Head Problems

Tues.28.11.06. The Stage 2 head was delivered from XRN today, but surprisingly, it had been not engineered up to the standard that we require, so it will have to be returned. Here we fuckin’go again.  

Weds.29.11.06. We have spoken to Phil and Chris at XRN who have defended the workmanship on the head. Apparently the inlet ports have been machined in such a rough, coarse manner to encourage the swirl and flow of fuel as it passes into the combustion chamber. Now where have I heard that word ‘swirl’ before? The widening of the ports has been precisely measured to accept the increased amount of ignitable fuel: being only polished around the outer entrance, purposely untouched at the deeper end of the funnel. This smooth to rough design allows the fuel to enter freely but then swirls in the lower recesses of the port. The outlet ports have been polished consistent with the necessary speedy ejection of the exhaust fumes. The manifold gasket needs to be appropriately filed to accommodate the larger inlet ports but will remain unchanged for the outlet. The inlet seats have also been ground to accept the larger valves. The head has been skimmed, the cam machined to sharpen and steepen the profile, both of which should dramatically improve compression. However, although some of the features that Chris and Colin have questioned have been explained and accounted for there still remains the fact that as an engineered piece of work there are some aspects that appear unnecessarily shoddy. These faults in themselves will have a very minor effect, if any at all, to the overall performance of the engine but the fact that a professional, ‘tooled up’ company appear to have cut corners is extremely disappointing. In a situation where the majority of the cost of the product is rooted in build time, labour and expertise as against the basic materials, the quality of the eventual outcome is in the hands of the craftsman. Both Chris and Colin are only ever satisfied with perfection: unfortunately this head has fallen well short of their personal demanding standards. I too, am beginning to realise that only the ‘best’ will suffice. I share equally their despondency with the total absence of ‘worth’ overtly demonstrated by a lack of pride of craftsmanship: we expected excellence but have been offered mediocrity. Our suspicions were still not totally satisfied having later spoken with Max for a second opinion. He confirmed, like XRN, that the head is as good as it needs to be and that we were being over fussy.

Is there no one left in this world of Triumph who demands perfection as a basic right?