Engine and Transmission Tech

According to Mike Jr, the domestic price has been set, and it is reasonable. Thank God! $1500 a pair for bare castings and $2795 complete. Chevy style rockers will be possible. This pricing is in line with their other domestic head prices and therefore I would expect to see these heads sell quite well. They can be used on all the BOPR engines, the Buick 300, and the 340. Expect to see a small number of Buick 350 owners use them as well. Machining and testing was completed on the first run of 25 sets which are slated for the Australian market (as expected), and a second run of 25 sets is expected to be ordered shortly. How soon exactly will depend on how well the Australian sets sell. Hopefully they will not wait too long to enter the American market, and I expect there will be a fair number of buyers who will not wait, despite the premium. They are currently taking advance orders, part number TA-2150.

JB

I know I will be getting a set when they are available, though I'm glad they are going down under first. I really want to see some actual builds, with confirmed flow numbers, and actual dyno results...

Have they solved the issues of what to do for valve covers, intakes and headers yet?

Before I throw $'s at this waay overdue head, I want to know things like valve centerlines, cut for what size valves, stem sizes, chamber size,deck thickness, use a Rover rocker cover ? Chamber and unported port cc's? Legal for SCCA ? Cheers, roverman.

Call them. I'm sure they'll give you those numbers...and we expect you to report back with a summary of information and your expert opinion on the viability of this option.

Jeremy, I like YOU callum. You need these heads worse than I do. I bought and had pro-ported "Merlins", and they will make enough hp. Of course, being "Real Steel", they were like I bought them at a Smokey Yunick estate sale,(real cagey),lol. Someone told you I'm an expert ? I think Fred Key, is our real expert here. I'm just a career machinist, who digs the Rover V8 and a few others. Good Luck,roverman.

You're an expert compared to me, I'm just a banker who knows a lot of horsepower theory and hasn't had enough practice...

I will give them a call and see if I can get some actual numbers. Who knows, they might even talk me into a sale, then I can take them to an unbiased flow bench. I wonder if Dan Jones is still compiling data on these motors? He would be a good one to flow the heads because he already has results from so many others.

Dan IS the MAN ! His Dynomation is awesome. Unported ,the TA's will make enough power to hurt a Rover, that is'nt properly prepared, ie. flanged liners/etc. Good Luck, roverman.

> I wonder if Dan Jones is still compiling data on these motors?

Yes I am. I've been on business travel but actually took a vacation
day yesterday to lay out and inventory a couple of engines (a Ford
408 cubic inch Cleveland and a Rover/Buick 4.2L( that are destined
for the dyno.

> Who knows, they might even talk me into a sale, then I can take
> them to an unbiased flow bench.

If you send a pair my way, I could time it so my 4.2L Rover/Buick
is on the dyno. The short block consists of a cross-bolted main
Rover block, Wiseco forged pistons, Carrillo h-beam rods and a
solid lifter cam and would serve as a good test bed for the heads.
If you are interested, we could run the TA heads against a stock
pair of Rover heads and my ported GM heads. I've got a variety of
intake manifolds and headers here too but we'll need to see what
the compatibility is on the new TA heads. In exchange for a chance
to test the heads, I'd be happy to design a custom cam for you using
Dynomation.

Dan Jones

Dan,

I will get back to you on that, I wasn't planning on building a high HP motor for this car for some time, mainly because I was planning on doing it with a Dart aluminum SBF block (83lbs with a 4.125 bore available!). TA coming out with these heads does open up the possibility of making good power with the Rover platform, and I am fabricating an ITB intake and headers anyway, so that is not a concern (might need to do valve covers also).

As a side note, your 4.2L sounds similar to mine. I offset ground the stock 4.0L down to Nissan VG30 rod journals, which gets me roughly a 3.0" stroke. I am using stock rods from the VG30DETT (with new ARP rod bolts) which should be plenty strong enough, but there are some good aftermarket H-Beams out there. I ordered a custom set of forged Ross pistons also, and aside from ARP studs, I won't be doing much more to the bottom end.

I will give TA a call and get back with you, I believe we will be at the mercy of how long the second production run takes, and hopefully there will be a second run.

[www.taperformance.com] page 13...

[www.taperformance.com] page 13

I will be curious to have my TVR Tuscan Challenge heads flow tested. Some race 4.5 developing 425 BHP with this type of heads.

Specs of my heads :

Port sizes : In 1.89"/1.100" Ex 1.535"/1.100".

LARGE R.E.C WAISTED 5/16 STEM UNLEADED VALVES .
HEAD DIA'S = 1.693" INLET. 1.455" EXHAUST

PEDESTALS MACHINED FOR DUAL SPRINGS. INSTALLED HEIGHTS MEASURED AND CORRECTED UP WITH SHIMS TO EVEN OUT PRESSURES.COMP DOUBLE SPRINGS. OK UP 8000RPM.

SPORTS SHORTENED COLISBRO GUIDES 100" SHORTER THAN STD WITH BULLETED NOSES IN PORTS TO FLOW MORE AIR. YOU CAN RUNN UPTO 600" OF LIFT CAM .

CUSTOM 4 ANGLES SEATS & THROATED OUT .

CHAMBERS MATCHED TO BORES- 3.700"













Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2011 11:49AM by Wotland.

"TVR Tuscan" heads producing 425 BHP from 265". Impressive, may we see the build sheet ? Cheers, roverman.

I have not learned what rockers, ie. sbc stud or sbb shaft ? Whats the plan for an intake or a strong enough crank ? $1,500 for YT rockers or $1,500 for bare TA heads..decisions/decisions. roverman.

I guess I've been spoiled for too many years by Chevy go-fast parts prices...