them. Could not get either of the exhaust or inlet shafts to bed down. Lots and lots of fit and fiddle, and paranoia that I was doing something wrong. Finally realised that the heads are hand finished, and the angles for tapping and drilling may not be exact. The results of all that fit and fiddle tell me that for my particular head:

a) for the inlets, the shaft has to be in place and then the studs screwed through it, and
b) for the exhausts, that pedestal bolts need to be started before the pedestal/rocker cover studs are started.

All good - it all fit neatly, nothing tight or binding where it shouldn't. Gave up waiting for the 1/8 NPT plugs to arrive, so took the supplied long ones and ran them partly down a die. Refit to exhaust rocker shaft, see if they are flush, then die them some more until the are. Plugs now flush and not fouling rocker cover. The outer two exhaust pedestals do slightly foul. A smear of yellow paint, rocker in place, gentle tappy tappy then check the rocker cover for where the paint is rubbed off. Die grind a little, then repeat the paint check until it no longer fouls.

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Think I am about there. Fit to engine:

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Next step: pushrods.

Cheers,
Harv

[Blacky]

That is a thing of beauty Harv

One of our club members has one and he is making noises about selling it - its out of me budget but if he decided to move it on you will be the first bloke who knows about it

[Errol62]

Come on Blacky. Need one on the yoot.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Harv]

Today, pushrods. Almost.

Knew the pushrods were too long for the rollies, so didn’t fit them when I put the head on. Need to measure, then get new ones made up. Somewhat frightened, as they are NOTHING like a normal pushrod. They need to be custom made from 1/4” silver steel rod, then heat treated. Preparing for a wallet-dectomy

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Figured I could screw the rocker adjuster out, slip in a pushrod checker, then refit the adjuster. Good in theory, not in practice - adjusters only come out downwards. Rocket gear off. I had bought a ball-end pushrod checker years ago, and managed to put it aside when I packed the shed up.

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In theory, fit the checker and rocker gear, screw the checker out (with a feeler gauge holding roller tip lash at 14 thou) and then get the new pushrods made up to that length. Slight problem: the checker I bought years ago does 9.8-10.8”… and I need about 8” for the exhaust and 6.5” for the inlet. I could cut some rod down and fit, cut, fit, cut but all that gear is now packed away with the shed, and my patience for refitting rocker gear a dozen times would grow thin. Two new checkers to suit on their way.

The next learning was that the rollers are made for 5/16” balls, and the lifter end cups are made for 1/4”. The cups are an insert fit into the standard lifter, once it has been recessed a little. If I get the cups milled to suit a 5/16” ball then I can use standard type pushrods. Lifters back out and off to have the buckets milled.

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Cheers,
Harv

[Blacky]

Come on Blacky. Need one on the yoot.

Can't justify the cost mate - the Holden grey motor is surpassed only by the flathead frod on the wrong side of the dollars in to horsepower out equation I could do a LOT of stuff to the 2 door with what I would spend on a Repco head for the ute......

[Harv]

I can see why the red motor so quickly overtook the grey. To get 200hp out of a grey reliably costs an arm and a leg.

This exercise will be worth it in the end, but there are times when I wish I could shop a catalogue and bolt up like you can with a SBC.

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

My search for a genuine Repco HighPower head has been unsuccessful, despite several years of chasing . I am now committed to a repro head, and have paid the deposit. In getting to this decision, I’ve done my homework, and will share the results below. Have tried to chase down the Chinese whispers, which has led to a lot of calls to some very interesting people (and managed to talk to the owner of two Normans that I did not previously know of). Talked to quite a few guys who either currently own, or have previously owned factory heads. The community is small, but very knowledgeable. Their time on the end of a phone has been appreciated.

