How much Horse Power?

I'm in the process of rebuilding my F-Head, and I'm wondering how to get a few more HP out of it.
I'm planing on putting in an electric fan, I've read that will give her another 2-3 HP?
I'm boring it out .030, is there an easy way to measure the increase?
Will a get any more power with a Solex carb?
How about electronic ignition?
Any tips would be appreciated!
Thanks

 

http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/Tech/KamunenEngine.html

 

Adding an electric fan adds significant draw on the battery. The one I put on my model A (with chevy 350), required a 30 amp fuse.

The 25 amp or so draw on the battery may not be able to be offset by the generator. You may consider upgrading to an alternator to charge the battery. Taking that into consideration, a 30 amp load on the charging system will rob you of some of that gained horsepower.

 

How in the world would an electric fan increase horsepower. What am I missing?

 

The fan is a mechanical drag that eats a couple or 5 HP. As stated however, the draw on the alt. will sometimes more then offset the gain.

 

Making it breath better is the only way to horsepower.........more fuel in equals a bigger explosion which equals more heat which equals more power............like better flowing ports both on the intake and the exhaust side, headers & cam will also help............along with a higher compression ratio.
In fact the article that Jason posted has that guy living and working at 9000-11000 feet...........he could easily run 12-14 to one compression at that high altitude and thin air and never hurt a thing!

 

Howard is right on.

 

Clifford makes headers for the L134 and F134. I could get no specifics or measurements from them...

 

if you want more power put in a V6

No, seriously. Kaiser did it in 1966, because it was a good idea.

 

Sadly, the cheapest, easiest, and most reliable way to get more power out of a F134 is to replace it with another engine. There's lots that's been written about that. Modern 4-cylinders and modern V6s are comparatively easy to swap in. There is a lot written about this topic on the 'net if you look around. Start with the Novak site www.novak-adapt.com

As Howard mentioned, becasue of the engine's antiquated design (dating from the 1930s), it does not have a lot of hop-up potential.

A few have turbo- or super-charged the F134, with mixed results. Read Dick Datson's books for a good start there.

Back in the day, they used the 4 Cs - cam, carburetion, compression and cubic inches.

All of the standard techniques for hopping up engines will apply to the F134. I suggest you simply learn these techniques. For example, you can increase the displacement of your engine by stroking and/or boring oversize. IIRC there are 80 or 120 thousandths oversize pistons available, which will increase the power by roughly the increase in displacement. So if the bore is 3.125" and you increase it to 3.245" ... (3.245/3.125)^2 = 1.08 or about an 8% increase. Simple math. Pistons and the machine work to install them is not cheap though.

Custom pistons are another option, that would increase displacement and compression. $$$

If you can weld, you can make a header.

Fit a larger carburetor. The Holley-Weber imported by Redline is popular, and is one of the few products sold for this application.

Look around and find a hotter camshaft for the F134. Clifford Reasearch made them, and may still make them.

Really though, if you want a significant increase in power, and aren't married to the F134 for some reason, just swap in a different engine. Cheaper, better, and vastly less risky of your time and money.

 

I have a F head well 3 of them and I have done allot to my runner. .30 over, .20 off the head, Clifford headers, 2 1/4" exhaust, Pertronix, But like the guys said long stroke, low compression, and 1930's technology. I kept the Carter carb because I am not a fan of the Solex. With all I have done to it. Does it have more power? yes is it that noticeable? maybe a little. Is all the work worth it? not unless you love doing stuff like that. I enjoy it so it was worth it

 

<heh> ...

 

I'll just put on a word for the f-head. In it's originally intended context, it was and still is an appropriate application.

Around the farm, in the woods, crossing a desert or a glacier, and on the two lane blacktop (up to 50mph) it does the job in a comfortable and reliable manner. In the 1950's world, it was not underpowered.

The problem is not really the F-head - it is us wanting to run with traffic on the interstate at today's speeds, with an antique rural utility vehicle. My f-heads are still a joy to drive and use in the manner they were designed for.

 

Actually, it's mid 20's technology. The first application and the reason for it's being was the 1926 Whippet. As all have said, there really isn't a reliable method for pulling a lot more ponies out of either version of the 134.

With all the advances in CNC, I'm sure you could have a custom set of rods/pistons, and a crank built but at that point you will be into it way more than just about any engine transplant you can think. And unless you come up with a new head it will still be deficient on the suck and blow but it could take a little forced induction at that point.

No silver bullet, in fact, no bullet at all.

As to their original intended use, I'm of the opinion they were even a bit short of adequate back in the day. I remember as a kid helping throw buckets of water through the radiator to cool down the 2A my father had while doing some real wheeling back in the early 50's.

 

Torque and HP are specifically derived from the burning of fuel.
The intended fuel is a gasoline and air mixture.
The main concern is that the 134 engines were designed to run on uncracked gasoline (67 octane).
Low octane mandates a low compression ratio.
The octane to compression ratio is roughly a 10/1 ratio.
Todays lowest octane is 87 or higher.
That implies use of 8.7 CR.
The 134's are not designed to run at 8.7 CR.
The 134 cannot take advantage of todays gasoline octane increase because of it's low CR design.
The primary HP increase will be to bump up the Willys 134 CR up to it's design limit so that the 87 octane fuel is used more efficiently.

 

Yep, distillate. Basically white gas, coleman fuel, the lightest fraction of paint thinner.

I would suspect that the octane of gasoline went up because the engine technology advanced to be able to use it. IIRC CR of these engines is very much limited by the geometry of the combustion chamber, sp. the valve-in-head. Look at the period books how to hop up the Ford flathead by port shaping etc. But they were still down around 7:1 CR.

This thread made me curious why Willys/Kaiser went with the F-head design rather than offering a completely new OHV engine. Certainly the technology existed for an OHV configuration in the day. Chevrolet had been running OHV inline engines since 1914. Likely, they were constrained economically. The Wikipedia article pointed to the larger valves allowed by the new F-head configuration. I suspect this is what they figured out to give them a boost in HP without significantly redesigning the cylinder block and crankshaft.

 

In the very early 50's Willys Overland produced heads that would yeild as high as 7.8 CR. for the F-134.

According to... http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=166161
... the aluminum "Chuchua" head will bump L-134 CR up to 8/1.

I fully expect that one could bump the CR up even higher if additional work was done to the engine so long as detonation does not occur.
Additional work will involve valving, exhaust, cam profiles and ignition work.

 

Pete hit it right on in my book. use it enjoy it have fun with it but remember what it is.