[Badbird69]

In light of the kinder, gentler atmosphere here in the race section of PY, I thought I would share our 2016 Norwalk experience.

As many of you know, we made the switch to CV-1 heads, and haven't looked back. Yes, this is a one of one combo that has never been tried before at this level, so there has been a learning curve, but there is nothing “one off” or exotic here. There are CAD files for everything done to my heads and intake, so they can be reproduced for anyone at the push of a button.

Some of the benefits we have already seen are: 1) Superb Casting Quality. There are no soft spots and no threads that pull out. 2) No Water Leaks. I'm lovin' it. 3) Stable Valve Train. We shift at 8700 rpm, motor occasionally sees 9000 rpm, and the valve train is rock solid. No issues. 4) No Intake Gasket Failures between adjoining cylinders. 5) Runs Cooler. No more worries about getting hot in staging or getting burned down at the starting line. It just doesn't get hot. In the 95° heat at Beech Bend and at Norwalk, engine temp rarely saw over 150° at the end of the run. 6) More Power. This thing is an animal and the more nitrous it gets, the more it likes it. So far, it has outperformed our previous combo using far less nitrous. Interesting.

We have managed to do a lot of Myth Busting with this engine. As you know, there have been a number of armchair engineers and “experts” with bold claims regarding the short comings of these cylinder heads. Most of that stems from the Idiot Zone forum, but some of it bled over here too. It's been amusing watching all the haters, naysayers and self proclaimed experts having to eat their own words. First they said these heads wouldn't flow over 400 cfm. Well, yes they do, and then some. Then they said a CV-1 headed motor would never make 1000 hp. Well, yes we did, and then some. Then they said our car wouldn't be any faster with CV-1 heads. Well, yes it is, and we're just getting started. If you watch the in-car video, you can hear that it desperately needs a converter change. We'll get there. And finally they said these cylinder heads would burn up pistons. Well, no they don't. Anyone who repeats that nonsense is either really stupid, willfully ignorant or following an agenda driven narrative. There have been barrels of burned up nitrous motor pistons around this country long before there was a CV-1 head. A tuner's goal is to find that happy place where the motor reliably makes good power without hurting itself. Getting there is sometimes costly. Chit still happens to the best of them. But an honest critic would have to admit that blaming a piston failure on a cylinder head is merely wishful thinking.

At Norwalk this year, the temps were in the mid 90's with heat indexes hovering around 105°, DA between 3500-4000 ft., and track temps over 120°. Certainly not ideal condition for any kind of record setting performance. Yet we still went a personal best of 7.62 and topped 180 mph on the previous run. We rolled across the scales twice. It weighed 3140 lbs. the first time and 3130 lbs. the second time after burning off some fuel. Our old combo (which was 80 lbs. lighter) would have been lucky to have run 7.90's in these conditions.

We decided to try to qualify for the Frantic Four. Well, why not? A lot of other cars tried too. We qualified #5, behind three pro mods and one prostocker. Not bad for a 3100 lbs. back-halved street legal turd with junk heads.

On our last qualifying attempt, we put up some smoke at the finish line. While many of the haters were gleefully rubbing their hands together at the prospect of chit happening to us at Norwalk, I'm sorry to disappoint. The Sunday before Norwalk, we were testing at BIR. The nitrous activation switch at the carburetor loosened up and hit the system 3 times within 1-1/2 seconds. Stupid stuff happens. This is a no-no. The result was a squeezed ring land on one cylinder with a drop in compression on that cylinder. There was no time to change it and still make Norwalk, so we tuned around it by taking some power away from that cylinder. We kept checking compression after each run and it seemed to be holding. After our 7.62 pass, we thought we could maybe dip into the 7.50's. But that will have to wait for another day. We put some pressure into the crankcase and spit some oil out onto one header, causing some smoke. No catastrophic failure, no massive meltdown, just need to replace a piston. Not a big deal. That's life with a nitrous motor. It happens. Deal with it.

All in all, it was a great weekend. The car performed well, we met some wonderful people, saw some fast and beautiful Pontiacs, and ate some ice cream. Many thanks to Jim Sammons, Bill Anderson, my wife Laura, and son Jeff for their help making this happen.

See you all next year,

Dick Fulton
https://www.facebook.com/laura.danie...70697012556975

[3fastgtos]

Great job Dick and beautiful car.

[twooldgoats]

Thanks for the informative post. Best of luck as you get it all sorted out.

Jim

[455firebird1969]

Congrats on running a personal best @ 3500'+ DA. That's one Bad (and beautiful) Bird! Hopefully I'll make it to Norwalk next year, it's on my calendar.

[Elarson]

Thanks for bringing factual info to the table.
Congrats on your progress!

Eric

[smokey 1978]

Congats Mr.Fulton! Amazing Bird killer combo for sure,PONTIAC POWER!!!!!

[mike leech]

Was nice to meet you. Get her fixed! Race car issues is all.

[GTO Dan]

Thanks for the candid recap, very nice results thus far.

[johnta1]

Thanks for the update, Dick.

Car looked fantastic as usual.

Lots more in your combo.

[LMSRACER]

Thanks for that Dick,
Glad to hear this directly from the source. I'm also glad to hear that the valvetrain geometry was not an issue. I've/We've heard so much babble concerning these cylinder heads that it can be hard to decipher the truth.

Good luck to you and thanks for taking the time to elaborate on your experiences.

Larry S.

[PAUL K]

Good job! Thanks for the update.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Wow, really well written, succinct and lucid summary.

Writeup reveals an efficiency with keeping more fuel participating in the combustion chemistry than (any) other PMD head.

150 deg at the big end is hard to believe, or understand. Temp gauge workin?

[bruce driggers]

Congrats , Mr. Fulton , beautiful car , great performance , can't beat that!

[BruceWilkie]

Thanks for update Dick. At Norwalk you had a pass at 180mph... that shows promise for sure, considering the ring seal on one cylinder was not very good.

Keep after it, keep us updated too.

[dci]

Awesome effort Dick and crew !!!!!!! Tenacity pays off and effort like yours will be rewarded.

[BruceWilkie]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Wow, really well written, succinct and lucid summary.

Writeup reveals an efficiency with keeping more fuel participating in the combustion chemistry than (any) other PMD head.

150 deg at the big end is hard to believe, or understand. Temp gauge workin?

Back when it was on the dyno(last year, maybe longer?) he beat on it quite a bit I'm told. It was noted he had cool stable temps back then as well.

Back then I heard there were a few who witnessed the dyno pulls that werent exactly cv1ttf guys(not haters per say, so skeptical might be the appropriate word). Maybe they'll chime in?

[Stan Weiss]

Dick,
Thanks for the great write, and congratulations on some great passes.

Will you be coming East this fall and to run in some of the great weather we have here?

Stan

[Anderson Port Development]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Wow, really well written, succinct and lucid summary.

Writeup reveals an efficiency with keeping more fuel participating in the combustion chemistry than (any) other PMD head.

150 deg at the big end is hard to believe, or understand. Temp gauge workin?

... Yeah we wondered at first too, but saw the samething when we had it on the dyno, each time, but even with the shoebox radiator it stays in the 170's ...

[10second70GP]

Congrats to you and the crew , I saw that pass , sounded great , . Keep pushing forward with the combo and reaching your goals .

[Hammertime Mike]

Dick, thanks for sharing the detailed info about your engine. I'm glad that I got to meet you and your family at Beech Bend this year. Your car's looks and performance are surely something to be proud of. I can also attest to your car running cool at the track. I was there and I saw it ! Congrats to the Fulton's and Bill Anderson on their new CV1 combo.