Reverse flow head

[spiderrey]

I thought I heard this wasnt a difficult thing to accomplish. is it possibe.

[maytag]

Rey:
not that I would know how to do it... but are you talking about reversing so you could put carbs on the other-side?

Or are you talking about the old smokey-yunik trick of cooling the head first (sometimes accomplished by reversing the flow of the water through the cooling system)

[spiderrey]

Swapping carbs to the other side.

[Mathew26]

Get a 16V head they were reversed.

[spiderrey]

Yes I know that, Thats not what Im after.

[So Cal Mark]

reverse your battery cables, that will make the motor spin backwards, reversing flow

seriously, with the 16v head, routing the exhaust past the steering box will be a huge challenge.

[spiderrey]

Seriously, I know that. Am i wrong in thinking this is a doable thing. Dont think about the car, just think about the flow.

[halg]

Technically all that is required is to re time the cams.I have the drawings done for the intake manifold already. That was going to be my next strange engine(my specialty) Issues as to where everything goes??? I have access to a flow bench and was going to do some head work. Exhaust, since I put rack and pinion steering in everything is not to much of an issue.
Hal

[fiasco]

Seriously, I know that. Am i wrong in thinking this is a doable thing. Dont think about the car, just think about the flow.

That'll be tough since the 16v head creates some clearance issues with the steering box.

Seriously though... Intake on passenger side, exhaust on driver's. Conceptually it doesn't seem impossible. Would you have to reverse the timing in some way? Maybe switch the cam shatfs? Would the timing belt need to run in the opposite direction? Fuel mixture would have to flow in the opposite direction, but you wouldn't want to reverse the flow of water or oil.

I don't really know enough to help you answer the question, but hopefully is will help get people who know more than me thinking along productive lines.

-- se

[joelbert2k]

Don't forget 5 Speeds in reverse!!!

[maytag]

Yes I know that, Thats not what Im after.

oooohhhhh... but 'I' am!

I won;t hijack your thread.... but if anyone knows a good source.... PM me! or we can start a new thread!

In the meantime, Rey;
IIRC, I think Guy Croft goes into detail about the differences in the alignment of the combustion chambers relative to the cylinder bores. I would think this information (and his measurements) would be usefull in determining the bore-spacing, which would obviously be very critical at the beginning of determining feasibility.
But I would think that with enough machine-work and homework.... anything can be done. ??

[manoa matt]

Would it be much easier and cheaper to fab a remote brake booster bracket and pushrod extension?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimes_fiat/5031988050/

[maytag]

So I started typing that post about 4 hours before finishing it. And in betwixt, there were all these other posts.

I scratched my head about it on my drive home from the office. it seems that others are suggesting you run the head where it is, but change the direction of it all. Which to me, sounds disastrous. You don't want the motor inhaling through the smaller valve, or through that exhaust port / runner configuration. Yes, you could do a LOT of major head-work to change it all around.
I was thinking more of flipping the head around. (hence the question about bores lining-up). at that point, most of your hard work is in the cams. seems to me.

tell us what it is you're trying to accomplish with the reverse-flow? I'm clearly missing it.

[So Cal Mark]

the 16v head is set up with the intakes on the right side. That will necessitate custom pistons and exhaust. It's fairly expensive since the cost of those heads is pretty high in the US

[maytag]

the 16v head is set up with the intakes on the right side. That will necessitate custom pistons and exhaust. It's fairly expensive since the cost of those heads is pretty high in the US

But again, I think we're talking about the 8v head... not the 16?