I thought I would share some flow numbers I have as a few people have expressed interest in independent flow tests.

These are flow numbers for my own heads on my flow bench. I don’t port or flow heads except for my personnel use.

The AFR 195’s are 68cc combustion chamber; “Street Head” (made in 1997) not the “Competition” CNC ported heads. I would guess the 74 cc chamber heads would flow better in the mid lift range due to less valve shrouding and that’s probably what AFR uses for advertising. The intake valve used is a Manley pro-flow rather than the Manley street valve that came with the heads. I found the flow differences are negligible between the two valves in this particular head. The exhaust side was ordered special with 1.625 valves and AFR’s maximum porting (supercharged application) so it won’t really apply to “out of the box” flow.

I also put flow numbers for my L98 heads ported by LPE in 1990. They are not 113 D-ports, they are 128 square exhaust port 86 vette aluminum heads. At that time Lingenfelter Racing had various levels of porting (hand porting) and these received “Super mod” port work with 2.0”/1.56” valves and 3 angle valve job. The combustion chambers were left untouched. I modified the combustion chambers to reduce valve shrouding while maintaining swirl as best I could. LPE’s current offerings are probably better than what I’ve done but still probably close. They did tell me that once ported (by them) the 128 castings flow virtually the same on both intake and exhaust as the ported 113 heads. This was when I was thinking about upgrading to 113’s from my ported 128’s so I believe them as they were turning away a sale by telling me this.

Measured port volumes as follows:
AFR195 - 196cc and 76cc
LPE L98 - 184cc and 68cc

All Tests at 28 in. H20

Intake with ½” clay radius
Lift -----AFR195---------------LPE L98 (128 casting)
--------------------------Stock Chamber----+ Chamber Mods
0.05--------- 42--------------37----------------- 41
0.10----------71--------------61 -----------------66
0.15--------105 --------------85-----------------97
0.20--------140-------------111----------------129
0.25--------171-------------137----------------158
0.30--------196-- ----------160----------------179
0.35--------218-------------185----------------202
0.40--------233-------------204 ---------------224
0.45--------244-------------217----------------238
0.50--------248-------------229----------------241
0.55--------254-------------238----------------244
0.60--------260-------------248----------------248

Exhaust with/2" J-bend pipe extension
Valve-------1.625” --------1.56”
Lift -------AFR195------LPE L98 (128) + Chamber Mods
0.05-----------26-------------27
0.10-----------56-------------57
0.15-----------88-------------93
0.20----------115-----------122
0.25----------140-----------144
0.30----------162-----------159
0.35----------180-----------167
0.40----------194-----------171
0.45----------206-----------175
0.50----------215-----------178
0.55----------218-----------178
0.60----------224-----------180

 

Thanks for Sharing :cool: .... very informative post.

The AFR head flow is a little bit disappointing on the intake side.... at .400 lift they had 233, whereas nowadays going out of memory they advertise 240 and I think they advertise 260 @ .550 and 262 @ .600..... but then again back in 97, maybe those are the flow #'s they advertise. Those exhaust ports with that competition port sure do flow though !!! :)

The LPE 128 castings flow almost identical to my recently sold Dart 2 heads at all lifts on both the intake and exhaust.... looks like you can get the L98 heads to flow as well as aftermarket ported heads up to a point anyway.

thanks for sharing the info !!!

As a note, I will also post some flow #'s of some out of the box AFR 190's in the coming week or two.

btw, Have you ever had a seperate 3 angle valve job done to those AFR's ?

cheers,
Beach Bum

 

One thing to remember on the AFR intake flow is that these are 68 cc combustion chamber heads - not machined down from 74 cc chambers. The intake is shrouded more with this chamber which will hurt mid lift flow. I think they usually start with the 74 cc chamber heads and mill them for smaller chamber sizes (except 68cc that they have a casting for).

I checked AFR's 3 angle valve job and it was good so I didn't have it redone. Actually the exhaust seat is a full radius seat. The valves did not come with back cuts so I did add a back cut and picked up a little flow - but the numbers above are out of the box before I did any work.

On the exhaust keep in mind that I flowed it with a 2 inch pipe which adds about 10cfm to peak flow.

I'm looking forward to your flow numbers. What combustion chamber size are you getting?

 

I will receive my AFR's within the next 1-2 days, thus will have flowed over the xmas break. They are AFR 190's.... also somewhere around the 97 year. I don't know if the chamber started as 68 or 64cc chambers, but they are now at approxmiately 60cc. (These cylinder heads were forum members "Ralph"s until recently)

Based upon the flow, I will determine if I am going to have any port work done.... which I probably will.... I'll then post the after flow #'s as well.

cheers,
Beach Bum

 

:lurk:

 

Nice info

:lurk:

 

beach we are going to bring jims ported afr 195s and put them on that same bench and i am going to take my brodix heads and have them flowed there too so we can have some comparisons :cheers:

 

Corky,

I found a place closer to where I live that has a flow bench. I will be taking the AFR's to them. See the link below.
http://www.hesmotor.com/

These guys have worked with AFR closely and apparently done some development work with them. In any regards, if my heads are not on the car at the time you guys go to the Pontiac place, let me know, I'll bring mine up to get flowed anyway. We'll have a Cylinder Head Party !!! :) Should be interesting to see what those CNC'd Brodix heads flow too.

later
Beach