The root of the rumor.

[G B.]

In the May, 1974 issue of Hot Rod was a story entitled "From Weslake: A 4-Valve Head For The Chevy". I had forgotten about this article. Actually, I try to blot out the memory of all the seventies issues of Hot Rod. Those were the "Truck 'n Van Special" days.

The 1975 subscription ad photo was taken from this article. The article included other detailed photos and interesting tech talk. It ended with these words: "At the moment, sales plans have not yet been finalized ... but it is intended that quantities should be available during 1974 and that production may be established in the United States. Discussions are still under way with interested American firms for manufacture, distribution, and sales".

[Michael H.]

Re: The root of the rumor.

Jerry,

It certainly sounds like they were serious about production on these heads. The small Chevy certainly would have been a good choice for sales with the incredible number of these being raced then. (and now) I know I've never seen any though.

[Clem Z.]

i am sure ford helped $$$ wise with the ford

weslake head so if weslake wanted to do chevy heads ford would put it's foot down

[Michael H.]

Re: i am sure ford helped $$$ wise with the ford

Clem,

I just used the words "Chevy Gurney Weslake" in a yahoo search and I was surprised to see several pages come up. One mentioned a street rod that had these rare heads on a small block chevy engine but I didn't have time to read the article. I suppose the word Chevrolet in the search may provide more info.

[Clem Z.]

very interesting as i have seen several sets

for fords in my travels but never saw or heard about any for SBC

[Duke W.]

Re: very interesting as i have seen several sets

Circa 1993 I toured Gurney's AAR facilities in Orange County. At that time Gurney had a contract with Toyota for the GTP cars, and the tour was part of Toyota's LBGP weekend festivities for the MR2 Club.

Gurney still had a pretty big inventory of Gurney Westlake heads for Ford SBs at the time - maybe 50 sets that I saw. I don't recall what he wanted for a set, but I it was quite a bit.

As cast and machined the heads include integral "manifolds" for Weber 48IDA carbs.

It's too bad that none of these SBC head designs (GM or Westlake - whatever) ever made it to at least limited production and distribution. The OE big port heads (461 and up) are pretty good, but they are ultimately what limits power on any SB configuration due to flow limitation, even with maximum massaging.

Duke