Pinto Cylinder Head

[Blatman]

You are obviously very knowledgable Blatman BUT you are not always correct, you do seem to take pleasure in using your knowledge to put others down, my mechanical experiance may not be as extensive as yours however this does not for one second invalidate the experiances that I have recived from a company and it should certainly not invalidate my post when all I am trying to do is worn a pottential victim.

I am sure if the product is fine and there are no problems then Kipford we no doubt be very happy and will think the world of that company jow ever bear in mind that you can only really judge how good a company is when things go wroong as they some times do, only then can you find out if that company is as good as you hope.

From MY experiance of Vulcan I would have to say that there customer service and the quality of there goods IMHO are well below par. Other company's have in the past given me exellent service Vulcan is however NOT one of them and |I shall continue to worn people.

I would apreciate it if you did not try to bully your way into trying to convince people that other members do not have credibility on this forum, and trying to invalidate there personel experiances.

I was hoping to illicit a more reasoned response than your original reply. I succeeded

I'd be interested in the detail of your issue. What caused the head gasket to fail in such short order? What exactly caused the demise of the engine in just 3000 miles?

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

I was hoping to illicit a more reasoned response than your original reply.

Is that legal    

[James]

When the head gasket went I was told by Vulcan I had got it to hot! ( yea right) the cooling system had been taken apart and put back together using new OE water pump, belt radiator, and larger capacity header tank, all hoses were replaced at the same time, when we took the head of (After Vulacn refused to help under warrenty) we found that the head had not been torqed down correctly and there was a crack between two of the valves, when the engine eventually expired at 3000 miles it sezied solid at 50mph and yes before you answer the inveitable question of course it had the right level of oil in it.

When I took the engine to another manufacturer they inspected it and they were not impressed with the qulaity of the componenets used and the porting of the head, I may have had a rogue engine but this left a VERY bitter taste in my mouth. the engine lasted me six months.

[Blatman]

Which is a far more reasoned perspective

As you say, you may have been unlucky and had a rogue with a crack in it long before Vulcan ever got their hands on it, or they broke it.

I had a similar episode with version 1 of my Atmo. I had a cracked block. I got a similar response from the engineering company that did the work (not Vulcan, I hasten to add). They did point out though that without a crack test on both head and block that they wouldn't honour any warranty work, and I saw their point. Unless the components supplied were *new* and untouched, then there is no way they would even offer a warranty as they would not be able to quantify what sort of risk they may be taking on. You will find that this is a common practice among engineering companies. So whilst it's an expensive learning experience, I'm afraid that it's just something else that the unwary have to suffer, me included...

[Blatman]

I was hoping to illicit a more reasoned response than your original reply.

Is that legal    

Yeah yeah... should start with an E....

Mavis Beacon has a lot to answer for...

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

   

[James]

My engine was purchased on an "Exchange" basis I foolishly belived at the time that they would have conducted the nessecery checks on the head before supplying it to me as a complete engine, I understand the view point that they have no controll over the quality of parts that they have not manufactured, but I would have thought under these circumstances they would have been willing to come to an arangement   you live and learn

I do feel that they should warn potential customers of this before they take there money as the customer belives they are going to  recive a reconditioned serviceable engine, for thoses people new to this seen and who havnt been pulling apart kit cars for as long as we have an experiance like this can put them of for life and that is a shame.

[conibear]

I would go and have a look at Vulcans head work.

I was not impressed with their head work a couple of years ago, but of course it could have improved now. But I've not been that impressed with many so called head work companies.

[Bob Green]

Head will be fine. You may find the 40's are the limiting factor depending on what size chokes you end up needing.

Correct.

My Pinto cylinder head was modified by Mike Tanski of Ferriday Engineering who made a superb job of it.  Sadly I don't think Mike modifies cast iron heads anymore, just aluminium.

Given Mike modified the head to what I believe was a better spec then the Vulcan Maxiflow 2, using a 285 Piper camshaft with vernier and twin 40’s gave much superior power from standard.  However after a period of time I fitted 45’s with basically the same chokes and jets and the power went up another notch.

The air speed through the carbs altered due from having 36mm chokes in 40mm bodies to 36mm chokes in 45mm bodies.  In 45’s the air speed is increased through the chokes as the body size is larger(hope that makes sense).  It's all about the venturi effect.

Up to 150bhp, 40’s are fine but any significant figure required above this, 45’s will release the proper intake breathing the engine requires.

I hope this helps.

[Blatman]

My engine was purchased on an "Exchange" basis I foolishly belived at the time that they would have conducted the nessecery checks on the head before supplying it to me as a complete engine, I understand the view point that they have no controll over the quality of parts that they have not manufactured, but I would have thought under these circumstances they would have been willing to come to an arangement   you live and learn

I do feel that they should warn potential customers of this before they take there money as the customer belives they are going to  recive a reconditioned serviceable engine, for thoses people new to this seen and who havnt been pulling apart kit cars for as long as we have an experiance like this can put them of for life and that is a shame.

Which is a far more reasonable response and more importantly, a far more useful offering than simply "robbing b******ds". Now we can make some informed judgements without fear of getting the wrong end of the stick

[kipford]

Gents

Interesting debate!!!!! did not think this post would generate such ferocity! I was originally going to approach Mike Tanski. I will give him a ring today and have a chat before committing lots of money.

Thanks

Dave

[Kev Bamber]

Ran a Vulcan 135 X-Flow for a few years and it worked well for me, it even survived my home brewed fuel injection!

[kipford]

Talked things through with Mike Tanski, seems a top bloke. We have decided that the head I have with just some minor Mods, Skimming, some work on the valves and seats and a 285 cam will give enough grunt to start with. He does not quote figures because there are so many variables involved but recons we should be around the 140 mark and it will be ok for SVA emissions. That suits me for now, more power can later (Duratec?).

By the way Mike rates Vulcan which is interesting.

Dave

[StuartMackay]

Had a Scholar head with FR32 cam and 45s on my 150 bhp pinto, very pleased with driveability and power.

[Mark Stanton]

Talked things through with Mike Tanski, seems a top bloke

He is       he knows whats what, doesn't do bull**** and honest