Reproduction Repco HighPower heads have been made by Rod Scheffler in both aluminium and cast iron. Ballpark costs are $14k for an iron head, and slightly more for ally. This includes all the running gear (valves, rockers, rocker covers etc). Around 10 have been sold so far. I am going a cast iron head, as it "feels" more period correct, and will probably take a bit more abuse than the ally. This will be no show pony... I intend to make it earn its keep. Will probably have to sell on some other toys to make up the dollars.

The heads are supplied with ally roller rockers. No-one currently reproduces the factory type rockers. Terry King can supply rocker adjusters, posts and shafts. He made a run of 10 reproduction rocker arms, though no longer makes them. The factory Repco rockers have geometry issues (the exhaust valves unseat from the rocker tip at high revs), though can be successfully reworked by Ian Tait and survive up to 8,000rpm. However, the original factory rockers, based on Vincent parts, are rarer than rockinghorse poo. John Anderson made a run of 10 steel roller rockers, though no longer makes them. All up, the only currently available set of rockers (of any type) for a Repco head are the ally rolly rockers made by Rod.

It will be a few months before the head is ready. I still have quite a bit of work to do to get the bottom end of the meth monster together ready to receive it.

Finally, some movement on my repro head. Head has been finished, and I've made the final payment on it.

I end up with an ally head, valves, springs, retainers and collets, rocker cover, sideplate, breather pipe, lifter inserts, head/rocker/exhaust gaskets and head studs. Rockers will be made by others, so still some work to go.

Cheers,
Harv

[Blacky]

That was quick - only 6 years ago !

[Harv]

Phil Irving - An Autobiography


Conceiving the Highpower Head

Staying out of the 1955 Redex…

Back on page 2 of this thread, Paul graciously copied out some text from Phil Irving’s autobiography (with thanks). Reading this book has been on my to-do list for a while, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy from one of the vintage speedway guys (also with thanks). The book is a great read, though is mostly motorcycle-centric (as was Phil’s passion and career). It is written chronologically, and the Repco head info is sprinkled in a number of places. As I find more of the info that Paul hasn't covered, I’ll bring it here.

Sedan car racing became so popular that the demand for Repco heads exceeded our expectations and half our staff were busy machining, port-polishing and assembling heads. When pressure tested, a few castings were found to be porous, but recalling my war-time experience with cracked cylinders, they were all fixed, and stayed fixed, by pouring Holt’s “Wonderweld” into water jackets which were heated to boiling point with a blow torch. We could supply various types of manifold to suit Holden, SU or Weber carburettors so that keeping track of production became quite a tricky business.
The improved performance given by the Repco head soon showed up some shortcomings in the new FE Holdens when driven much above their intended maximum of 80 m.p.h. To compensate for a greater car weight, the top gear ratio had in effect been lowered by reducing the wheel diameter from 15 to 13 inches, thereby increasing the engine revs at any given speed by 7 percent. The acceleration was about the same as on the FJ model but the fuel consumption was increased and at speeds much above 80 m.p.h the propeller-shaft vibrated badly, even if it had been accurately balanced on our cathode-ray balancer.
Stock Holden shafts were supplied by the Universal Joint division of Repco, who under pressure from Charlie Dean supplied us with shafts with the main tube size increased from 2 to 2½ inches, which increased the critical speed to nearly 140 m.p.h, much more than the FE could obtain.

I devised a split exhaust system welded up cheaply from two sets of six-inch bends, which looked rather crude, but was hidden out of sight under the bonnet. On the dyno it proved to be equal or better than any other system, and was supplied with most Repco heads.

My Repco repair workshop had installed a camshaft grinder, designed and operated by the very skilful Ivan Tighe. With this machine we could experiment with hot-stuff cams, and finished uo with 160 b.h.p at 6,100rpm form a 3 1/8 bore engine with two carburettors and alcohol fuel at 10 to 1 c.r. with maximum torque of 150 lb/ft at 4,000rpm. For racing with 90 octane petrol at 9 to 1 c.r. the power dropped to 138 b.h.p. which was still a very respectable amount, being practically double to output of a standard FE engine. Testing the engines was all done at Russell’s in Richmond, where Frank Hallam was building up a very efficient testing laboratory and we became quite friendly during this period.

