Casey Zelig - Hotrod

Early Ford V8 and Lincoln V12 OHV Head Conversion

These designs are over head valve conversion heads for Flathead or "valve-in-block" engines. They are a result of a collaboration between myself and my former employer, Jason Kidd.

The V8 head is an evolution of the famous Ardun heads, improvements in port flow, newer valve and valve spring technology, improved cooling jacket design and valve train oiling round out this time-tested configuration.

The Lincoln Zephyr "small" V12 head is a clean sheet design inspired by period era aircraft engines. The engineering goal was to design a head that looked attractive, was relatively easy to cast and machine as well as improve cooling and performance of the very long-stroke, small-bore engine. The valvetrain utilizes off-the-shelf components, Chevrolet LS rockers and Ford Coyote valves.

V8-90 OHV Head CAD

V8-90 OHV Head Render

Zephyr V12 OHV head render

FDM model of Zephyr head

Valve cover and exhaust detail

Chevrolet V8 Small block and Chrysler Hemi valve covers

While working for Flyrite Choppers I was tasked with generating CAD designs and prototyping these two valve cover designs.

Concept art was handed over and I used that as a basis for the functional CAD while referencing stock engine valve cover dimensions.

Once workable CAD models were produced, I scaled the data for casting shrink in A356 alloy and proceeded to machine casting patterns from RenShape 440 modeling board.

A small number of valve covers were sand cast in-house and tested,

The patterns were then shipped to a specialist casting company for short-run production, then after receiving the raw castings, I machined the mating surfaces and mounting features.

In the end, the results were very satisfactory.