Note from Harv:
• Holt’s Wondarweld is still available: https://www.holtsauto.com/products/radi ... ondarweld/. My genuine head was noted to be “Loctited” before I purchased it, but could well have been “Wondarwelded”.
• The 160 and 138 bhp values noted above are stages 6 and 4A from the Repco document “THE “REPCO HIGHPOWER” CYLINDER HEAD.” on page 1 of this thread. The same reference notes the FJ tailshaft to be good for 100 mph, with the FE tailshaft hitting a critical speed at 90mph and the heavy-duty FE shaft being OK up to 110mph.
• Russell’s is likely Russell Manufacturing’s engine test lab on Burnley and Doonside streets in Richmond, Victoria. This was established by Geoff Russell, and later became a division of Repco.

Cheers,
Harv

[Errol62]

So that is why they went to smaller wheels on the FE, and a bigger tailshaft moves the harmonics up the rev range? Interesting stuff Harv.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Harv]

Another nugget of info from Irving’s autobiography:

The reputation that our track was a “drivers circuit” which separated the men from the boys was evidently growing, and many more top-line drivers were entering. Interstate support came from the regular South Australian, Derek Jolly, with his Decca Mark 2, and two Holdens with full Repco go-faster treatment from Sydney. One was owned by grey-bearded Lou Kingsley, who at the age of 73 claimed to be the oldest competitor in Australia. Though perhaps a little short of the exuberance displayed by rivals half his age, Lou was a doughty long distance performer. With his wife and a caravan he drove to Perth and annexed the West Australian Sedan Championship (minus the caravan), then trundled the whole equipage back to Sydney and won his class at the Silverdale Hillclimb. As the whole journey covered 4,800 miles, and much of it was on the abominable unmade Eyre Highway, it was a remarkable demonstration of reliability, and proved that my gamble of using SG iron castings instead of forgings for the overhead rockers had paid off. The rocker castings were supplied by T. Mains foundry in Richmond for about a tenth the price of equivalent forgings, and were much simpler to machine.

Note from Harv:
• The track referred to was a course run on Phillip Island by the Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC).
• SG iron is spheroidal graphite iron, also called ductile cast iron or nodular cast iron. It has higher impact and fatigue resistance than run-of-the-mill cast iron.
• I think we have discussed Lou here before. His wife drove an FC wagon with a Repco head, tested by Wheels magazine at 102 mph and an 18-second quarter mile. The race car was a yellow and black FE sedan. Lou retired from racing at 80.
• T. Main is likely the Thomas Mains and Son Pty Ltd Jolimont Foundry, at 29 George Street East Melbourne.

Cheers,
Harv

[Errol62]

Derek Jolly was a pretty remarkable Adelaide identity and brought the first electronic musical instrument, a Moog synthesiser, to Australia. He was part of the Penfolds wine family and had several leading restaurants, including one named Decca’s Place, after the Decca specials he earlier raced.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Harv]

I wonder whether Derek is related to Bob Jolly?

Bob was an ex-Isle of Man bike racer who competed across Europe in the mid-1970s. Bob scratch built JAP, Velocette, Triumph and Norton gear. He was also the owner of Bob Jolly and Co Machining, which still exists: http://bobjolly.com.au/. Bob's company was started in 1979 as Bob Jolly and Co Racing, with simple turning and milling operations servicing the racing community from his St Peters, Adelaide workshop. Bob relocated his workshop to Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, and then to 82-84 Francis Road Wingfield, where they still operate today. They did the machining for the Wray superchargers that Fred Radman built.

(side note: I'm itching to make some form of Adelaide jolly joke, but given the awesome contribution both Derek and Bob made to Aussie motorsport I will refrain ).

Cheers,
Harv